An Innovation that has Influenced Health Care in the Past Five Years
One of the innovations that have influenced the health care in the US for the past five years is the point of care diagnostics/testing (POCT). Laboratory testing results are frequently crucial to critical care decisions as it gives physicians the valuable knowledge concerning the condition of the patient so that the right therapeutic interventions can be quickly made. In this context, Louie, Tang, Shelby, and Kost (2010) defines POCT as testing which is conducted close to the patient care during the period when care is needed. Its purpose is to provide instant information to physicians concerning the conditions of the patient, and this information is integrated into useful decisions of treatment that improves the outcomes of patients, that is, the mortality, criticality, and morbidity of patients. POCT can be done in various environments including home, hospital, and other locations. This innovation has been beneficial as it carries many advantages over the traditional centralized laboratory testing (Louie, Tang, Shelby, & Kost, 2010).
One benefit of POCT is that it involves a short turnaround time of therapeutic of patients sample testing. Unlike the traditional centralized laboratory testing which used to take more hours to produce results, POCT average turnaround time projected by physicians of critical care is between 5 to 15 minutes (Louie, Tang, Shelby, & Kost, 2010). Stat tests are often requested units of critical care, and depending on the used instrument, test type, tests’ numbers performed, the time of analysis of a whole sample of blood may vary from 15 seconds to 2minutes and 20 seconds. Delays past this time may yield results which do not reflect the current condition of the patient. One advantage of quick therapeutic turnaround time is that it enables physicians to start implementing the required treatment early, especially for the patients in units of critical care where any delays can negatively affect the outcomes of the patient (Louie, Tang, Shelby, & Kost, 2010).
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Second, POCT has the potential to reduce postanalytic and preanalytic errors which are present with the traditional laboratory testing methods as they involve numerous preparatory steps. Some of the standard pre and post-analytic errors which are associated with conventional lab testing methods include specimen processing delays, and testing may permit samples to degrade, and as such, the succeeding testing may generate results which do not reflect the actual patient’s status. This especially common for tests involving blood pH, gases, and glucose (Louie, Tang, Shelby, & Kost, 2010). However, POCT minimizes such preanalytic errors because it eliminates delays of time due to specimen transportation and various people handling a specimen of a patient. On the other hand, it reduces postanalytic mistakes as bedside testing results are instantly available to the clinical team and results are directly recorded onto the charts of patients (Louie, Tang, Shelby, & Kost, 2010).
Third, POCT is convenient for care providers as it can be executed quickly, and results are readily obtainable. The instruments are user-friendly and easy to use and low maintenance since they are self-contained, use test cartridges that are disposable, and these test cartridges are placed readily. Besides, POCT requires a small volume of sample to use and as a result, saves the large volumes of blood that patients could lose per day in the hospital while using the traditional centralized laboratory testing. A patient could lose blood amounting to 25ml to 125ml per day through phlebotomy for the traditional testing technique (Louie, Tang, Shelby, & Kost, 2010).
How Evidence-Based Research Influences the Health Care Industry
Jylha, Oikarainen, Perälä, and Holopainen (2017) defines evidence-based practice (EBP) as the conscientious, judicious, and explicit use of research-based evidence in making decisions concerning individual patient care. It is an interdisciplinary decision-making approach in clinical practice which includes the care context, the best evidence available, client preferences and values, and the professional judgment of health care providers. It started with research-to-practice gap identification and developed into the application of its principle in decision-making at various health system levels and to other professional practice fields including dentistry, psychology, nursing, radiology, midwifery, public health, policy and management, and social work. Thus, it is considered today a primary modern health care component (Jylha, Oikarainen, Perälä, & Holopainen, 2017).
The main aim of the evidence-based research is to deliver care which is appropriate in a manner that is efficient to the patient. As such, it has contributed to many benefits in the healthcare industry. To patients, these benefits include better outcomes in patients as patients preferences are included in the decision-making process, increased quality of care services, and reduction in the length of stay for patients as care is also enhanced (Jylha, Oikarainen, Perälä, & Holopainen, 2017). To the care providers, EBR has led to increased job satisfaction, empowerment, support for the growth of their profession, improved skills which are needed to integrate the preferences of the patient into practice, and they also experience a continuous development in their career through the roles of experts.
Regarding the health-care systems, EBP has resulted to improved quality of care while reducing the costs of care, offers a stronger basis for investment decisions in the health-care as the education programs which health systems invest in nurses improve their skills thus a lower rate of turnover and greater satisfaction resulting in saving the costs. Besides, EBP enhances capacity-building through collaboration with care providers (Jylha, Oikarainen, Perälä, & Holopainen, 2017). Concerning EBP in research and education, EBP has contributed to a significant shift of paradigm in health care practice and education as it has led to the development of nursing competency while analyzing the best evidence available before making recommendations or decisions. This helps in preventing health issues or assists in addressing the existing problems. Additionally, EBP has increased requirement for synthesis and production of sound evidence, and incorporation of expert nursing roles in health systems (Jylha, Oikarainen, Perälä, & Holopainen, 2017).
External Influences on Health Care Research
External influences have also impacted the healthcare research. In this context, external influences refer to factors which occur due to the external surroundings in which health care organizations operate. Naturally, the organizations have insufficient control over these external environments at most times. According to Porter & Teisberg (2004), competition in the healthcare sector is one of the external factors which have influenced healthcare research in the US. With the aim to improve the quality of healthcare while reducing costs and improving the satisfaction of patients among the competitors, there have been a relentless method and processes improvements to cut down cost and improve quality, and as a result, this need has fueled research in the health sector. This research leads to innovations of better and new approaches to enhance the delivery of healthcare to patients (Porter & Teisberg, 2004).
References
Jylha, V., Oikarainen, A., Perälä, M., & Holopainen, A. (2017). Facilitating evidence-based practice in nursing and midwifery in the WHO European Region. World Health Organization .
Louie, R. F., Tang, Z., Shelby, D. G., & Kost, G. J. (2010). Point-of-care testing: millennium technology for critical care. Laboratory Medicine , 31 (7), 402-408.
Porter, M. E., & Teisberg, E. O. (2004). Redefining competition in health care. Harvard business review , 64-77.
