Nurses Roles in the Evolving Health Care System

Nurses Roles in the Evolving Health Care System

Healthcare system has to ensure effective, efficient, and economical care. The care system should be funded adequately with high-quality care and have a workforce that meets the population’s health care. 80% of the workforce in healthcare systems are nurses. Considering their welfare is the solution to achieving health continuum. Nurses are perceived to be lesser partners in the multidisciplinary teams of health care, playing a significant role in population care. 

Continuum of care

Nursing covers care and cure coordination, health promotion, disease prevention, and even palliative care at times when cure is impossible. Nurses have a significant impact in patients’ care since they are the ones who deal with care, evaluations, and assessments in hospitals, nursing homes, workplaces, schools and ambulatory settings (Li et al., 2018). Nurses ensure that patients receive care effectively, compassionately, and safely. Holistic handling of patients as well as their families also their duty as it influences patients’ mental, spiritual, and social needs (Li et al., 2018). Therefore, nurses have a significant role when it comes to transformation in the health care system.

Accountable Care Organizations

ACOs’ provide health care services as a team through coordination of care for groups of patients. ACOs ensure patient-centered, high quality, and reduced care costs, besides providing smooth, quality, and continuous care to individuals. Clinical RNs take part in care coordination besides being limited to intervention, assessments, and education (Van et al., 2014). A nurse should be able to fit in different disciplines of care: quality improvement manager, care coordinator and provide an advanced care level. According to Ruffin et al. (2017). Care coordination is perceived to be one of the Standards of Practice for Nursing, and it will soon become the crucial role of registered nurses. 

Medical Homes

PCHMHs (patient-centered medical homes) provides interdisciplinary and coordinated care to patients. In PCMH, the arrangement of care is in a way that it best fulfills long-term or short-term healthcare goals in every care level and stage of life (Druhmann & Hohenberg, 2018). During the care transition, nurses take part in care coordination. Nurses introduce holistic care concept in medical homes that physicians could have failed to do. The model of delivering care might prove to be useful as it perceives patents to be the base care coordination.

Nurse-Managed Health Clinics (NMHCs)

NMHCs value the health of patients without considering their inability to settable medical costs. NMHCs advocate for the delivery of wellness care as well as community-based primary care (Li et al., 2018). Besides, they provided clinical placements to nursing students and eliminated shortages in the supply of nurses (Druhmann & Hohenberg, 2018). Also, they help students to integrate their classwork with community-based care. NMHC has a big impact on the future of nursing since wellness care is now the focus of the majority of the population.   

Conclusion

Nurses ensure health care is accessible, acceptable, and also affordable. However, they encounter setbacks like an inaccessible system of education for higher levels progression, inability to practice in full extent, and lack of opportunities like partnering with other professionals in healthcare hinder nurses from delivering their best in the rapidly evolving and changing health care system. Therefore, nursing students need sufficient education to enable them to eliminate their setbacks and understand their duties in a different set of healthcare.

Reference

Druhmann, Carsten K., & Hohenberg, Gregor. (2018). How can economically successful training be conducted in a shortage occupation? : a single study from the healthcare sector on the economic viability of a blended learning training course. (International Journal of Education (IJE).) AIRCC Publishing Corporation.

Li, H., Shi, Y., Li, Y., Xing, Z., Wang, S., Ying, J., Zhang, M., … Sun, J. (June 01, 2018). Relationship between nurse psychological empowerment and job satisfaction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74, 6, 1264-1277.

Ruffin, T. R., Hawkins, J. M., & Lee, D. I. (January 01, 2017). Organizational Leadership and Health Care Reform.

Van, B. P., Adriaenssens, J., Dilles, T., Martens, D., Van, R. B., & Timmermans, O. (November 01, 2014). Impact of role-, job- and organizational characteristics on Nursing Unit Managers’ work related stress and well-being. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70, 11, 2622-2633.