Nurses are the primary caregivers and as such play an important role in giving quality healthcare and improving patients’ outcomes. Therefore, their role in the healthcare space is expected to change, evolve, and even grow further as the patient expectations keep rising and the technological advances required in care delivery. Some of the changes that are expected to occur are related to the continuum of care, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), medical homes, and nurse-managed health clinics.
Continuum of Care
Fishman (2018) asserted that the primary goal in the continuity of care is to provide high quality and cost-effective services for all. This type of care mainly applies to those with chronic or rather complex situations. In the community-based care services, the nurse had a role in visiting patients in their areas of residence to provide the required services and assessment. The onset of telemedicine has revolutionized such activities making them more efficient with nurses now expected to coordinate services in the rural areas more efficiently. Depending on the quality initiatives adopted by the nurses, patients with chronic illnesses can benefit immensely from the disease management programs. The initiatives are meant to ensure that the needs of every single group are satisfied accordingly.
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It is also critical to understand that nurses with a specialization in disease management have an important task to do. They are expected to coordinate an array of services that are geared towards correcting behavioral, economic, and environmental hindrances to healthcare which has a long-term goal of promoting healthy living. Such a move will also empower patients to manage their chronic illnesses. The new health information system will also be a valuable tool for the nurses. Such a system will be in line with the hospital core goal which is to provide quality and affordable healthcare. The system will ensure that patients access data and information on patients to know when to initiate necessary changes and also to assess the progress of patients in different geographical areas. Another critical factor of essence is the patient transition during movement across various levels of care. Changes in the healthcare will see the nurse managers coordinate the transitions effectively in areas such as discharge and end-of-life among others.
Healthcare Organization
The Accountable Care Organization (ACO), nurse-managed healthcare clinics, and medical homes have one thing in common; they improve quality of healthcare while also checking on the progression of the expenditures incurred. Nurses will in the future be required to pay much attention to primary care provision which involves detecting problems at their early stages thereby preventing the development of chronic infections. Quality care coordination would also ensure timely and appropriate access to the necessary healthcare to the patients. Nurses would, therefore, have to invest their energy in synchronizing their work to ensure that patients can access necessary services and at the same time avoiding unnecessary expenditure.
An ACO will also impact on the well-being of the patient in the sense that it will enhance a collaborative approach to providing high quality, efficient, and well coordinated care to a given population of patients. Mayberry (2017) pointed out that the three main aims of ACO include improving care experience, improving the healthcare of various populations, and thirdly, reducing the cost of healthcare. According to Tung et al . (2018), medical homes will enhance a type of care that is patient-centered, team-based, comprehensive, accessible, and coordinated care that emphasizes safety and quality. Primary care is moving towards the model of medical homes because it gives the care providers an opportunity to meet the patients from wherever they are. Patients are treated with a sense of dignity and compassion hence building a strong relationship between caregivers and patients. Similarly, the nurse-managed health clinics take a holistic approach in treating a patient, and it focuses on not only the physical conditions and medical history of the patient but also the environment in which they emanate (Ely, 2015).
References
Ely, L. T. (2015). Nurse-Managed Clinics: Barriers and Benefits toward Financial Sustainability when Integrating Primary Care and Mental Health. Nursing Economic$ , 33 (4), 193-203.
Fishman, G. A. (2018). Attending Registered Nurses: Evolving Role Perceptions in Clinical Care Teams. Nursing Economic$ , 36 (1), 12-22
Mayberry, M. E. (2017). Accountable Care Organizations and Oral Health Accountability. American Journal of Public Health , 107 S61-S64.
Tung, E. L., Gao, Y., Peek, M. E., Nocon, R. S., Gunter, K. E., Lee, S. M., & Chin, M. H. (2018). Patient Experience of Chronic Illness Care and Medical Home Transformation in Safety Net Clinics. Health Services Research , 53 (1), 469-488. doi:10.1111/1475-6773.12608
