Hospice Care Essays (Examples)

Hospice Care

Hospice Care and Catholic Ethics

Is Hospice care consistent with Catholic bioethics? Chapple, in her discussion of the topic "Hospice care" in Catholic health care ethics, argues that ultimately the answer is yes, but she acknowledges that there are levels of difficulty in answering the question (Chapple 2009). The ethics of Hospice care present us with a complicated question, insofar as Catholic teachings on end-of-life care have at times provoked public controversy -- the most noteworthy example within recent memory was the Congressional and Presidential intervention in Terri Schiavo case, which brought Catholic teachings about medical intervention at the end of life into national debate and discussion. The Schiavo case was about a straightforward case of euthanasia, and to a certain degree Catholic teachings about hospice care resemble (in their logic about the nature and purpose of human life and death) the Catholic teachings about larger end-of-life issues. The ultimate lesson may be that Hospice care is consistent with Catholic ethical teaching provided it does not stray into areas which are clearly forbidden under that teaching, such as assisted suicide or euthanasia. In terms of ethical teaching, the Fifth Commandment is not easily or persuasively defined away.

For a start…… [Read More]

Government Regulations Affecting Health Care in Hospice

Government Regulations and Hospice

Government Regulations Affecting Health Care in Hospice

Hospice

Regulations Affecting Health Care in Hospice

Impact of rules on Hospice services

Annotated Bibliography

This paper focuses on how government regulations impact hospice. The paper starts off with an introduction to the hospice system that was revived by a nurse, Cecily Saunders, who then went on to become a physician, establishing one of the first modern hospices. The concept of total pain is explained in some detail. The body of the paper then includes the studies that have been conducted on patients and caregivers in hospice systems as well as on people who died after they were diagnosed with terminal illness resulting in death in six months following the prognosis. The overall conclusion that can be drawn here is that while in Japan there is a marked need for improving the Day hospice system, the American hospice industry is acting as a mature competing industry, which can be detrimental to the quality of services being provided.

The regulations and the changes in laws that affect patients in Medicare insurance in America being targeted are considered in some detail, to outline some issues of particular importance, which are expected…… [Read More]

Health Care System Has Focused on the

health care system has focused on the prevention and cure of disease and illness. When people got sick, every bit of energy and finances went into trying to figure out how to stop it. This was true even when the patient had a disorder or a disease that was deemed incurable. For many years when someone got a disease in which there was no cure, it did not change the method of treatment. The medical community, the family and the patient continued to try every possible avenue to stop the progress. Often times the patient would submit to painful and disorienting treatments, because they didn't want to disappoint their family members or their doctors. At the same time the medical community was expanding the length of life so that many people were living longer than ever before. These two things began to clash. At what point do people stop trying to cure diseases, that are incurable? At what point is it okay for the patient to say enough and die with dignity? In recent years the shift in the United States has moved from constant cure efforts to knowing when it was time to stop. The patients who were going…… [Read More]

Elderly Care in America A Comparison With

Elderly Care in America: A comparison with England's Healthcare System

Healthcare in America vs. Healthcare in England

Different countries have varying healthcare systems across the world and the systems are set to benefit the local population with the best possible care as would be dictated by the budgetary allocations and supported by the economy and the GDP of the particular nations. There are different sections of the healthcare system that try to cater for each section of the populations and this paper will specifically be concerned with the healthcare systems in the U.S.A. And in England, particularly directed at the elderly in the society. It will look at the healthcare system that prevails in the U.S.A. And the tenets that define it as well as the system that prevails in England, then the paper makes comparison of the two systems as well as highlight the differences that there are between these two systems.

Healthcare in America

The healthcare system in America has undergone several changes to become what it is currently. It has increasingly become important to the elderly people and those under the last days care who are dying. The number of the elderly is increasing each year with…… [Read More]

Model for Community Palliative Care

Community Dementia Care and the Chronic Care Model

End-Stage Dementia Evaluation Proposal

Health Promotion Plan for Community End-Stage Dementia Care: The Chronic Care Model

Health Promotion Plan for Community End-Stage Dementia Care: The Chronic Care Model.

In 2013 an estimated 5.0 million Americans over the age of 65 suffered from Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's Association, 2013). Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers dementia/Alzheimer's to be the fifth leading cause of death among adults 65-years of age or older, careful examination of Medicare claims data revealed that dementia is probably right behind cardiovascular disease as the second leading cause of death for this age group (Tinetti et al., 2012). Most of these patients would prefer to die at home, not only because of comfort concerns, but due to the higher quality of care that tends to be provided by informal and paid caregivers in this setting (reviewed by Teno et al., 2013). Unfortunately, nearly half (42.2%) of all dementia patients receiving Medicare coverage died in a hospice setting in 2009, compared to only 21.6% in 2000 (Teno et al., 2013). This may be good news for policymakers interested in increasing the use of hospice care, but not…… [Read More]

Health Care A the Different

Day treatment programs can provide services at less cost because the patient goes home at night after being treated during the day, which often is used for rehabilitating chronically ill patients (Sharfstein, Stoline, & Koran, 1995, p. 249). The mere fact of having more choice benefits some patients by giving them more say in their care.

Patient-focused care involves a method for containing in-patient costs for hospitals and for improving quality by "restructuring services so that more of them take place on nursing units rather than in specialized units in other hospital locations, and by cross-training staff on the nursing units so that they can do several 'jobs' for the same small group of patients rather then one 'job' for a large number of patients" (Kovner, 1995, p. 186). Kovner notes a number of barriers to this type of care. One reason has been that hospitals have not had to control costs to receive adequate reimbursement. However, costs are rising rapidly and creating anger in the public, and hospitals today have to consider ways of reducing costs before legislators step in and force change. Hospitals have an ethical responsibility to think of patients over reimbursement and need to take this…… [Read More]

Diversity Important in Health Care

The Foundation called specific attention to the prospect of institutional and policy-level strategies to increase the participation of under-represented minorities in the health professions. In response, the Institute Committee on Institutional and Policy-Level Strategies for Increasing the Diversity of the U.S. Healthcare Workforce came out with a report, entitled "In the Nation's Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce." The Committee consisted mostly of academicians, two of whom represented the nursing profession.

