Tag: Patient Care

Quick Guide for Providing the Best Hospice Care to Patients

Hospice care is a special type of medical care that focuses on terminally ill and very sick patients. People who are at the end of their lives need to acquire the best hospice care. A hospice care is important to support the medical needs of seriously ill patients. Hospice care is usually manage by highly skilled medical professionals like nurses. Nurses play an important role in assisting patients with serious conditions in hospice care facilities. Nurses help terminally ill patients managed the pain and symptoms from their diseases.

Providing medical assistance to seriously ill people is not simple. Nurses who provide hospice care to patients should be well equipped with special medical skills and knowledge. Handling serious medical cases needs to be conducted in a careful and delicate manner. Nurses should be able to acquire the right skills in managing delicate and complex medical cases. Here’s a Guide for nurses to help them provide the best hospice care to patients.

Enhance expertise in hospice care by attending seminars and training. Nurses who are currently providing hospice care to patients should allot a time to participate in skill and knowledge enhancement programs. Medical seminars and Training are regularly conducted to provide updates about new developments in the field of hospice care. It’s advisable that nurses attend these kind of events to enhance their capability in hospice care.

Nurses should be up-to-date with the latest techniques in handling serious medical conditions. The medical field continuously adapts new medical techniques and breakthroughs. New methods in managing different medical cases are discovered which improve the quality of treatment to patients. Nurses providing hospice care should be constantly updated with these new medical trends. Usually, this updates are disseminated thru nursing and medical organizations. Medical professional groups often inform their members about the latest medical advancement in meetings and scheduled meet ups.

Hospice care Updates: News, Trends and latest facts

Hospice Care has been a very popular option for families with members who are at the end of their life. In the U.S. and U.K., the hospice care industry has been growing progressively in the last ten years. This provided employment opportunity to healthcare professionals and chance to get a less expensive professional patient care to very sick dying people.

Here is a quick update about the latest news, developments and new facts from this field in healthcare.

UK recent study about Hospice care

A recently conducted study by the National Institute for Health Research showed that the fatality rates in hospice care incurred a steady increase from 17,400 in 1993 to 26,000 in 2012.  The Study also showed that 3.4% of all death in England came from hospice death. In relation, the figure doubled in 2012 showing 6% from hospice death. This was the first study to use the whole population of 223 adult inpatient hospice facilities in England. The study showed and figuratively defined hospice deaths changed from the year 1993 to 2012. The study also showed that majority of hospice death were cancer related cases. The study also found that a lot of people who died under hospice care are from prosperous areas than poverty-stricken areas in the UK.

Advance Hospice improves patient care but increases Medicare costs based on study

A new study in the New England journal of medicine investigates the impact of Medicare’s increase in hospice benefits in hospice facilities from 2004 to 2009. The research conducted concluded an improvement in the quality of hospice care administered and found an increased to Medicare costs of $6,761 in every patient. The research also validated that Hospice cases increased from 27.6 percent patients in 2004 to 39.8 percent in 2009. The study also showed a significant increase in the average length of time in a hospice or senior care from 72.1 days in 2004 to 92.6 days in 2009.

Top Three Characteristics of High Quality Nursing Schools

Choosing the ideal school to earn your nursing degree is very important. The type of nursing school plays an important role in developing professional skills and knowledge needed to practice a nursing career. These Nursing Schools are the foundation of a person’s nursing ability to provide healthcare service to patients. On top of that, a lot of medical institutions opt to employ nurses that came from respected and prestigious nursing schools.

You should be able to distinguish well which school to consider. Among the many nursing school offering nursing degree choose a school that have these qualities. This will be your quick guide in choosing the best nursing school in your area.

Highly qualified faculty members

The school’s Teachers and instructors are the front liners towards molding you to an efficient and well knowledgeable nurse. Some nursing schools have more qualified sets of faculty members compared to other. Choose a school that have high-credential faculty members on their list. A good indicator is membership in the National League for Nursing.

Accreditation

You may want to belong to an educational institution that have earn the proper accreditation in the field of nursing.  Accreditation Bodies like The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), The Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA) and the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC).

Nursing Board Exam Passing Rate

An effective nursing education program may be measured on the number of nursing board passers a school have produced. It’s preferable that you choose a nursing school that has a high rate of board passers in five consecutive years. Schools that have high percentage of passing rate often maintain high quality of education. You want to have this kind of quality nursing education to mold you to a highly qualified nursing professional.

Student’s guide for choosing the right healthcare education

One of the oldest and top industry in the world is the field of Healthcare. Each year hundreds of new graduates are added in the lists of healthcare professionals offering medial service to help the sickly. In order to be part of this highly respected profession, one must undergo proper education and training. Offering healthcare service is not easy as carpentry. In order to practice such profession people need to qualify and pass professional accreditation which can be difficult.

