With the several changes in the healthcare industry, the role of nurses is evolving fast. Many changes are experienced in technological advances, care delivery and expectations of patients. The current trend in the nursing practice requires that all the nurses have with them the latest information to enable them to access and treat their patients effectively. In all setting, patients deserve care and treatment which is primarily focused on their unique health needs as opposed to what is convenient for the professionals providing care (Arcand & Neumann, 2005). For the healthcare industry to achieve this goal, a transformed care system is needed. Transforming healthcare system also requires that the stakeholders rethink the many roles of care professionals including nurses. New healthcare structures have been outlined in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and with the new structures, there would be new roles.
Many initiatives and programs are being developed to enhance improvements in access, quality, and value of healthcare. Nurses have through their new roles gotten the chance to play a key role in changing the care system to provide value driven, accessible and quality care for patients (Rosenbaum & Burke, 2011). Even so, if the system is to continue capitalizing on this opportunity, the restrictions of outdated regulations, policies and cultural barriers associated to the scope of nursing practice will have to be banned especially for the nurses.
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Ensuring a continuum of care is one of the key roles for the nurses aiming at delivering quality and value-driven care to their patients. In essence, a continuum of care means keeping watch on the continuity of the care delivery to patients especially if the patient switches care institutions or caregivers (Arcand & Neumann, 2005). The continuum of care is important for both the patients and the care providers. It results in an enhancement of satisfaction level, improves health and reduces costs. Focusing on the continuum of care is significant especially for patients who solely depend on the health services, patients with complex health conditions, patients who are elderly, patients with chronic diseases and patients who are mentally vulnerable. It is a common characteristic of medical care to have many caregivers and institutions and thus there is need to document necessary information on a daily basis and to communicate the information amongst the caregivers to assure high-quality care delivery (Arcand & Neumann, 2005). When there is a switch of caregivers, it is important for the information to be shared so that there is a smooth transition in care delivery.
Another expected change in the nursing practice is the Accountable Care Organization. This refers to the arrangements of the care providers and payer to improve coordination of care between the primary specialist and the private or public payers (Rosenbaum & Burke, 2011). The Accountable Care Organization is expected to meet quality performance and to reduce spending on Medicare by some percentage. This will subsequently bring focus to management of population health.
Provision of medical homes ensures that there is improved access to healthcare, improvement of health as well as increase satisfaction. Medical home refers to the model of care delivery led by the caregiver to provide a detailed, continuous and comprehensive care to patients with an aim of obtaining maximum health results (Hansen-Turton, Bailey, Torres & Ritter, 2010). It is an approach which focuses on providing an enhanced primary care for adults, youths, and children. Coordination of care is an integral component of the medical home. It requires added resources such as trained staff and health information technology to ensure coordinated care through a model built on teams (Hansen-Turton, Bailey, Torres & Ritter, 2010). Also, models of payment which compensate medical homes for their devotions encourage further coordination.
A nurse-managed health center delivers care to many rural and urban areas where access to Medicare is limited. These centers provide care to many underinsured and uninsured people annually. The centers are normally affiliated to universities, nursing schools, and non-profitable organizations. Those in the nursing practice use the nursing model to provide health care to the vulnerable communities. This subsequently ensures that that care delivery stretches and meets the needs of patients in the rural areas.
References
Arcand, L. L., & Neumann, J. A. (2005). Nursing competency assessment across the continuum of care. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing , 36 (6), 247-254.
Hansen-Turton, T., Bailey, D. N., Torres, N., & Ritter, A. (2010). Nurse-managed health centers. AJN The American Journal of Nursing , 110 (9), 23-26.
Rosenbaum, S., & Burke, T. (2011). Accountable care organizations. Public Health Reports , 126 (6), 875-878.
