Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models

Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models
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Institutional Affiliation
Transformation of the healthcare system has called for nurses to step back and reevaluate the needs of the practice in order to find better and more effective ways of improving care. Possessing vast knowledge and skills among the nurses may therefore enable a smooth and more innovative delivery of services. There have been major opportunities that have arose in a new and expanded role of nurses in the new healthcare system such as permission of ACOs by the Accountable Care Act. There is an expected fundamental change in clinical care and the way diagnostic information is obtained leading to a complete transformation in every facet of nursing practice.
Continuum Care
An integrated care continuum may well define a cohesive service delivery when collaborated within the community in an ongoing coordination to minimize fragmentation. Nurses should now understand that there is need to migrate from episodic care in order to view patients holistically especially those with chronic illness (Mugavero et al., 2013). Moving to a greater continuity of care would therefore provide a better option that requires integration of certain mechanisms such as community based services, disease management programs, health information systems and case management services. Visiting patients at home and use of remote monitoring especially for patients with chronic diseases through nurse led quality initiatives and coordination of entire spectrum of services may be important concepts that nurses should learn (Mugavero et al., 2013).
Accountable Care Organizations
Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) help in coordinating care for group of patients thus leaving nurses with an integral role to play in helping patients even though there is a feeling that individuals with considerably less clinical experience may be involved. Meeting quality performance and serving broader populations through a well-coordinated care is what Affordable Care Act requires (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). This will certainly provide more job opportunities for nurses who will be required to successfully relay information in regard to care choices and treatment plans for families since they are considered experts in health education. It is undeniable that the new healthcare marketplace is redefined and there is likely maximization of APNs to meet the lower cost targets (O’Halloran et al., 2012).
Medical Homes
Nursing has evolved from the traditional patient care related roles to an enhanced role in the care coordination process such as having a keen eye on population health management. Nurses are performing more tasks that could not be performed by nurses in the previous year’s such as team approach to care coordination (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). Expanding access to care is key to improving quality and it involves among others, a master’s prepared nurses that oversees care from hospital and nurse managed care. Such kind of improved access limits repeated hospitalization but improves community care at a low cost. Incorporation of numerous disciplines into a more collaborative team as well as shared support systems may enable providers to work on digitally linked teams (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). Clinical decision support will help nurses to provide services that could previously be provided by highly trained personnel. Advanced understanding of patient’s challenges is key to community based approach to care since it meets the needs of a redesigned delivery system. Medical homes are important in coordinating care and define patient needs as well as assuming communication with patients.
Nurse Managed Clinics
High standard healthcare has been provided by the nurses through treatment of illness, and promoting health and wellness. Nurse managed clinics are run by nurses and it requires only advance practice nurses with expertise to diagnose illness and prescribe medication to the underserved communities. The main intention is to meet vital needs of the vulnerable population located in places that traditionally lack access to quality care by solving complex problems and receiving comprehensive care (Carthon, Barnes & Sarik,2015). Nurses are required to understand the unique needs of the community and strive to connect the dots of social service delivery as well as partnering with the community to advance health equity.
Conclusion
Service delivery outside of the hospital setting has presented a number of opportunities for nurses prompting them to use their skills in new ways especially in home care and nursing homes. Move to a more holistic care approach leads to a shift toward community clinics and home-based services since nurses frequently visit their patients at home. The need for nurses to recognize the influence of community characteristics on patients requires incorporation of education that considers competence and through the preparation of faculty that teaches community settings. Nursing capacity should be advanced by modernizing regulations that allow nurses to practice at the highest level.
Accountable care organizations will provide strategies developed to match the policies, visions, and missions the health care delivery institutions. This development will raise the efficiency of the coordination of care and improve the patients' transition through the care delivery continuum. The medical home is designed to give comprehensive health care to clients in an uninterrupted way; with the main goal of achieving maximum health outcomes (McHugh et al., 2016). In the transformation of the health care enlarging medical homes shall promote more and improved access to health care to a large number of individuals. Besides, the change raises the level of preventive care.
In the nurse-managed clinics, primary health care is offered best among other highly specialized health care services. This is achieved by the specially trained nurses with specific areas of practices. Nurses managed clinics are sites of care delivery managed by the Advanced Practice Registered Nurses. At the clinics, they offer health care services to the key populations with limited or no ability to pay for health care services and thus have reduced access to health care services. Nurse-managed clinics offer services such as immunizations, physical exams and health screenings(Auerbach et al., 2013).
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