Carole Lauren is a 44 year old mother of two, a wife, and a school teacher by profession. Her story began 21 months ago when she had a cerebrovascular accident that left her hemiplegic. Almost two years passed since the event. Carole regained most of the lost function in her left leg, ankle, and foot. However, she still has limited function in her left arm and hand. She also has difficulty organizing her thoughts and read her message from a paper. Her story is about a journey through the health care system. Since the stroke, Carole has received care from multiple healthcare providers - some were better than others and she met many great people, but her overall care experience “could have been much better in many different ways”. Carole noticed while in the tertiary care how the staff seemed to be overworked. She also felt that they did not talk to each other and when they did, she felt left out and her opinions were not considered. Her primary care physician was not informed of Carol’s progress, neither did she know about any post-stroke support. Physiotherapy waiting list was extremely long. On multiple occasions she could not tell her care providers about each other for fear of repercussions. This eventually led to two uncoordinated treatment plans, as they “were not funded” to talk to each other. As I was listening to Carol’s story, I realized that her story is one of many patients. Sure, she was lucky that her husband had advocated on her behalf when she was most vulnerable and she took over once she could but how many people could not? Juggling only two balls in the air becomes tricky once we name them “patient care” and “budget”. If we were to place Carol in an ideal hospital, would she have had the same expe... ... middle of paper ... ... and explain complicated medical stuff in lame terms. It could also help with inter-professional communication because the specialists would only need to work with the coordinator and not worry about ten other professionals which can understandably be very time-consuming. Carol finishes her story with a plea for a better communication among the different healthcare providers and the system in general. There is no perfect system, and health care, the system that constantly evolves, deals with life and death, and employs people to fill such diverse niches is probably the most complex of them all, the most difficult to assess, comprehend, and change. As big, complex, and sometimes scary as it seems, it can be changed: talking to a colleague, taking a moment and asking a patient’s opinion. “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, said Gandhi. This is my motto.
Stroke survivors or anyone with chronic illness and health providers remain hopeful and “realistic” by counting on each other. The patients while being realistic about the outcome of their disease, stay hopeful that each of their health care providers will give them the appropriate care and will make sure that they can live with their disease in the best way possible.
Tabitha walked onto the medical-surgical unit and received report on five patients in a record ten minutes before she began her busy shift Tuesday morning. The off going nurse managed to talk about the pet peeves and subjectives of each patient but was in a rush to make it to the monthly nursing practice council meeting and ‘everyone is doing fine’. Tabitha was unaware of the potential chaos that would ensue as her day progressed. As Tabitha walked into her patients’ rooms that morning to introduce herself, little did she know that Mrs. Jones is a high fall risk with no signage or alarms plugged in; Mr. Hill has fluids infusing at one hundred and fifty milliliters per hour with a history of congestive heart failure (CHF); and another patient is scheduled for surgery with no pre-operative paperwork or consents completed.
While John is under a great deal of stress, he is in the hands of seasoned professionals who all share the same goal, getting John better. St. Luke’s, a medical center geared towards helping veterans, has provided John a knowledgeable health care provider team to help meet his needs. John’s interprofessional team is being put together by John’s primary care physician, Dr. Jackson, and his licensed clinical social worker, Tessa. The team is kept small due to John’s reservations about opening up to people. The rest of his team will consist of a veterans affairs representative to help John seek any veterans benefits he is entitled to, as well as a mental health case manager. Lastly, a CNA assigned to help John integrate into life in a home with others while he tries to get a handle on his depression and Alzheimer’s.
Globally the leading reason for mortality and morbidity rate is stroke. Nearly twenty million individuals can suffer from stroke annually and around five million individuals won't survive [1]. The developing countries account for a median of 85% of worldwide deaths from stroke [2]. Stroke ends up in practical impairments with a median rate of two hundredth survivors who need institutional care once an amount of three months and 15%-30% are going to be disabled for good [3].
Patient’s experience with the healthcare team to the standards of patient centered care, there are some parallels and differences. In Barry and Edgman-Levitan’s text Shared Decision making: The Pinnacle of Patient Centered Care, it explained how the patient centered care is divided into three broad areas. One of the areas discussed about information, communication and education. It stated that “Adequate information must be shared with the patients and this would include clinical management…This is very relevant in understanding the concept of self-care and individual health promotion..” Barry& Edgman-Levitan (2012). In Ms. Patient’s case, the doctor was able to explain thoroughly to the patient and her parents about her current health condition and idea of scoliosis so the patient can have a better idea about self-care while reassuring her parents. Therefore, the doctor successfully shared adequate information about the patient’s condition so she can better understand how to manage herself effectively. Another example from one of the broad areas was idea of integration and coordination of care, “patients feel vulnerable when they are faced with illnesses and they feel the need for competent and caring healthcare personnel.” Barry& Edgman-Levitan (2012). In this case, both the doctor and the nurse proved themselves as part of a caring healthcare personnel when they tried to have a casual conversation with the patient in the beginning and asking her
Strokes. Generally, whenever we hear about someone who suffered from a stroke, the result is never good. Why is it that strokes are so dangerous and why is it so important for providers to recognize them as early as possible? What do we do when we suspect a patient is currently having an active CVA (cerebral vascular accident)? All of these are excellent questions that medical providers need to affluent in.
