Recent Decline in Health Care Quality

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Problem in Healthcare Quality
With the rapid growth of the healthcare industry, especially considering the recent on-going policy changes, it is no surprise to the general public that healthcare providers are spending less time with the patients. This is due to the broad spectrum of inattentiveness to healthcare quality. The Donabedian Model classifying healthcare quality is crucial in understanding the areas in which quality is present, or in this case, not present. As far as structures go, they are inherently involved as the environment in which patients are treated plays a significant role in satisfaction and overall outcome. The processes involving the provider and the patient are lacking necessary interpersonal relationships for physicians to effectively diagnose and treat patients. The current problem in healthcare quality is the lack of patient centeredness in ambulatory care. This problem is resulting in low patient satisfaction and sub-optimal outcomes from discrepancies in care.
Ambulatory Care Settings
Given the fact that one-third of all healthcare expenditures is for ambulatory care, it is safe to say that patients spend most of their time in an ambulatory care setting (Carper, 2013). This setting has a significant impact in the overall assessment of the healthcare industry and how care is delivered. It is important to address data collected by surveys to implement strategies for quality improvement. Affecting care in Ambulatory settings will have the largest significance in the health outlook.
Many current practices in ambulatory settings reflect care that is not centered on the patient but rather on how fast providers can see and discharge patients. Very little time is spent talking with the patient in ...

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...moment where positive relationships can be beneficial to current care in progress and possibly preventative care measures that may be taken.
Measures and Drivers: Continuum of Care
The ability of healthcare to provide patients with a well rounded care process that integrates various services and tracks them over time is becoming more crucial to patients as new approaches using alternative interventions and new technology become more available. The ambulatory care continuum consists of many disciplines including outpatient testing, outpatient surgery, home healthcare, physical therapy service, and more. Patients are gaining access to new information within the ambulatory care continuum and with the advent of e-health, it is important that providers give patients the opportunity to utilize all new methods of care that organizations may provide.
Holistic Approach

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