In its report, the Committee recognized the importance of increasing racial diversity among health professionals in order to improve access to care, greater patient choice and satisfaction and better educational experiences for practitioners, among other benefits. It also recognized the lack of strategies in reducing institutional and policy-level barriers among health profession educational institutions or HPEIs. In response to the lack, the Committee recommended that health professions education make a clear stand and mission on the value of diversity; the federal Health Resources and Services Administration increase enrollments and funding of under-represented minorities; the creation of a critical mass of under-represented minorities in the health professions and the explicit recognition of the value and importance of diversity among health professionals; comprehensive strategies to improve institutional climate…… [Read More]

Critique of a Hospice Health Promotion Plan

Health Promotion Plan

Health Promotion in Hospice

The use of Dorothea Orem's Self-Care Theory as the framework for the health promotion plan, for improving depressive symptoms among hospice patients (Nursing Theories, 2012), is appropriate and consistent with a patient-centered care model. This model provides enough room for a gradient of patient self-care efficacy, from fully autonomous to unconscious, which is appropriate for the hospice setting. The author of Health Promotion in Hospice emphasized the need to increase the care efficacy of both hospice patients and their caregivers and mentioned how the role of a hospice nurse must remain fluid to constantly changing care needs of hospice patients. Under Orem's model there is thus a gradient of self-care need and autonomy that is negatively correlated and where deficits emerge the nurse must step in to meet these care needs.

I would also emphasize the concept of 'nursing client' discussed in Orem's theory (Nursing Theories, 2012) because the gradient of self-care efficacy is close to its minimum for many patients in hospice care. The two principles outlined under the concept of 'nursing client' are: (1) nursing care is needed only when the care needs exceeds the ability of the patient to meet…… [Read More]

Patients vs Healthcare Opinions

PATIENT & HEALTH PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Patient & Professional Perspectives

Quality of care is a massive concern when it comes to healthcare in general. The issue is so multi-dimension and complicated. Even further, there are a lot of ideological bents and perspectives that further shape and form the issue as it exists today. A significant part of the paradigm mentioned above would be the perspectives of both patients and healthcare professionals as it relates to the aforementioned quality of care. Obviously, there are going to be some differences and similarities when talking to any large swath of patients or healthcare providers. The differences could be huge divides in some cases due to what is being expected being too different than what is able to be delivered given the resources or even the perspective or opinion of the healthcare professionals or providers. While there is no simple or neat answer to how to construct and shape a perfect healthcare system, the perspectives of both patients and healthcare providers should point the way.

Perspectives

One treatise on the subject of quality of care perspectives can be found in the work of Campbell et al. (2013) and their words about racial/ethnic perspectives regarding hospice…… [Read More]

Family Care Plan Nursing Family

Family Interventions

-Mother can attend cancer support groups and receive advice and education through other channels regarding proper methods of providing care and improving quality of life for her husband

-Son can explore employment options as well as discuss various needs and responsibilities with his parents in order to determine his most effective utilization within the changed family dynamic

-Father can provide the levels of self-care that come easily, but should educate himself regarding his condition and ease care by allowing others to help when necessary

Nursing Interventions

-Provide educational materials/answer questions for both mother and father

-Assist son with psychological transition of increased responsibility/familial dependence

-Instruction of proper care techniques for mother and father regarding father's condition

Evaluation

Levels of comfort and competence in new family roles should be easily assessed in regular visits through brief questioning. Monitoring father's health through standard vital sign and other appropriate tests will determine level of care; questions determine quality of life. Assessment of son for ability to act with increased responsibility may take a longer evaluative period.

Diagnosis 3

Possibility of resumed smoking by mother and father further reducing quality of life and ability to provide care, related to long-time smoker status…… [Read More]

Jewish Client When Discussing Medical Care With

Jewish Client

When discussing medical care with Sara, one must keep in mind that she is alone now, having been married for 50 years, but now widowed. She seems to have a rather active social circle, and is more of a middle-of -- the road practitioner of Judaism. Her belief system is likely sensitive to end-of-life issues, but she seems to be a candidate for hospice, rather than palliative care due to her age and the progression of her illness.

In response to Sara's initial decision to have surgery and treat the cancer with chemotherapy, medical personnel would be required to allow her this choice, but ensure that the principles of fidelity and benevolence are followerd. In other words, tell Sara the truth about odds and any prognosis, as well as side-effects. Inform her in a way that is non-paternalistic so that she may make up her own mind about options. In effect, this is her choice as long as she is able to make an informed and uncorerced decision (Egedorf, 2005).

Within the initial patient interview, one might simply ask Sara about her religious practices and beliefs,…… [Read More]

Patient Care and the Nursing Profession From

Patient Care and the Nursing Profession

From January of 2012 until the present day, I have worked as an LPN. During that time, I have been in pediatric homecare, where I monitored and cared for children on ventilators and with tracheotomies. My experience also includes hospice care for people of all ages, from children to the elderly. Doing this type of work has greatly influenced my career and the decision to continue my education, because I want to be able to do more and help a greater number of people. I enjoy the work I do, although it can be both physically and emotionally difficult, but I also realize that I could expand the work I am doing to cover a much wider scope of patient care. Nurses are in demand today, and they are always needed at hospitals and other medical facilities because of the current shortage. With so many good nurses leaving the profession through retirement or simply a desire to do something else, those who are very dedicated to the profession and will be in it for the long-term are needed.

I plan to be in the nursing profession for a very long time. I have already…… [Read More]

Finite Health Care Resources Cutting Health Care

Finite Health Care Resources

Cutting health care costs is becoming a serious issue for the government and for medical corporations and patients throughout the U.S. today. There are several ways in which these costs can be cut, and one of those ways is to limit the life-extending care that is currently being provided to the elderly (Bond & Bond, 1994). This is not the same as limiting care that would improve their lives, but is only designed to limit the care that prolongs a life that already has little to no quality. However, it is not just the elderly who cost the country a great deal of money when it comes to medical care. Premature infants are also very expensive to keep alive, and an argument could be made that these infants should be allowed to expire, since they were not viable when they were born. It is a conundrum on both ends of the spectrum. Part of the issue has to do with the quality and cost of care, but another part of the issue has to do with the age of the person who is being considered for a lack of life- prolonging treatment.

