Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models
Evolving Practice of Nursing Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models Name Institutional Affiliation 1 EVOLVING PRACTICE OF NURSING 2 Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models Healthcare systems have experienced significant changes since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. New disbursement models have shifted healthcare from one individual to shared responsibility. Patients pay less for healthcare as long as they meet the eligibility criteria where the government and the insurance companies pay for healthcare. Consequently, care delivery models are changing from cost-based to quality based. Systems focus more on the quality of healthcare services offered as well as the overall health of the population. The government is funding communities so that they can improve the provision of care they receive. These new developments are slowly changing the role of nursing healthcare delivery (Quill & Abernethy, 2013). Consequently, nurses must adapt quickly to these changes by keeping up with the changes in the healthcare systems. Nurses are critical to the implementation of changes in healthcare delivery. However, this means that they have more work to do despite the fact that their numbers are almost four times more than that of physicians (Spross, 2014). The healthcare systems will require that nurses take up the role of leadership. Nevertheless, they need not develop the real leadership skills because they will work in collaboration with the physicians. Nurses will also need to learn how to balance the quality of healthcare they provide to patients and accounting for their services even with the changes in the disbursement of funds. When nurses practice at their highest level, this impacts positively in the patients as well as the whole care delivery system. The Affordable Care Act is slowly influencing change in the care delivery models so that they are no longer hospital-based but instead, healthcare focuses on primary care organizations (Quill & Abernethy, 2013). Such organizations include the Accountable Care Organizations, nurse-managed health clinics, and the medical homes. The shifting of healthcare from hospitals to these care organizations necessitates a continuum of care by the nurses. Fewer jobs will, therefore, be available in the acute care hospitals while more opportunities will EVOLVING PRACTICE OF NURSING 3 present themselves to the community-based organizations. The effectiveness of care delivery and cost reduction will depend solely on the availability of registered nurses as the primary care providers. The implementation of the new healthcare delivery models will benefit both the organizations and the patients. The healthcare providers will transition from high-cost medical facilities to institutions of high value (Spross, 2014). Working in the care based organizations will enable nurses to create relationships with their patients as well as their families. The result will be the efficient delivery of care at a reduced cost because it will reduce the rates of readmission. Patient satisfaction will also increase. The Kaiser Foundation is well known for its utilization of nurses in the provision of care to patients (Kelley & Morrison, 2015). The result has been a reduction in overall costs, increased patient satisfaction, and provision of quality care. These new delivery models have added the role of nurses to include patient discharge from hospital care to home-based care. These will enable the nurses to provide efficient care and follow-up for patients with chronic disease like diabetes, heart illnesses, and cancer among others (Kelley & Morrison, 2015). Nurses can offer professional advice while the patients have adequate time to recover. EVOLVING PRACTICE OF NURSING 4 References Kelley, A. S., & Morrison, R. S. (2015). Palliative care for the seriously ill. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(8), 747-755. Spross, J. A. (2014). Conceptualizations of Advanced. Advanced practice nursing: An integrative approach, 27. Quill, T. E., & Abernethy, A. P. (2013). Generalist plus specialist palliative care—creating a more sustainable model. New England Journal of Medicine, 368(13), 1173-1175.
