Types of Patients Seen on the Unit
The nursing unit selected for this report is the oncology unit, which plays a critical role in promoting prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for patients with cancer. The oncology unit is equally important in the study and treatment of patients with tumors, which are likely to result in their exposure to cancer. The unit has been on the forefront in enhancing overall delivery of quality care for individual patients with the sole intention of having to maximize on patient outcomes. Most of the expenses for the unit are directed towards improving on service delivery expectations.
Top Five DRGs
The oncology unit has been involved in providing proactive measures that would seek to improve on the quality of health care outcomes for patients. The outcome of this is that it has paved the way for a significant improvement in terms of diagnosis for patients with a wide array of medical conditions. The two five diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) associated with this particular unit are breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, cervical cancer, and stomach cancer. The unit specifically deals with the diagnosis of different types of cancer as a way of ensuring that the patients go through effective treatment.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Severity of Patient Illness
The severity of patient illness tends to vary from one patient to another depending on the condition in question. One of the key aspects to note is that the oncology unit has been on the forefront towards promoting patient education with the aim being towards justifying the validity of early diagnosis. Early diagnosis helps towards advancing the overall possibilities of effective treatment while seeking to reduce the possibility of a patient experiencing notable levels of illness severity. However, the unit has a long way to go in its approach towards promoting patient education as a key outcome in dealing with its patients.
Average Length of Stay
The average length of stay for patients within this unit is between 7 and 9 days. Mason, Leavitt, & Chaffee (2013) take note of the fact that the average length of stay acts as a key determinant of budgetary expenditure within a given nursing unit. In this case, although most of the patients often spend a longer period in the unit, a majority spend between 5 and 7 days. A significant chunk of the budgetary allocations towards the unit are driven towards ensuring that it is well positioned in its bid to promoting patient safety.
Per Cent Unit Occupancy
A current analysis of the unit indicates that it has a 63.6% unit occupancy, which is significantly high when compared to some of the other nursing care units within the facility. However, it is important to consider the fact that the unit occupancy rises to as high as 95% during specific periods. When creating a budgetary plan for allocation of funding, one of the key aspects of consideration is the occupancy of the different units, as this would determine how the units would unit the funds allocated as part of improved patient care (Ungos & Thomas, 2008).
Model of Care Delivery
The model of care delivery that the unit has adopted reflects more on the idea of promoting personalization of care services. That means that the unit has been on the forefront towards creating a standard through which to ensure that individual patients receive the best quality of care services matching their expectations in terms of service delivery. On its patient, the unit has focused much of its attention towards creating a nursing standard that it believes is essential towards projecting strategic influence as one of the ways through which to promoting quality nursing care.
Cancer remains as one of the notable financial burdens that the health care facility is facing as it seeks to improve on the quality of care offered to individual patients. From that perspective, what is evident is that the nursing care unit finds itself using significant amounts of money in its bid to advancing quality care to cancer patients. The unit is also involved in a wide array of training programs for patients as a way of improving the possibility of early diagnosis. That serves as a key justification for the cost of nursing care that is being projected through the oncology unit.
Budgeted Unit Census
The budgeted unit census, HPPD, skill mix, RN to patient ratio developed as part of the budgetary plan for the oncology unit within the facility is 1:5. The oncology unit has been on the forefront towards advocating for adequate staffing with the aim of reducing the number of patients that a nurse handles at any given period. From the budgetary plan created, one nurse would be expected to handle at least five patients within the nursing care unit. That not only seeks to improve on the quality of care but also reduces the possibility of fatigue among individual nurses.
Assurance of Budget Flexibility
The allocated amounts within the budget have catered for differential variations in terms of factors that are likely to impact on the ability for the nursing unit to deliver on the best possible care for its patients. Factoring in the variations has helped towards promoting overall flexibility in the budget, which has helped towards building a strategic approach through which to maximize on improve care services. (Vlasses & Smeltzer, 2007) The assurance can be seen from the fact that the budget created seeks to consider all possible factors that are likely to impact on nursing as a key factor to improving patient outcomes.
References
Mason, D. J., Leavitt, J. K., & Chaffee, M. W. (2013). Policy and Politics in Nursing and Healthcare-Revised Reprint . Elsevier Health Sciences.
Ungos, K., & Thomas, E. (2008). Lessons learned from China's healthcare system and nursing profession. Journal of Nursing Scholarship , 40 (3), 275-281.
Vlasses, F. R., & Smeltzer, C. H. (2007). Toward a new future for healthcare and nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Administration , 37 (9), 375-380.