Focusing on the elderly…… [Read More]

Comparing Five Health Care Services

elderly population is continues to rise nationally and this also true for the Sunnydale and Shadyville communities. In order to be prepared for both the rise in the aging population and any competition in the healthcare from Shadyville it is important to consider all potential providers. This paper will briefly look at the facets of nursing homes, assisted living, home health care, and hospice in this context.

Nursing homes

Nursing homes are the highest level of care for elderly adults outside of having them formally hospitalized (Santerre & Neun, 2012). The residents in nursing homes typically need significant help with their Activities of daily Living (ADLs). Nursing homes provide custodial care which means that the home assists with all daily activities including getting in and out of bed, providing assistance with feeding, bathing, and dressing. Most nursing homes also provide for activities for their higher functioning residents such as crafts, games, shopping trips or other types of activities.

The funding for nursing home services comes from four primary groups: the Medicaid program, the Medicare program, the consumers themselves, and private health insurers (Santerre & Neun, 2012). The single largest payer to nursing homes is Medicaid program (32% of nursing home…… [Read More]

Nurse Collaboration in Palliative Care

Nursing Ethics

While most hospitals seem to be well-run and most situations and scenarios are planned for in advance when it comes to what nurses should be doing, should not be doing and why, this is not always the case. Just one example of this would be situations where palliative care is probably or definitely called for in a given situation but there is not a defined or clear protocol as to when the palliative path should be started and what criteria should be used. Indeed, patients that are facing such a situation are typically terminal or they at least cannot be treated for what is ailing them. An easy example to point to would be a cancer patient whose disease is beyond what medicine can do for them. When there is an absence of leadership when it comes to palliative care protocols, it falls to nurses to collaborate, work together and initiative the proper care levels when no one else will step up.

Analysis

As suggested by the introduction, a palliative care scenario is when care is limited to managing comfort and limiting pain. Cancer patients, those with incurable chronic pain conditions and others would all qualify. Of course,…… [Read More]

Elder Care the Baby Generation

Ruth E. Mathias and a.E. Benjamin (2003) report that social workers are becoming increasingly concerned about elder abuse in long-term care settings (p. 174). A study conducted by these social scientists/authors, reveals that Medicaid related agency care demonstrates no harmful or increase in the abuse suffered by elderly people receiving care through private agencies, but that there is little social worker oversight, and because of that, reports and information supporting that fact can be misleading at this point in time (p. 174). Mathias and Benjamin reported, too, that direct care provided by family members was proven to be less abusive to the elderly than services rendered by state and private providers (p. 174).

The most concentrated areas of consumer complaints reported was the difficulty in scheduling services, language barriers, and high care-giver/assistant turnover (p. 174). These are areas of concern, because the elderly are often suffering levels of dementia that prohibit them from being fully mentally agile as they once were, there is a need for consistency and familiarity in their lives. These are obvious needs, and ones that can have an adverse impact on the patient's behavior and response to the level of care or assistance he or she…… [Read More]

Health Care and Organizational Case Study

Healthcare Organization Case Study

Health Care Organization Case Study

Banner Healthcare

Health Care Organization Case Study

Banner Healthcare represents a set of diverse healthcare related facilities that provide healthcare services to societies in USA and beyond. Banner seeks to establish a healthier life for communities through developing a healthy environment. Banner Healthcare is arguably the largest healthcare provider in the country. The organization spans seven states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Alaska, Nebraska and Wyoming. The organization operates 20 hospitals, including healthcare facilities. The organization offers such services as hospice care, home care and physician services. Banner Healthcare also provided $130 million as their contribution to charity. The organization is a healthcare leader in all the communities it offers its services. The agency has shown tremendous growth in the past years. They admit over 190 000 patients every year and have a workforce in excess of 29-000. The emergency departments linked to Banner healthcare units are reported to attend to over 423 000 people every year (Banner Health, 2008). All these are a clear testimony to the vision that banner holds to improve the quality of life of people in the society. They endeavor to provide health coverage and benefits…… [Read More]

Bereavement the Interest in Palliative Care or

Bereavement

The interest in palliative care, or counseling for bereavement comes to different people in different ways, and one doctor came into it through home care as long ago as 1975. The doctor had just finished working as a house staff in the University of California in San Francisco. Then he got a job at Massachusetts General Hospital as a physician. The doctor was placed at Chelsea Memorial health Center. This was a neighborhood health center in a poor multi-ethnic community, yet not a great distance away from MGH. The doctor had come to replace a person who had come from Britain for a working experience of a year in United States and had gone to the houses of a few elderly patients. In the beginning itself, it was suggested to the doctor by the senior that he visit two patients who were being cared by relatives at home. This was the first visit to any patient's home by the doctor but it became a practice. The doctor was then supported by a multi-disciplinary team at MGH about the patients that the doctor visited at home. This team included doctors, nurses, a social worker, a geriatric outreach worker, a nutritionist…… [Read More]

Care Case Study Slide 1 Footnotes There

Care Case Study

Slide 1 Footnotes

There have been enormous changes due to introduction of various cultural elements in the continuum of care. Before, when people were admitted to assisted living facilities or hospital settings, there were very little cultural elements outside of the majority culture which had sponsored the facility. For example, if a facility was associated with some sort of church or temple, there were elements of that religion present, but there was little alternatives for members of other cultures or religions.

Yet, today, there are now a much wider array of cultural elements available in assisted living homes and hospital facilities. Assisted living programs are regulated on the level of the state.

