Health Reform

Institution

The healthcare industry has been an interesting profession for quite a long time now. However, there have been adverse changes in the technological advances, care delivery and increased expectations of patients and this has brought the growth and evolution of the role of nurses in the healthcare industry. The changing trends in the profession require the nurse to be highly updated for effective assessment and treatment of the patients in the health institutions. The nursing profession has been known to involve excellent clinic skills, critical thinking, and compassion for the profession. Significant changes have therefore grown in regard to the workplaces of the nurses and the care delivery to the patients. This paper, therefore, seeks to educate nurses on the nursing practice as well as its expectations on the growth and change of the profession. Some of the quite relevant trends in the healthcare system that will be discussed in this paper include quality patient outcomes and initiatives, technology, care delivery to patients, patient changes, and the push for continued education for the nurses.

Quality patient outcomes and initiatives into the healthcare system

Nurses directly care for most patients in the health institutions, which is a clear critical role for the improvement of the delivery of quality care as well as improvement in the patient outcomes. Besides, the initiatives being made for the pay for performance has as well impacted positively by the profession. Satisfaction rates and safety records can easily be availed through the internet to be accessed by consumers who are interested in quite detailed information in any of the hospitals in the Department of Health and Human Service in the United States. This easy information access by the patients or rather just the interested individuals has changed the roles of nurses particularly in the system of healthcare delivery, for instance, there is massive dependency on the nurses to be able to screen any potential risk and help the healthcare facilities not to make mistakes especially at this time when there is no pay for preventable errors by the Medicare. Health systems and hospitals in the country have implemented thetriple aim to ensure improved quality of healthcare services with better patient experiences and lower costs (Sahay et. al, 2015). Nurses, therefore, are required apply a quite complex knowledge while caring for the patients and be highly prepared with emerging competencies in areas such as evidence-based practice, leadership, and collaboration. Massive changes in the healthcare system of the United States have made nurses be important sources of expertise and partnership. Sustaining and improving the patient outcomes have been brought into the healthcare system through the elements such as meaningful use, value-based purchasing, and the Affordable Care Act. This is important for the quality of the services provided by the nurses.

Technology

Healthcare technology has been advancing rapidly and requires nurses to remain highly sharper so as to keep up with its pace. For instance, there have been innovations such as patient simulators of high technology, and monitoring devices that have become quite common in health institutions and hospitals as well as the electronic keeping of records. However, each health facility has different levels and types of technology, nurses are required to be quite adaptable in learning the new equipment and systems. Besides, electronic communication by use of text apps and the hospital paging tools have enabled nurses to respond efficiently to the needs of the patients. There are apps that are designed to alert nurses in case they are running late to provide treatments to the patients, thus there is quality management in hospitals (Wall, 2014). Therefore, the innovative methods have greatly improved life for the health care nurses through collaborations and provision of immediate access to the quite critical information of the patients. Patient outcomes have as well been improved though physiological parameters that use evidence-based protocols. Therefore, nurses have constantly been involved in decision making on the purchases of the facility technology due to the vital role that technology plays in the quality of the healthcare service. However, the improved technology risks private information of the patients particularly when patient data is shared recklessly, and nurses have to always remain vigilant.

Care delivery

The change in nursing practice has brought facilities such as retail clinics and surgery centers have improved the healthcare service for patients outside the healthcare and hospital settings. Therefore, there has been a creation of better job opportunities for nurses outside the hospital setting rather than just depending on hospitals for employment (Klich, 2015). Nurses have the opportunity to make good use of their skills outside the hospital setting particularly in nursing homes, ambulatory care, and home health. Nursing has evolved and patients get visited by patients in their homes and the community interacts well with the nurses.

Colleagues'feedback

My colleagues feel that technology has led to the destruction of paternalism which used to form the most critical role in the healthcare. Technology has so far empowered patients into controlling their care and voicing out their health needs. Therefore, the dynamic of the patient-provider has changed positively with the improved technology. Besides, my nurse colleagues believe that the internet has provided massive opportunities for nurses all over the world where patients have been able to control long-term conditions and creation of new avenues for offering support to peers. The internet can empower and confuse patients at the same time, and the technology has not yet reformed the healthcare system.

References

Klich, J. (2015). Health Care Systems' Evolvement and The Changing Role of The State in Selected CEEC. St. Louis: Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1698893637?accountid=45049 Sahay, S., Sundararaman, T., & Braa, J. (2017). Institutions as Barriers and Facilitators of Health Information Systems Reform. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/med/9780198758778.003.0006 Wall, S. (2014). Self-employed Nurses as Change Agents in Healthcare: Strategies, Consequences, and Possibilities. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 28(4), 511-31. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1651290890?accountid=45049

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