Introduction
In delivering nursing care services to clients, nursing professionals may rely on different models. However, the approach used varies greatly from one medical facility to another and also depends on the condition of patients. Models used today include team nursing, primary nursing, and progressive patient care.
This paper describes the progressive patient care and looks at other aspects associated with the model.
Description of the Progressive Patient Care Model
Drawing from a study by Stacy (2011), progressive care refers to the type of care given to patients with needs that fall along the less acute end of the continuum. It is a nursing model that is concerned with offering care to patients based on their specific needs.
An essential aspect of progressive patient care is grouping of facilities, services, and staff around specific needs of a patient. The main objective is to see to it that services are designed in a way that addresses the medical needs of an individual whether at a medical facility or at home. To ensure effectiveness, patients are generally organized depending on illness and type of care required. In addition, staff assigned to a particular group are carefully chosen and fully equipped to meet the needs of the patients in the group. The elements of progressive patient care include intensive care, intermediate care, self care, long term care, home care, and ambulatory care.
Staffing requirements of different models vary from one medical facility to another and depend on the decision making skills of staff. Generally, the progressive patient care model requires the services of a doctor, an anesthetist, and a specialized intensive care unit specialist (Duffield et al., 2010). While there are specific tasks to be undertaken by some of the specialists, nurses generally assist in meeting the daily needs of patients, assess and plan for nursing care, supervision, and interdepartmental coordination. In addition, nurses take turns to care for patients. As mentioned earlier, work is well coordinated by organizing patients into specific groups with specific requirements based on the medical conditions. To guarantee effectiveness, those in charge of various units have to constantly keep communicating and agreeing on ways to successfully deliver their services to patients.
As far as reporting relationships are concerned, every element of the progressive patient care model is managed by a highly qualified medical officer. A well constituted oversight committee ensures that work is properly carried out in every unit. Educational requirements for the different positions needed for the progressive patient care model include monitoring skills, basic and advanced life support as well as drug calculation and monitoring.
Effects of the Progressive Patient Care Model on Costs, Quality of Care, and Patient Satisfaction
The rising cost of medical care is a major concern in the delivery of health care in the modern world. The progressive patient care model is regarded by many as a useful strategy for managing costs associated with the delivery of healthcare. As noted earlier, progressive patient care model facilitates the organization of hospital services in a way that lessens the total cost of caring for patients.
Similarly, the quality of care delivered by medical facilities also increases tremendously. Grouping patients based on their needs makes it possible for hospitals to ensure that care givers are trained to specifically meet the needs of patients assigned to them. Based on a study by Epstein and Street (2011), it is easier for care givers to focus on giving their very best since patients are organized according to their needs. This helps to improve the quality of care delivered and ultimately, the patients benefit a great deal (Farley et al., 2014). Medical facilities also have an easy time making sure that care givers are thoroughly equipped to meet the needs of patients under their care.
Drawing from a study by Farley et al. (2014) patient satisfaction is an outcome of safe, effective, timely, and efficient delivery of health care services. According to Heidenreich (2013), there is a tight correlation between the care delivery model adopted and patient satisfaction. By and large, progressive patient care ensures that patients receive the best quality of care. Given that patients are organized based on their specific needs, progressive patient care model creates an opportunity for care givers to delight patients with quality services. Moreover, care givers receive specialized training that permits them to deliver to very high standards. As a result, the level of patient satisfaction goes up.
Resource Availability Considerations during Model Adoption
The success of the progressive patient care model depends so much on the availability of important resources such as personnel and critical tools needed for effective provision of health care. When adopting the model, it is imperative for medical facilities to ensure that the resources available are distributed carefully. As pointed out earlier, grouping patients based on their needs simplifies the process of care delivery.
As pointed out by Hinno, Partanen and Vehvilainen-Julkunen (2011), patients should be assigned to the right staff after being organized into groups. For this reason institutions must ensure that required resources such as staff are available and ready for use. Among other benefits, this arrangement helps to increase the level of effectiveness and lead to greater satisfaction for staff and patients.
It is also imperative for a medical facility to consider staffing needs (Duffield et al., 2010). To a large extent, the needs of the patients in different groups determine the level of skills staff should have.
Effect of Progressive Patient Care Model on Job Satisfaction
Regardless of the care delivery model adopted, ensuring that care givers are happy is vital for success to be realized. The fact that patients under progressive patient care are organized based on their specific needs simplifies the provision of medical services. To a large extent, this motivates staff and causes them to give their best as they take care of patients assigned to them. The level of job satisfaction realized with progressive patient care model is thus high when compared to the other care delivery models.
Pros and Cons of Progressive Patient Care Model
For patients, progressive patient care guarantees access to quality health care. Considering that nursing professionals under this model are trained to give specialized attention to different groups of patients, it is easy to ensure that quality is maintained. Furthermore, the specialization that comes with the progressive patient care model makes it possible for staff to give attention to growth and excellence in their profession.
There are, however, a number of demerits associated with the progressive patient care model. First, the relationship between staff and patients is reduced tremendously. This is mainly because care givers have to work with a number of patients with similar medical requirements. It is also practically impossible to address all the requirements of a given group considering that patients may have some medicals conditions that are only unique to them.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that there are some challenges of using the progressive patient care model, it is a useful approach for improving efficiency and guaranteeing quality care for patients as well as reducing the overall cost of providing medical care. However, proper planning is needed before adoption for the realization of better results.
References
Duffield, C., Roche, M., Diers, D., Catling-Paull, C. and Blay, N. (2010). Staffing, Skill Mix and the Model of Care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(15), 2242 – 2251.
Epstein, Ronald M. & Street, R. L. (2011). The Values and Value of Patient-Centered Care. Web.
Farley, H., Enguidanos, E. R., Coletti, C. M., Honigman, L., Mazzeo, A., Pinson, T., Reed, K., & Wiler, J. (2014). Patient Satisfaction Surveys and Quality of Care: An Information Paper. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 64(4), 351 – 357.
Heidenreich, P. A. (2013). Time for a Thorough Evaluation of Patient-Centered Care. Web.
Hinno, S., Partanen, P. & Vehvilainen-Julkunen, K. (2011). Nursing Activities, Nurse Staffing and Adverse Patient Outcomes as Perceived by Hospital Nurses. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21, 1584 – 1593.
Stacy, K. M. (2011). Progressive Care Units: Different but the Same. Critical Care Nurse, 31(3), 77 – 83.