As such, different states have different types of programs and policies that impact the degree to which cultural characteristics are included or excluded within various assisted living facilities. Some programs encourage cultural elements of patients to be brought into the assisted living environment and have administrative bodies work to generate programs and offerings that appeal to certain cultures. In such cases, administrators work from the top down to provide various cultural or religious services to their residents, who can opt to participate or not to…… [Read More]

Care Rural Settings Continuum of

As well as expanding patient's abilities to obtain primary care, virtually, telemedicine can enable patients in isolated locations to see specialists. When rural patients are connected to a hospital network such as the Grinnell Regional Medical Center, they are able to access high-quality physicians through some of the more advanced healthcare technology available, although this is not always possible in a local healthcare system with fewer physicians and less access to high-level technology. Technology can still enable patients in a variety of settings to keep track of vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar, and to alert their physician immediately if their readings are abnormal.

While some surgeons have even performed procedures through virtual consults, certain aspects of medicine remain challenging to provide rural patients, such as physical rehabilitative services, which may require the patient to travel to receive the full benefit of the services. Patients who demand long-term rehabilitation and palliative care at hospices may have to travel far away from their families to be treated in rural settings.

Focusing on making care available and creating a culture where going to a physician is a normal part of everyday life must be the goal of…… [Read More]

Caring for the Terminally Ill Patient

population ages, it will become increasingly important to know how to care for the chronically ill and dying elderly patients. An article in American Family Physician details one of the problems that arises in such cases: denial. The article tells about an incident where a man who is in constant pain repeatedly goes to the doctor, but will not accept that his symptoms could be caused by cancer. When the doctor offers to make a referral to hospice for extra help, the patient adamantly refuses the care. At first the physician does not give up his potential persuasions, which include stressing the patient's personal responsibility concerning the need for loved ones to see him free of pain. Yet the same scenario continues until, unfortunately, the man dies.

The author of the article, Dr. Karen Ogle, explains that denial is a common coping mechanism in the terminally ill. People rely on denial in different degrees, for example refusing to believe some aspects of their illness at least some of the time. This denial may also vary widely on a day-to-day, or even a minute-to-minute basis. In this case, the denial is very strong and irreversible.

Dr. Ogle adds that although the…… [Read More]

Elderly Care

Caring for the Old

The End of Life Care

End of life care refers to the total care of a person that has an advanced illness that is incurable and does not equate with death. This end of life care can last for a number of weeks, months or even years depending on the state an individual is.it is usually the care which helps those that have advanced, progressive and illnesses that can not be cured to live life as well as possible until they meet their death. End of life care makes it possible for the patient and their family to get supportive and palliative care needs identified and met throughout the last phase when they are living and into the bereavement period. Supportive care is care which helps a patient and the family to cope with the condition and the treatment of that condition right from the pre-diagnosis period, throughout the diagnosis process and treatment to the cure, the continued illness or the death and to the bereavement. Palliative care refers to the active total care for a patient who is suffering from a disease which is not responding to curative treatment. What is paramount in palliative care…… [Read More]

Life Care in the United

However...generally a vast difference exists between what healthcare providers understand and what laypersons are able to comprehend. This immeasurability of knowledge was evident in the participants' narratives and was exacerbated by the conveying of "false hope" or "false optimism" to patients and patients' family members.

Seconding Robichaux's argument is Backstrand's (2006) findings that hospital-based EOL programs are not the "ideal" form of healthcare that elderly patients should receive, according to a survey of nurses. For the nurses, "no patient should face death alone," which ultimately happens when patients are confined in a hospital facility receiving palliative care. Comparing ICU EOL care against the hospice and nursing home care programs, 'dying with dignity' is remote in this kind of program, since "[t]he ICU is no place to die. It would be nice to have a comfortable, quiet, spacious room for those who are dying. Let everyone in and let the rest of the ICU function as it should" (41).

Indeed, the image of a comfortable and quiet resting place for elderly patients are embodied in both hospice and nursing homes, which, compared against ICU-based EOL care, specifically target the elderly and provision of EOL care as its main goals. Both hospices…… [Read More]

Nursing Care Facility's Information Technology IT Improvements

Improving Health Care Delivery by Integrating Information Technology

In order to modernize the operations of their medical facility, Pleasant Manor nursing home should consider contracting to implement the Epic System of electronic medical record (EMR) and practice management throughout their campus. A pioneer in the march towards digitization of health care records, "Epic makes software for mid-size and large medical groups, hospitals and integrated healthcare organizations" using proprietary software that efficiently "spans clinical, access and revenue functions and extends into the home" (Epic, 2012). In accordance with Pleasant Manor's stated mission to serve as an "expanded geriatric clinic that provides basic services for seniors, general practice, counseling and education programs, radiology, complete blood work, and an osteo-care unit for citizens of the outlying communities," the facility will make this transition with the goal of standardizing its procedures and streamlining its processes. Located on an expansive campus in the retirement community of Vero Beach, Florida, Pleasant Manor is widely recognized as a regional leader in the nursing care industry, offering an impressive 1:3 caregiver-to-resident ratio, monthly in-house physician visits and regular podiatrist, optometrist, and psychologist visits to consistently deliver high quality nursing care services to the local community.

Today, Pleasant Manor…… [Read More]

Rural Healthcare Facilities Context of

Provide sustained technical assistance (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003)

Evaluation of the process in rural and small communities includes: (1) scope of the project; (2) goals; (3) critical success factors; and (4) technical assistance." (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003) Community grants have been focused on the provision of 'personal digital assistant (PDA) systems in assisting with the decision support role. The initiative is stated to include: (1) development of toolkits; (2) leveraging known tools; (3) developing capacity; and (4) disseminating best practices. (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003)

Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson report in the work entitled: "Supporting the Rural Health Care Safety Net" (2000) state: "The policy - and market-driven changes in the health care sector taking place across country are not confined to metropolitan areas. Rural communities are experiencing changes impelled by many of the same forces that are affecting urban areas." However, due to the demographical differences and other facts existent only in rural life the health care system can be differentiated from those in urban areas in various ways. According to Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, it is that difference that highlights the importance of giving…… [Read More]

Vulnerable Adults in Healthcare Settings

Older people are associated with increased risk for hospitalisations due to illness or trauma (Seymore & Cannon, 2010). The nature and burden of the illness that the older person faces is related to the quality of health care services they may receive when admitted to a hospital or other clinical setting (Dossa & Capitman, 2010). In terminal cases, the patient may choose to engage Hospice services, either in the clinical setting or at home. The human rights of such patients are ethically fundamental in their quality of care through palliative care services (Brenna, Carr, & Cousins, 2007).

