Evolving Practices Informal Presentation

Evolving Practices
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Institution
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Evolving Practices
Informal Presentation
Nurses play a crucial role in delivering quality care to patients and thus influence patient outcomes. However, today, with the integration of technological innovations into the practice of nursing, there are expectations that the field of nursing will change and grow. Healthcare delivery continues to change as patients continue to demand better care. So, as these demands continue to increase so does the medical field, especially nursing. Some of the areas that are expected to happen are with regards to the accountable care organizations (ACO), the continuity or continuum of care, medical homes initiative, and nurse-managed health clinics.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services defines ACOs as “a group of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high-quality care to their Medicare patients.” The goal of this program or initiative is to ensure that patients get proper care at the right time while also seeking to avoid medical errors as well as the duplication of care and services offered. Well, the idea of ACOs has sparked debates over the years but with patients’ demands and expectations rising, ACOs are expected to become commonplace. Slowly, the focus is turning towards patients and hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare providers are expected to enhance their efforts of offering care to their patients. The role of nurses is thus expected to grow as they will be required to grow closer to patients and ensure that ACOs are running effectively.
Aside from ACOs, the other area that is expected to grow influence and change the field of nursing concerns the continuity or continuum of care. The Sentinel Watch defines it as “a patient-oriented system of care that spans an entire lifetime, is composed of both services and integrating mechanisms, and guides and tracks patients over time through a comprehensive array of health, mental health, and social services across all levels of intensity of care.” Like ACOs, this system of providing care to patients centers on patients alone and seeing that it requires or calls for tracking patients over time, the expectation is that nurses will be greatly involved. Initially, care was episodic meaning that it involved the treatment of patients with acute conditions without the necessity of following up. However, with the continuum of care system, care is offered during and after the treatment. The goal is to ensure that patients are taken care of and that any chances of a disease recurring are thwarted.
Aside from the two, medical homes are also another piece of development that will greatly shape the role of nursing in the coming years. Medical homes will change the provision of care towards a system that is patient-centered, team-based, focused on the safety of patients and appears to also emphasize the quality of care given. Medical homes continue to be accepted and are slowly becoming part of the conversation of what the future of the medical field holds for the nurses. As medical homes continue to become mainstream, the role of nurses will also change as more of them will be needed to en...