If you are planning to have a career in the healthcare industry, it’s best that you seek the right educational institution. The school you choose can affect the level of skills you will have in the future. You may want to enroll to an institution that offers high quality healthcare education. Your choice of school can help have the right skills and ability to provide satisfying patient care in the future.

To help you find the suitable healthcare education that you need, here’s a short guide:

  • Choose a reputable educational institution. The number of schools offering programs in healthcare has been increasing in the past years. This is due to the increase in demand for healthcare professionals. You should select an institution that has created a highly respected reputation in terms of giving high quality education.
  • Pick the institution that produced a lot of successful healthcare professionals. The number of successful professionals from a school is a good indicator what kind of education you will be getting. You want to be educated in an institution wherein there is a high success rate among graduates.

Choosing the right educational institution is a step closer to attaining your plans to having successful career in the field of healthcare. Given the education and training you have, you will surely pass any professional accreditation exams that is required to practice a triumphant healthcare career.

Improving The Quality Of Patient Care

Developing the patient care program is one of the priorities of all health care providers. The quality of patient care is determined by the quality of the facilities, infrastructure and the competence of the personnel.

There are many factors that patients and families consider when choosing a hospital. One of the factors is the quality of patient care and the satisfaction experienced by patients and their families. That is why it is necessary for hospitals to follow strict quality and safety practices. Hospitals should always find ways to improve their services.

It is true that patients are the most important people in a medical care system. They deserve to be treated well. In order to satisfy the patients and their families, it is necessary to improve the quality of patient care. There are a lot of factors that can improve the quality of patient care. Hospitals should have well-trained staff to provide high quality care with desirable outcome. All the necessary equipment should be in place and properly maintained. This is important for the hospital’s performance and it contributes significantly to better results in providing best health care. It is also necessary to continually use newer technologies that improve the quality of health care.

Improvement of patient care is a continuous process because a lot of new technologies are coming out. The personnel also play a big role in giving the best services to patients. They should have proper training in order to address the concerns of the patients and families.

Patients’ safety is the corner stone of high- quality health care. That is why it is a big challenge for the hospital on how to offer good services to their patients.

Improved Patient Care

Health is wealth, as the saying goes. And for those who are not in good health, the next best thing that we can ask for is to receive the best patient care from our health care providers. With the increasing demand for better care, greater awareness among the public, more health care regulation, keener competition, the rise in medical malpractice litigation, and concern about poor outcomes, we can say that improving patient care should be a priority.

To improve patient care, there are medical and non-medical factors to be considered, as well as a comprehensive system that is “patient oriented” and improves both medical and non-medical aspects must be adopted.

Before anything else, it must be recognized by all those who work in the system that the patient is the most important person in a medical care system. This single factor makes a significant difference to the patient care in any hospital. With patients being the priority, the health care provider is able to create a management system that emphasizes on cost recovery. A patient who receives high quality services and can afford it is one way to tell that patient care has improved and at the same time patient satisfaction is higher.

The non-medical factors that should be considered to improve patient care are the following: accessibility and availability of both hospital and the physician should be assured to all those who require health care, waiting times for services should be minimized, information should be made very clear, check-in and check-out procedures should be “patient-friendly”, communication with the patient and the family about possible delay should be done, and ancillary services should be available to both patient and attending families.

Some of the medical aspects to be considered for improved patient care are: well-trained personnel, present and properly maintained equipment, use of proper instruments, use of appropriate medications, and use of newer technologies.

Physician Efficiency vs. Patient Involvement in Patient Care  

Having to go through a medical process can really be a frustrating experience especially when the patient is left unknowing about it. But how much does a patient want to know about and be involved in their own care? The response to this question cannot be fully relied on a single answer simply because many personalities and emotional complexities are involved when it comes to patient care.

Doctors like to simplify issues into neat categories, each of which have a clear management plan. This, however, is not necessarily applicable in patient care especially when it involves different personalities and emotions. One cannot simply eliminate the feelings of patients especially when satisfaction of the care they receive is involved.

In this case, the battle between increased physician efficiency through well-planned medical processes and better healthcare understanding buy the patient is the dilemma. Which of the two is best for patient care? There is reasonable argument for both.

A well thought of medical plan can be beneficial to an extent. There are physicians that prefer to spend their day practicing in a world of medical fact and deductive reasoning without taking into consideration patient reaction. The more practice, the less the mistakes are. But it can be argued that higher efficiency does not represent the rate at which patients are satisfied customers.

On the patient side, the ability of the medical team to involve them in their own care and make them aware of the plan lessen the patient’s frustrations with treatment. Doctors that are well-loved by their patients are those who spend time with them, to answer questions and provide a picture of what the coming days and weeks might look like. However, it can be argued that most of the questions can be answered not necessarily by the doctors themselves but by a less senior and equally able medical practitioners working for the admitting service.