The care received in the clinical health care setting for elderly patients may be substandard due to staffing and regulation issues (Maas, Specht, Buckwalter, Gittler, & Bechen, 2008). There is a need to identify the failings in quality of care and promote the human rights of elderly patients in healthcare settings (Gittler, 2008). Terminal patients often choose to die at home due to fear of dying in a clinical setting devoid of anyone that cares about them (Joubert & Posenelli, 2009). The case of Mr. Jones demonstrates the elements for a future proposal to identify best practices in upholding the human rights of…… [Read More]

Healthcare Hispanic Community and Healthcare This Paper

Healthcare

Hispanic Community and Healthcare

This paper is an examination of how the Hispanic community experiences healthcare. The data from a number of articles related to the subject form the basis for the conclusions reached in the analysis.

One study looked at whether Hispanic-specific training should be included for healthcare worker training. It was found that there is a serious lack of training that is currently implemented regardless the community examined. Healthcare workers were unaware of social conventions that were normal among their Hispanic clients which limited the effectiveness of the healthcare treatment given. Because women were unable to discuss personal problems with male healthcare workers and males had similar issues with females, it was difficult for the various agencies to be truly effective. The recommendation, of course, was to include a training curriculum that included cultural training.

Another issue that Hispanic individuals faced is that they were underrepresented in hospice arrangements. The initial conjecture was that in many Hispanic cultures the family and community took care of the infirm at end-of-life. This may play a role, but the authors of the study also wanted to determine if the access to hospice was lessened because the individuals within the Hispanic…… [Read More]

Health Care and the Disabled

health care for the disabled. The writer explores the health care stages that are available for the disabled in every stage of life. The writer uses published works from various sources to illustrate and underscore the need for solid health care access for all disabled individuals in the nation. There were six sources used to complete this paper.

"Different stages of available health care for people with disabilities"

The issue of health care has been a hot topic of debate in this country for many years. Health care costs are skyrocketing, available services are dwindling and the public is screaming with outrage and demand for improvements to the entire health care system. While those who can speak for themselves are having no trouble voicing their upset about the current state of the nation's health care system, there is a population that cannot always speak up. The disabled in this country are also in need of health care. The disabled have entirely different needs from the non-disabled population in addition to the regular and normal needs that are encountered by both the disabled and the non-disabled. The disabled are often on government health care programs which are constantly being scrutinized, criticized…… [Read More]

Stakeholders in Home Health Care

Stakeholders in Home Health Care

Stakeholders

In thinking about the info set out in the previous researches we have to keep in mind that the overarching rationale for the participation of any of the stakeholders is the advantageous results that their participation gives them or to those they stand for, instances of these results are set out in the table. When it come to governments this could well be renovations in hygienics, the production of a healthy society and so on. This will not be a genuine reason for various other stakeholders to become involved. For these, staff member efficiency, organisational effectiveness and rise in revenue will turn out to be the main driving force. The functions of specific stakeholders can differ in various situations, e.g., the duty of the Trade Unions could at first hesitate individual however having actually seen the advantages of work environment wellness promo they might become proactive champs. This likewise suggests that duties can be interchangeable (Griffiths, Maggs and George, 2007).

The exception of this concept is the management job. Whilst all stakeholders may take the lead in work environment wellness campaigns, particular teams of stakeholders, for instance workers, can never ever manifest real management…… [Read More]

Home and Community-Based Care Today

Registered nurses are both qualified, educated, and certified to provide a high quality of various care services that an individual may need in a home setting or elsewhere. Hence, providing these practitioners with the power to certify and provide home care is a solution to an overwhelming problem that has plagued the health care environment in recent years. Nursing practitioners, as a result of the nature of their work, are closely connected to the needs of individual patients. This means that they, more than many other health care providers and institutions, are able to assess the needs of individuals, their households, and the level of care they require. This places them in a position to accurately determine the need and/or of such individuals to obtain long-term home care and when such home care becomes unviable. As such, registered nurses who serve individuals in the home setting are able to maintain not only a clear estimate of the needs of individuals, but also the prolonged maintenance of optimal dignity for them, especially in the case of terminal illness or extreme old age.

The ultimate result is that the phenomenon of home-care delays and preventable hospitalization will be avoided, as the availability…… [Read More]

Effect of Palliative Care on the Healthcare Professional and Family

Palliative Care on the Caregiver

Palliative care has several positive effects on the caregiver. These can be divided into emotional, social, psychological, and physical effects. First is the positive psychological effect that the caregiver such as the nurse, personal care worker, or family member to deal with the tough job. One study found that when patients died with unrelieved suffering, as nurses, they would also endure enormous suffering on their part Bailey, 2008.

The impact to the nurses is majorly because they had perceptions of suffering where they felt the patient was undergoing a difficult situation and they had feelings towards the patient since they feel they were unable to help the patient during the time of the patient's distress. They also have to endure feelings of failure since they bear the burden of the patient's unrelieved pain Barclay and Maher, 2010.

Some nurses also mentioned the impact of the unrelieved pain on the relationship between the patient and their family and stated that palliative care helped them to build a strong relationship between the patient and their family thus allowing them to benefit largely.

Research that has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine found positive emotional,…… [Read More]

Health Care System Evolution Organizational

(Worcestershire Diabetes: a New model of care Stakeholder event, 2007)

The continuum of care for the diabetic patient is shown in the following illustration labeled Figure 1.

