Reply1

Tracey Cash 1 postsRe: Topic 6 DQ 1

Topic 6 DQ 1

     Hospitals around the world were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Early during the pandemic is was not clear how health care utilization and spending would change. Most expected health cost to increase during the pandemic but surprisingly statistics show that health care use and spending decreased dramatically in 2020 due to cancellations of elective care to increase hospital capacity and social distancing to help reduce the spread of Covid-19. The drop in health spending in 2020 reflects a decrease in utilization for non-Covid medical care. (Cox et al., 2021)

     As the health care industry maneuvered through the pandemic it became evident that the quality of nursing would be changed forever. Health care professionals had to make daily changes in the way they cared for Covid-19 patients. This in turned changed the quality of care. Health care professionals were forced to change their daily routines in how they cared for patients due to the limited supplies of personal protective equipment. Limiting bedside care to minimize possible nurse exposure to the virus.

     Although burnout in the health care professional began long before the Covid-19 pandemic, health care leaders will learn from the past and work toward implementing change, so it does not continue. Challenges that nurses have faced during and after the Covid-19 pandemic are burnout, compassion fatigue, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. With the already acknowledged shortage of nurses across the nation the psychological issues if not addressed will lead to nurses finding new careers. The clinical aspect of the health care industry continues to be deeply affected by this.

     My change project interventions will have a direct impact on the financial, quality, and clinical aspect of the health care industry.

1. The health care industry cannot function without nurses and their knowledge and specialties. Each department of the hospital requires nurses to have special knowledge for the department to run smoothly and care for patients. Elective surgeries generate millions of dollars to a hospital therefore nurses and other health care professionals are needed to provide care and generate this type on income.
2. As the health care industry makes strides to return to a “new normal” nurses will be able to conduct bedside care with less fear of being exposed to Covid-19.
3. With support from administration my change project will have an impact on the mental health of health care professionals that have treated Covid-19 patients. With mental health support, telemedicine evaluations, and Chaplains on call for counsel and prayer psychological issues will be reduced, reducing burnout, stress, depression, compassion fatigue, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

     By offering health care professionals psychological support will indirectly affect overall hospital production, income, and patient satisfaction.

References

Cox, C., Amin, K., & Kamal, R. (2021). How Have Health Spending and Utilization Changed During The Coronavirus Pandemic? Health System Tracker. Retrieved June 22, 2021, from https://doi.org/https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/how-have-healthcare-utilization-and-spending-changed-so-far-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/
Reply 2

Re: Topic 6 DQ 1

Financial aspect, quality aspect, and clinical aspect to consider for developing evidence-based change proposal.

Financial aspect

Implementation of evidence-based practice brings into action new ways of doing things. It’s a process which has monetary implication. This comes in when for example new infrastructure has to be put in place, staff have to be trained and retrained and or the institution has to bring on board more staff to ensure that what is proposed is implemented per protocol (Alex et al. 2020).

Quality aspect 

All communities deserve good services provision. One key aspect of this proposal is to ensure quality care is provided to target populations to prevent falls. Adoption of key quality measures is critical, and this has to be put into consideration.

Clinical aspect

A key clinical aspect is understanding staff composition and the various roles they play. All inpatient units have nurses, doctors, certified nurse assistant amongst other clinical staff. Different units are equipped based on the acuity of clients they care for and this needs to be considered while implementing evidence-based projects.

The proposal will impact on the above in various ways. One is on the quality of service provision. The project is focusing on prevention of falls by implementing evidence-based practices which have been tried and showed high impact. During this several clinical aspects such as clinical skills composition will be considered. Ultimately, to ensure recommendations are put into action, there will be financial implications during capacity building of staff and If the hospital will consider employment of more staff.

Reference. 

Alex R D, Marie R N, Peter M, Jane F S, Allison B S, David M, Beverly W F, Byron J P, Susan S, Daniel E, Douglas L and Peter M, 2020. A scoping review of strategies for financing the implementation of evidence-based practices in behavioral health systems: State of the literature and future directions. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2633489520939980