Both have valid arguments and probably the best patient care in one that involves both as well.

Improving Patient Care

In today’s time, hospital organizations and other health leaders across the globe were being challenged with an increasing number of patient complaints related to ineffective patient care. They also received reports saying that there are some rude medical professionals who don’t want to provide health services to those unfortunate people. Because of these reports, health leaders have come up with some ideas on how to improve patient care to avoid negative reports and dissatisfaction from patients.

In this article, we will talk about effective guidelines on how to improve patient care within the society, community and hospital settings.

Continuous assessment
Doctors and nurses should conduct continuous health assessment to the patient by visiting them 3 to 4 times a day. By doing this, patients will regain their trust over them.

Proper communication
To have a smooth and peaceful relationship, medical professionals should always communicate well with their patients. Patients have low self-esteem; they wanted to be treated like what their mothers do to them. In order to provide the best patient care, talk to them modestly, give them accurate instructions.

Don’t let them wait
One of the most common patient complaints is that they wait for too long just to get the attention and care of the physician. Doctors and nurses should not let their patient wait and treat them as soon as possible. However, due to shortages of medical staffs, they cannot immediately attend to the needs of the patients. In order to prevent dissatisfaction and complaints, doctors and nurses should give patients definite and accurate time of service.

These three simple tips to improve patient care experience are much less difficult to follow. Patients who suffer from illnesses don’t have longer patience to understand the medical team. Doctors and nurses plead to provide highest care to patients who are in need.

How To Earn a Patient’s Trust

Most sick people don’t want to be admitted to the hospital since they do not have enough trust towards the health care team. They consider a lot of things when choosing a health care provider such as emotional, personal and financial factors. Doctors, nurses, and other parts of the health team should also bear in mind that when the patient decides to seek care from them, it simply means that the patient also decided to trust them.

Trust plays a vital role in doctor-patient relationship. Without it, patient care will be compromised. So, the question here is how to earn patient’s trust? In this article, we will talk about some powerful notes on how to gain a patient’s trust.

Establish Rapport
Patients admitted in the hospital have very low self-esteem and they have the fear of the unknown. In addition, they have fears over malpractice and other medical error. First thing to do to lessen their anxiety is to build and establish rapport. In this way, patients will slowly build trust towards the medical team.

Provide smooth and unique patient care experience
The main reason why patients seek hospital care is that, they want to be treated and cared professionally. They are counting for the best medical service that doctors and nurses can deliver. One way to provide the best patient care is to give clear safety instructions about medication and other medical procedures. The health team should understand that the patient needs extra care.

Practice Empathy
Healthcare providers should also think about the feelings and emotions of the patient. If the patient will feel good about the care being provided, doctors and nurses will have a positive outcome of care.

Be transparent
This is the best way to gain their trust is to be transparent. Tell them the truth about their condition such as the severity, changes and other useful and helpful method to treat the condition. Also, give them the complete list of pricing of service and other relevant information.

Health care providers should not underestimate the fears and anxiety of the patient. They should always remember that the trust of every patient is very important for them to deliver the care properly.

Technology: A Blessing and Curse to Patient Care

The combination of knowledge, experience, and skills are needed for nurses to meet the changing needs of their patients. A large demand of patient care and safety is based on the work of nurses. When care is sub par, because of certain inappropriate situations, nurses shoulder the responsibility. Having an understanding and engagement of strategies to improve quality of care and safety is paramount to a nurse’s work.

A lot of factors affect the quality and safety of care provided by nurses such as environment, organizations, and systems. When teams function well and organization structures support their work, nurses are able to perform their job better with a high intensity of care.

In the past, nurses relied heavily on their senses to monitor their patients and look for changes. As time passed, inaccurate use of senses were replaced with precision-based technologies designed to detect changes to patient’s conditions. Over time, technology has become extremely helpful tot the nursing career.

While technology has potentially improved patient care and safety, it is not without risks. Technology has been accounted for bringing a solution and added problems for safer health care. Problems may rise based on the sheer number of new devices, the complexity and careless introduction in using them.

Although billions and billions of dollars have been spent every year on medical devices and equipment, nurses has paid little attention to technological implementation and integration.

Technology also has introduced many errors and unintended mistakes. For instance the use of bar code system. Many believe that the bar coding medication administration reduces the medication errors, it was also believed to decreased physician’s ability to accurately deviate routine administration sequences.

Another disadvantage of using technology is the associated expenditure. Not all hospitals can afford high-end equipments and devices. That is why more development is needed to more effectively introduce new technologies, reducing the risk to the patient care, and stress on nurses.