Diabetes: Continuum of Care

Source: Worcestershire Diabetes: a New model of care Stakeholder event (2007)

The continuum of care for diabetes begins at the moment that the individual is found to have diabetes and continues across the individual's health care providers and across the varying stages of progression of the disease and the age progression of the individual with Diabetes. This continuum of care should be addressed by health care providers, Medicare/Medicaid, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Changes in the workforce in developing the diabetes continuum of care is stated to have included the following: (1) Increase in number of dieticians; (2) Increase in number of diabetic specialist nurses; (3) Increase in podiatrists; (4) Education for primary care team; (5) Move DSN to primary care to take straight referrals; (6) Insulin for life training with continuous CPD support; (7) Increase capacity in general practice; (8) Psychologist input; (9) DSN provides education/advice for practices; (10) Increase confidence of G.Ps and Practice nurses to deliver care; (11) Out of hours…… [Read More]

Health Care Reform Several Years

Contracts with doctors often contain a clause which doesn't allow the doctors to discuss

Health care 7 with their patients financial incentives to deny treatment or about treatments not covered by the plan (Glazer, 1996). This has caused many consumers, especially those with chronic illnesses, to form organizations with the American Medical Association and physician specialty groups to promote legislation forbidding "gag rules" (Glazer, 1996). One group, Citizen Action, has 3 million members and "has been lobbying in state legislatures for laws that would require plans to disclose how they pay their doctors; give patients the right to choose specialists outside the plan; and provide appeals for patients who get turned down for expensive treatments" (Glazer, 1996).

The doctor-patient relationship is also affected if a patient must switch to a new doctor under managed care. Having a longterm relationship with a primary doctor is important because he or she is more knowledgeable about the patient's history. If employers switch often to other managed care plans, the primary care doctor a patient sees is also likely to change (Glazer, 1996). This affects the physician's practice as well. To keep patients, a doctor is often inclined to join more insurance plans. This…… [Read More]

Leadership and Management in Health Care

Leadership & Management, Health Care

Leadership & Management in Health Care

President Clinton's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, used to tell a story about her mother, who was 86 at the time but still a full-time attorney representing several clients who lived in nursing homes. She would tell Shalala, "Donna, I don't care whether they are good nursing homes or bad nursing homes, you have to watch them like a hawk" (Cited in White House, 1998, quoted by Hovey 2000, 43). Clinton's presidency was very aware of health care issues, even if it was unable to solve them. Shalala's remarks were delivered at a press conference regarding nursing home regulation; arguably, under the current administration, issues of health care for the aged have gotten more problematical rather than less.

Background

Despite relatively little action regarding health care for the aged by the federal government, there is little doubt that the news media has crated heightened awareness of the "graying" of American, and "has focused attention on the distinctive needs of individuals who are disabled, chronically ill, or functionally impaired. By no means are all of these people elderly" (Kahl & Clark 1986, 17+). Kahl and Clark noted…… [Read More]

Healthcare Reimbursement and Billing

Health Care Reimbursement and Billing

Both Mrs. Zwick and Mr. Davis face significant issues in the presented scenarios. Mrs. Zwick has multiple considerations under Medicare Parts A, B and D, in addition to her hospital-acquired urinary tract infection. Meanwhile, Mr. Davis must address the severe time constraints and costs of COBRA in light of his job termination. These two scenarios underscore current difficulties and complexities of current health care in the United States.

Discussion of Mrs. Zwick's coverage under Medicare Parts A, B and C

Medicare Part A (often called "hospital insurance") (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011, p. 15) assists in covering inpatient hospitalization and skilled nursing facilities, hospice and home health care (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011, p. 14). There is usually no monthly premium if you and/or your spouse paid Medicare taxes while employed (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011, p. 28). However, if you have to buy Part A, you will have to pay up to $451 per month (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011, p. 28). Medicare Part A will cover Mrs. Zwick's 5-day inpatient hospital stay, including her semi-private room, general nursing, meals, and miscellaneous…… [Read More]

Effecting Changes in Healthcare Organizations Through Mission and Visions

Mission, Vision, And Values of Healthcare Organizations

This paper discusses four healthcare organizations in the best way about their missions, visions and value. The featured four healthcare organizations include Nightingale Home Care Inc., Scripps Home Healthcare, Sharp Home Health Care, and Vitas Hospice. This discussion seeks to compare and deliberate on these three specific areas of management about the organization. Some of the important aspects with which the company seeks to deliberate on the matters at hand include the issues of leadership and how the same seeks to deliberate in making work potentially possible. In this case, the stakeholders of interest are the patients who are the recipients of the services offered by these hospitals.

Differences in the Selected Organizations

Nightingale Home care's mission is to assisted San Diegans achieve quality healthcare through environmental alteration and modern technology. This mission is coined out of the desire to set an example that is far beyond reproach as compared to the services set by the rest. The management of the company seeks to develop an understanding of the clients and meet their concerns within the range that they desire. Nightingale is the pinnacle of healthcare provision in San Diego, and it is…… [Read More]

Healthcare Finance a Prospective Payment

If the area wage index is greater than 1, the labor share equals 69.7%. The law requires the labor share to equal 62% if the area wage index is less than 1.0.

2) the wage adjusted labor share is added to the non-labor share of the standardized amount.

3) the wage adjusted standardized amount is multiplied by a relative weight for the DRG. The relative weight is specific to each of 746 DRG's (for fiscal year [FY] 2009) and represents the relative average cost of a beneficiary in one DRG compared to another.

4) if applicable, additional amounts will be added to the IPPS payment for hospitals engaged in teaching medical residents, hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of low income patients, and for high cost outlier cases" (Acute Inpatient Prospective Payment System, 2009).

Physician services include office visits, surgical procedures, and other diagnostic services. These services are usually performed in physicians' offices, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, skilled nursing facilities, hospices, outpatient dialysis facilities, and clinical laboratories. Medicare pays for physician services based on payment rates called the physician fee schedule. In determining payment rates for each service on the fee schedule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)…… [Read More]

Organization of the U S Healthcare System

Predict the economic impact (e.g., costs, benefits, efficiency, cost containment) on healthcare delivery at the local, state, national, or international level if the legislative bill were enacted.

