Introduction
The quality of patient care is a primary concern of contemporary health care. The quality of the provided care depends on some interrelated factors which include professionalism of the staff, technical equipment of a facility, etc. Still, one of the significant factors is a nursing care delivery model adopted by a facility and implemented to provide care. Apart from quality outcomes, new nursing care delivery models have an impact on the improvement of patient outcomes and the related costs of care, which is an economic outcome. The purpose of this paper is to present a new nursing care delivery model that has the potential to increase both economic and quality outcomes of my healthcare facility.
New Nursing Care Delivery Model and Patient Safety Goals
One of the new nursing care models broadly accepted in contemporary health care is a patient-centered model. It is generally considered to be a model that has the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce care disparities (Schmittdiel, 2015). Since the major goal of care delivery is to reveal and understand patients’ needs and meet their preferences, patient-centered care is likely to be an effective model. To empower the process of care delivery, this model of care can be applied in combination with Electronic Health Record (EHR). Thus, the model discussed in this paper is a patient-centered EHR-based care delivery model. It is expected to improve care quality as well as increase economic outcomes that are also meaningful for healthcare delivery. The suggested model is expected to address some of the international patient safety goals. Thus, these goals are to “improve the safety of high-alert medications” and to “reduce the risk of health-care-associated infections” (Joint Commission International, n.d.). It is expected that patient-centered care with the support of ERH can have a positive impact on these aspects of care.
Key Concepts
The key concepts of the patient-centered care model are as follows. Its major distinctive feature is the organization of the care process with respect to the preferences of patients. Another important concept is the involvement of patients in making decisions about the process of care. Also, this model is characterized by a high level of care coordination. Moreover, the model is focused on patient education and information distribution. One more concept is the high level of emotional support from the nursing staff. In addition, a peculiarity of this model is the involvement of family and friends in the process of care as well as inpatient education. Finally, the patient-centered care model is characterized by care availability which means that every patient can make an appointment with the needed professional and get a consultation. As for the EHR implemented within this care model, it provides information and technical support for the major concepts of the model.
Supporting Evidence
Although patient-centered care is a relatively new model, it already has enough evidence of its efficiency. First of all, this model is highly appreciated by patients (Mohammed et al., 2014). The model provides aspects of care necessary for patients’ well-being and satisfaction such as much attention, effective communication, a positive care environment, and availability of care. Patients satisfied with the way care is delivered are likely to demonstrate better treatment adherence, which leads to the improvement of patient outcomes. Rathert, Wyrwich, and Boren (2013) study the outcomes of patient-centered care and conclude that quality improvement is one of them.
Tubaishat (2017) in the study dedicated to the impact of EHR on patient safety concludes that this technology positively influences patient safety thus increasing the quality of care, which is one of the focuses of this paper. Moreover, EHR is proved to reduce the incidence of medication errors, which addresses the selected patient safety goal to improve the safety of high-alert medications. As for the reduction of the risk of healthcare-associated infections, a positive change is expected to be achieved due to the high level of care and attention to patient needs to be provided by a patient-centered care model and EHR that allows monitoring minor changes in a patient’s condition and thus timely diagnosing or preventing healthcare-associated infections. Finally, due to attention to patient education, the availability of care, and generally high care quality, the readmission rate can also decrease. This fact contributes to the reduction of care expenses and, consequently, better economic outcomes of health care delivery.
Conclusion
To summarizing, it should be mentioned that patient-centered care is a new model that has a proved efficiency in diverse care settings. In combination with the technical support of EHR, patient-centered care positively influences the quality of care and results in better patient outcomes. Moreover, it addresses such international patient safety goals as the improvement of the safety of high-alert medications and reduction of healthcare-associated infections. Finally, EHR-empowered patient-centered care has the potential to reduce health care expenses, thus providing improved economic outcomes in addition to increased care quality. Therefore, a patient-centered care model in combination with EHR can be recommended to diverse healthcare facilities as a working model with broad opportunities for quality improvement.
References
Joint Commission International. (n.d.). International patient safety goals. Web.
Mohammed, K., Nolan, M., Rajjo, T., Shah, N., Prokop, L., Varkey, P., & Murad, M. (2014). Creating a patient-centered health care delivery system. American Journal of Medical Quality, 31(1), 12-21. Web.
Rathert, C., Wyrwich, M., & Boren, S. (2013). Patient-centered care and outcomes. Medical Care Research and Review, 70(4), 351-379. Web.
Schmittdiel, J. (2015). Creating patient-centered health care systems to improve outcomes and reduce disparities. Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, 4(1). Web.
Tubaishat, A. (2017). The effect of electronic health records on patient safety: A qualitative exploratory study. Informatics for Health and Social Care, 1-13. Web.