...e crucial change needed in health services delivery, with the aim of transforming the current deteriorated system into a true “health care” system. (ANA, 2010)
Ideal patient-centered care consists of no mistakes, constant communication, no waiting time, cost savings for all patients, physicians who take their time with everyone, no ethical concerns and discrimination issues. In other words, all patients would be treated equally, where neither money nor race was ever an issue. That is describing the world of healthcare as being “perfect.” Unfortunately, nothing in this world is perfect. As a community we can work together to build patient-centered care that is close to perfect, but there are far too many flaws and opinions that will constantly be in the way from allowing that to
The problem of poor communication stems from an environment of high stress levels. After a consulting company scrutinized processes throughout the hospital related to care coordination and patient flow, the evidence was clear. The company identified areas for improvement around communication at many different levels. In order for patients to have a seamless transition from admission to discharge, the lines of communication needed to change. Daily face-to-face meetings were productive for the staff, hospital and overall satisfaction. The consulting firm worked for the hospital for several months, but as they departed, the prior culture of poor communication started to engulf...
The aim of this essay is to discuss Mary, a 75 year old retired teacher with a history of obesity and hypertension, who one month previously, suffered an Ischaemic stroke. In line with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2011) confidentiality guidelines, the identity of the service user has been kept anonymous by using the pseudonym ‘Mary’. In relation to Mary, the author will discuss the risk and resilience factors associated with stroke, the vulnerability impact of the disease, and the appropriate level of care which makes a difference to recovery.
“How can I make a difference?” that was the first thought when I learned about this assignment. When I was assigned a patient at the community health worker’s office I was nervous. I was given discharge papers and I was told I had 30 minutes left before seeing my patient in outpatient. By reading the documents I learned my patient was a 46 year old quadriplegic who was discharged from the Temple hospital for a DVT several weeks ago. I talked to Sherron, the
After visiting my grandparents several times I began to explore the hospital floor. Although shy at first, I began to talk with the patients and better understand their situations and difficulties. Each patient had his or her unique experiences. This diversity sparked an interest to know each patients individualized story. Some transcended the normal capacity to live by surviving the Holocaust. Others lived through the Second World War and the explosive 1960’s. It was at this time I had begun to service the community. Whenever a patient needed a beverage like a soda from the machine or an extra applesauce from the cafeteria, I would retrieve it. If a patient needed a nurse I would go to the reception desk and ask for one. Sometimes I played checkers or chess with them during lunch break. I also helped by mashing their food to make it easier to swallow. Soon, however, I realized that the one thing they devoured most and had an unquenchable thirst for was attention and the desire to express their thoughts and feelings. Through conversing and evoking profoundly emotional memories, I bel...
... often know their patients well enough to know details of their health status. Sadly however providers are becoming more and more specialized in order to increase efficiency and handle larger volumes of people. This is further fueled by the recent changes in healthcare reform; it’s inevitable that learning and telling a patient’s story has become an insignificant piece of the puzzle. Doctors simply can not scale to keep up with the ever growing number of health epidemics and so the story of a patient is slipping through the cracks and often has to be told and retold over and over. My view of this problem is a basic one and I believe is the root cause of why quality healthcare has become a rare commodity ties back to the lack of quality primary care where the doctor and the patient constantly communicate and the doctor has a good view of the patients health history.
The demand of a constantly developing health service has required each professional to become highly specialised within their own field. Despite the focus for all professionals being on the delivery high quality care (Darzi, 2008); no one profession is able to deliver a complete, tailored package. This illustrates the importance of using inter-professional collaboration in delivering health care. Patient centric care is further highlighted in policies, emphasising the concept that treating the illness alone whilst ignoring sociological and psychological requirements on an individual is no longer acceptable. Kenny (2002) states that at the core of healthcare is an agreement amongst all the health professionals enabling them to evolve as the patient health requirements become more challenging but there are hurdles for these coalitions to be effective: for example the variation in culture of health divisions and hierarchy of roles. Here Hall (2005) illustrates this point by stating that physicians ignore the mundane problems of patients, and if they feel undervalued they do not fully participate with a multidisciplinary team.
One aspect of life that most individuals take for granted is physical health. Most people assume that an individual cannot lose physical health or if somebody becomes sick the health care system will be able to recover one’s health with the new medical advances that are always happening around the world. However, this is not always the case some individuals have to face a chronic loss of health and deal with the implications of this on their life. The loss of health I will be talking about today is not a direct loss of personal health, but a loss of health that my father experiences and how different components of this loss affected my family and I’s life.