This paper examines the economic impact upon the nation if the bill, the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act, were passed. Fundamentally, the economic impact of the bill would ultimately be a positive one. The bill proposes the necessity for better training and support for the clinicians who will ultimately work in palliative care. The bill represents a long-term investment: more expenditure to better train and educate these professional healthcare personnel, but with the understanding that definitive savings will be substantial. First of all, there's almost always a substantial amount of fiscal savings when the quality of care is improved; this has been demonstrated in a range of studies and is something which is experienced at the local and national level. For instance, according to a study which was printed in the Archives of Internal Medicine, it was discovered that when consultation teams were implemented into palliative care the savings were significant (2008). "The study concluded that palliative care patients discharged alive had an adjusted net savings of $1,696 in direct…… [Read More]

Health Care Staffing Agency

Health Staff

the Allied health care staffing agency is a staffing agency that focuses on the niche of the nursing jobs within the healthcare industry in Chicago

The Allied healthcare staffing agency works to recruit registered nurses belonging to all medical Specialties, Practical Nurses that are licensed also called LPNs, Nursing Assistants that are certified also called CNAs and Specialists from the allied health sciences. These professionals would be hired both from the area of the metro city as well as the suburbs and placed within the hospitals, the neighborhood medical centers, Adult care facilities, clinics, and rehabilitation centers.

The mission of the Allied Healthcare Staffing Agency is to provide the best opportunities of employment both to its collaborators which are the local healthcare organizations as well as serving the entire nursing community to provide amply amount of job opportunities to choose from in a time when the turnover of medical professionals is high and the healthcare industry is at the most competitive. The ultimate mission of AHSA would be to attract and retain its valued customer, a goal which when adhered to with utmost passion and commitment would yield the maximum beneficial results.

The allied health care staffing agency…… [Read More]

Mission Viejo Healthcare

Healthcare Administration Mission Viejo Executive Summary

Over the last several years, the healthcare delivery environment has been continually evolving. This is because consumers are demanding efficient ways for receiving a variety of services. That is focused on reducing costs and enhancing quality. The result is that the entire system is continually changing to keep up with them. In the case of Golden Age Hospital (GAH), they are reaching a crossroads with rising number of seniors locally and nationally. This is in response to the rising demographic and many local facilities feeling overwhelmed. The new location can be utilized as an integrated business model that will achieve these larger objectives. In the long-term, this will make them more competitive and able to respond to changes in the way industry is operating. Those who are able to do this will see their employee turnover rates decrease and they can enhance the care that is provided. Once this happens, is when they will be more competitive and they can adjust with the different challenges they are facing. This will enable them to offer unique products, services and adjust with the changing demands of regulators. In many ways, one could argue that this is…… [Read More]

Home Health Care Services

Visiting Nurse Service of New York provides in home health care services to numerous patients throughout the state of New York. It was founded by one of the most famous nurses of the 19th and 20th centuries, Lillian Wald. It is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to administer health care services at affordable rates to its burgeoning population of patients. As of yet, there are no plans to expand the practice outside the borders of New York.

Strengths

The lengthy history of this organization offers it a degree of familiarity and trust with its customer base. Additionally, Wald's involvement provides a degree of credibility within the healthcare industry as a whole.

Human Resources: The storied history of this organization is partly responsible for its ability to attract myriad employees (approximately 15,000) (Hoover's, 2015), who are able to serve a broad spectrum of the population by speaking numerous languages.

Not-For-Profit Status: The not-for-practice status of this entity enables it to access government funds to augment its own financial practices.

Structuring: Visiting Nurse Service of New York is the central agency for numerous other entities, including VNSNY Home Care and its subsidiary, Partners in Care, VSNY Hospice and Palliative Care, and VNSNY…… [Read More]

Watson Theory of Human Caring

, 2007). The nurses at the medical-surgical, trauma, neurological, cardiovascular, cardiology and transplant sections directly and personally confront the various needs of families of the death of a loved one. One nursing author, Jane Felgen, set forth the usefulness of a grieving cart to respond to the needs of grieving families in her article, "A Caring and Healing Environment." Many nursing authors have written about the healing environment based on Nightingale's and Watson's work. One of these authors is Jane Felgen, who described the use of a grieving cart in her article, "A Caring and Healing Environment." It would enhance a milieu to facilitate the grief process (Whitmer et al.) and put to actual practice Watson's theory specifically in the end-of-life period.

Conclusion

As set forth in her theory of human caring, values, assumptions and 10 carative factors or clinical caritas, Jean Watson views the patient as a soul with a body. He must be approached only through a transpersonal relationship in helping him achieve his own recovery and wholeness. Outcomes have been convincingly documented. #

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dorn, K (2004). Caring-healing inquiry for holistic nursing practice: model for research and evidence- based practice. Topics in Advanced Practice Nursing eJournal, 4…… [Read More]

Future of Healthcare Workers Running

Many of them who have worked for 20 years as nurses have gone up the managerial or corporate ladder. More and more nurses have chosen more paper work and less patient care by becoming supervisors, administrators and nursing directors and then retire or else proceed to another career if they are not yet retiring (Benjamin).

Compounding the problem of shortage were a lack of surgical educational content and clinical experiences for nursing students, demands for professional nurses in ambulatory care surgical settings, and the difficulty itself of attracting and maintaining per-operative nurses (Beyea, 2002). Managed care also required by more intense or complex illnesses and, thus, increased workloads and greater responsibility of nurses (Benjamin, 2000). The situation correspondingly raised their level of "burn out." Hospital downsizing, managed care and an emphasis on outpatient services made the medical environment less dependent on nurses and more on facilities (Benjamin).

