Introduction
Nurses are essential in the healthcare sector since they ensure that patients receive the best available services through care coordination. Due to the critical role that nurses play in healthcare facilities, it is crucial to ensure that this practice is conducted effectively every time. Furthermore, care providers ought to be aware of those issues that influence healthcare, service management as well as aftercare, which efficiently utilizes resources and is a component of a moral principle that reflects nurses’ competence (Catalyst, 2018). This presentation intends to raise awareness about this practice and encourage their participation in care coordination.
Effective Strategies of Patient Collaboration
According to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, healthcare entails actively coordinating care matters and exchanging information across all stakeholders engaged in a client’s care to provide more safe and efficacious treatment. The patient’s wants and preferences are examined sooner in the care coordinating process. The information is communicated to the relevant persons at the opportune time to ensure the patients receive appropriate and successful treatment. The agency also recognizes the presence of two distinct methodologies for working together with sick individuals as well as their families to achieve suitable care outcomes. The first approach entails a wide range of techniques such as collaboration, medication management, clinical services, and health informatics.
The second method employs more specific care coordinating processes. Analyzing patient needs and objectives, aiding with transitions of care, developing a dynamic care plan, watching and reviewing as necessary, using community resources in the initiative, and supporting the patient’s aims are all examples of these techniques. An example of a drug intervention approach is whereby the caregiver explains the details of the condition, the details of the drugs they are using, and how to take medicine. The caregiver also allows the patient to know the drug and their disease. This approach enhances medication adherence, especially for patients with chronic illnesses. Cultural intervention strategies involve considering the patient’s community background before making interventions. In some cultures, the patient’s condition may be associated with bad luck or curses; thus, involving the family or other people may affect the patient emotionally, which may cause delayed recovery. It is, therefore, essential for caregivers to consider the perceptions of their patients while making treatment recommendations.
Change Management Aspects
It is quite evident that change management in healthcare is of great concern. According to Finefrock et al. (2018), medical professionals are obligated to always adapt to the arising changes for them to increase their experience. Some management changes directly affect the patient experience: firstly, technology changes in the facility improve the patient experience. Technology improvement enables the transfer of information between the involved groups faster; therefore, decisions are made within a short time, which is an advantage to the patient. Technology also enables caregivers to monitor the patient, allowing real-time data (Finefrock et al., 2018). Secondly, when the nurses increase their studies and gain more experience, the patient experiences more satisfaction as their problems are well solved. Thirdly, a change of care coordinating team may cause delayed uptake of treatment due to trust issues of the patient to the caregivers. Fourthly, changes in workplace policies may influence caregivers’ relationships with patients. Therefore, leaders of these teams should consider all the parties before enacting change to avoid failure.
The Rationale for Principled Decision-Making
Patient care outcomes are influenced by several factors that healthcare personnel must consider to arrive at the best ethical decision. These factors are mastery of the cardinal ethical principles, knowledge and skills, and proper relationship with patients (Hoskins et al., 2018). Making ethical decisions is vital in coordinated care as there is vast information sharing between different individuals. The shared knowledge and the decisions made are supposed to be confidential; thus, a high level of ethics must be upheld (Hoskins et al., 2018). Therefore, it is essential to note that the values and efforts of coordinated care depend on the medical community’s ethics.
Ethically approaching coordinated care is crucial in ensuring that the community upholds the rules and regulations acceptable by all healthcare professionals and guides their practices within their workplaces. Making decisions is influenced by the following ethical principles: deontology and utilitarianism. Deontology suggests that individuals adhere to their tasks and responsibilities to make moral decisions. Deontological communities follow the set roles to make decisions. Utilitarianism gives the caregiver the freedom to make a decision. However, the decision is based on the consequences. The caregiver makes the decision that best suits the patient. This may be witnessed in cases where patients are forced into quarantine or given vaccines without their consent to stop the spread of disease.
Impact of Care Policies on Patient Outcomes
Health care guidelines influence client experiences; for instance, the provision of insurance by the government. One example is the Obama Care, which was enacted in 2010 by the US government to provide affordable health care to Americans. This policy allowed low-income communities to access reasonable medical care (Havrilesky, 2018). This policy increased access to medical care for individuals with pre-existing health conditions, whereby they could access care and check-ups from qualified physicians at low prices. The other policy affecting patients’ experience is Healthy People 2020 (Havrilesky, 2018). This policy aims to provide health care development by ensuring proper plans to counter and prevent diseases.
The above policy seeks to reduce inequality in access to health and promote quality of life by encouraging healthy living. This will be achieved by providing affordable insurance, enhancing services, and timely care. This policy can potentially change the quality and access of healthcare services (Havrilesky, 2018). Through this policy, patients’ experiences will change as they spend less on healthcare and access the best medicine and doctors.
Roles and Duties of Nurses
Nurses’ roles are crucial in the coordination of care; thus, according to ANA, registered nurses are core players in upholding the standards and competency of care coordination. Registered nurses’ roles are sharing important patient information with other members of the care team. They also ensure transitions are seamless and join together with other health care teams to develop personalized, dynamic care plans that meet a patient’s health care needs (Havrilesky, 2018). This puts nurses in a critical position that is indispensable.
Conclusion
Care coordination is one of the solutions to the arising healthcare challenges in the world. All health care professionals have roles to play in ensuring the prosperity of this type of care. As the bridge between patients and doctors, nurses should promote the cooperation of patients and doctors to ensure success. Care coordination is essential in promoting personalized treatment and check-ups. It is the responsibility of all the stakeholders in the healthcare industry to work together for care success. The involvement of relatives in this process is also a determinant of the success of its factor. Ethics should be considered when making decisions.
References
Catalyst, N. C. (2018). What Is Care Coordination? Nejm Catalyst. Web.
Finefrock, D., Patel, S., Zodda, D., Nyirenda, T., Nierenberg, R., Feldman, J., & Ogedegbe, C. (2018). Patient-centered communication behaviors that correlate with higher patient satisfaction scores. Journal of Patient Experience, 5(3), 231-235. Web.
Havrilesky, L. (2018). Measuring the health benefits of the affordable care act for young women. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 131(6), 964-965. Web.
Hoskins, K., Grady, C., & Ulrich, C. (2018). Ethics education in nursing: Instruction for future generations of nurses. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1). Web.