Conclusion

The fast-aging population needs more and more healthcare services in the face of an increasing shortage of nurses and other healthcare professionals to provide these services. Aging healthcare professionals, problems in turning out new nurses, working conditions and environment of current-day nurses and diverse contributing factors all call for serious attention and…… [Read More]

Assisted Living Care vs Nursing

Summary & Conclusion

There are many considerations when attempting to make a decision between assisted living facilities and nursing home care for the individual who is of an advanced age because depending on the medical limitations of the individual that individual may desire more autonomy and more of a social and active lifestyle than is available in the nursing home setting. While the associated costs is a very important issue for consideration, and one that many are not knowledgeable concerning, making sure that the appropriate level of care is provided should be the foremost concern when making this very critical decision for oneself or for another member of ones' family.… [Read More]

Orlando's Deliberative Process Nursing Theory Applied to the Hospice Setting

End-of-Life Care: Scholarly Nursing Practice Choice

I am an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) board-certified to practice in adult care (ANP-BC). Currently, I am employed as a nurse practitioner (NP) in palliative care within a hospice setting. Accordingly, my scholarly nursing practice is focused on the care of individual patients in need of palliative care, many of whom are in need of end-of-life care.

The phenomenon of interest that I have chosen is end-of-life care. Compared to palliative care, end-of-life care is not provided for patients receiving curative treatments or undergoing a disease process that is life-altering (Petersen, Breakwell, & Callahan, 2014). End-of-life care encompasses the principles of palliative medicine, including a focus on the patient's and family's quality of life, optimal functioning, individual growth, and care planning; however, end-of-life care will also emphasize a patient's dignity during the dying process, comfort through effective pain management, and care of family members as they transition through the loss of a loved one.

Managing the care for a dying patient will often raise a number of difficult ethical issues, which patients and family members may be ill-equipped to handle (Petersen et al., 2014). Nursing professionals are ideally positioned in the care team…… [Read More]

The Success of Palliative Care in the US

Enhancing Service Delivery in U.S. Healthcare System

Any rehabilitative and chronic system aims at a cost-effective healthcare. The move towards the consideration of alternative methods to provide health care for patients emanates from the federal spending of over $2.5 trillion in 2010. The figure represents 17.6% of the nation's gross domestic product. An aging American population has demanded the need for an innovative and creative patient health care delivery system from the U.S. health care system. The new system promises to provide quality health care in a cost-effective manner that includes end-of-life care.

End-of-Life Care Environment Health Care System

Currently, the U.S. health care system primarily focuses on the provision of aggressive acute care for patients admitted to an inpatient facility. An enormous chunk of the budget spent, close to 80%, in the final months of the patients, covered costly aggressive treatments, resuscitation efforts, and ventilator support. Despite the expensive care, the patient outcomes did not improve. However, it increased patient's physical and emotional suffering. From the statistics, the pursuance of quality-of-life options has endeavored to utilize less-costly and less-aggressive treatments.

Palliative Care

In this type of care, primary focus delves towards relieving pain and suffering from patients who experience…… [Read More]

Ethical Analysis Looking Into Palliative Care Strategy

Ethical Analysis -- Strategy for Palliative Care

The sector for healthcare has, in the last 50 years, improved in its efforts towards cost minimization and service delivery enhancement. Some elements of improvement (such as automation) ensued from technological advances. However, other elements (such as strategy application) owe their establishment in the health sector to endeavors on the part of intelligent, like-minded people who understand life's worth, and that of minimal suffering when it comes to illness. Palliative care represents one such effort. It denotes a system targeted at delivering respite from painful, disturbing symptoms through the affirmation of life and considering death to be a process. Palliative care, as defined by the World Health Organization, is an approach, which enhances quality of life (QOL) of patients, suffering from life-threatening ailments, and their family via prevention and symptom relief. This, they achieve through early diagnosis, and proper assessment and pain treatment, as well as spiritual, physical, and psychological care. Though there are structures instituted for the purpose of palliative care, developing efficient strategies for propelling the health sector along the right path is of utmost importance. This is where a majority of palliative care facilities are found lacking. This paper's objective…… [Read More]

Advanced Care Planning Asessment

Care Planning Analysis

In reality, sound healthcare-related advanced planning is a continuous conversation, involving priorities, values, QOL (quality of life) and what one's life means. Tool kits, in this context, comprise various self-help resources, worksheets, and recommendations. They aid individuals in performing the more complex tasks of identifying, confirming, and sharing important facts with an individual faced with a serious ailment (American Bar Association, 2005). Irrespective of whether the individual is terminally ill or suffering from an acute ailment or chronic, long-term ailment, advanced care planning (ACP) is capable of facilitating the alleviation of unnecessary suffering, improving QOL and offering a better grasp of decision-related challenges faced by the ailing individual, his/her family, and other caregivers. Advanced care plans may be implemented at any juncture in the patient's life and must be updated when changes occur in patient circumstances. A person who contracts a progressive disease that leaves him/her disabled and sick, until death, is in dire need of a holistic care plan, which takes into account his/her preferences, likely course, and social supports. Advanced patient-care planning constitutes a key component of the aforementioned plans. Holistic ACP entails discussing multiple conditions and disease trajectory. Patients and their families must understand…… [Read More]

Analyzing Elder Care Professionals

¶ … Hawaiian elder care professionals improve patient eldercare services to Japanese nationals, taking into consideration Japanese cultural norms and expectations

Caregiving for elderly parents in Japan

Japan has witnessed a significant growth in its elder population. In the year 1950, 4.9% of the Japanese population was aged 65 years and above. This figure increased to 14.8% (1995). By 2025, it is estimated to grow to 25.8% (Yamamoto & Wallhagen, 1997). Japan's 'very old' population group (aged 85 and above) is swiftly increasing in number. It has been projected that by 2025, the nation's 'very old' population will account for 4.3% of its total population -- a five-fold rise in three decades. Furthermore, it was projected that as many as 2.62 million Japanese would be suffering from senile dementia by the year 2015; the 1990 estimate for senile dementia was about one million individuals (11WSA 1996).

Change in the percentage of Japan's aged population has also brought with it a corresponding change in Japanese social norms pertaining to family issues. Historically, elder care in Japan was regarded as the predetermined duty of the successive generation in patrilineal extended families. Owing to this tradition, even in the year 1992, as many…… [Read More]