Effective Strategies for Collaborating with Patients and their Families

First of all, care coordination involves a deliberate organization of activities in patient care and sharing of information among every participant concerned with patient care to attain more effective and safer care. What this means is that the preferences and needs of the patient are anticipated and communicated at the right time and to the right individuals, and this information is used to offer effective, appropriate, and safe care to patients. Patient engagement entails families and patients taking active roles in the healthcare system to enhance healthcare services and health in partnership and collaboration with professionals (Goodridge et al, 2018). It is assumed that patients have healthcare-related knowledge from their individual experiences.

Some strategies can be used to collaborate with patients and their families to attain the desired health outcomes. Emphasis on leadership and accountability. The healthcare personnel and the patients should agree on the goals and clearly define everyone’s roles and accountability for the goal to be attained. The clinical team members must offer advice on the clinical components, and the patient and families should offer their perspectives until there is a goal agreement. The second strategy is to foster teamwork and communication. According to Goodridge et al (2018), patients and families are part of the team and must receive relevant, timely, and accurate communication regarding their health and care. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2020) suggests direct communication and interaction with patients and their families, encouraging positive or negative feedback and seeking improvement suggestions.

Collaborative negotiation is another effective strategy for collaborating with patients and their families. Collaboration fosters an environment of mutual trust and rapport and is important in the care of patients. Involving patients and their families in healthcare and health decisions tailored to individual preferences is also important. The National Library of Medicine (2019) claims that patients and families must fully participate in their health and care and partner, based on their preference, with clinicians in attaining those expectations. Furthermore, healthcare delivery organizations need to monitor and evaluate patient perspectives and apply the insights gained to enhance care processes, implement patient portals to facilitate communication and data sharing among patients, families, and clinicians and also make reliable and high-quality tools available for shared decision making with the patients at varying levels of health literacy (Morley and Cashell (2017) outline the importance of having a shared-decision making that entails respectful power balance, trust, openness, communication and negotiation among healthcare practitioners, patients and their families. My next focus will be on the aspects of change management that directly affect elements of the patient experience essential to providing high-quality and patient-centered care.

Aspects of Change Management

In healthcare, organizational changes are more probable to succeed when healthcare professionals have the chance to influence the change, feel prepared for the change, and are made aware of the value of the change, including recognizing the benefit that the change would have on patients (Nilsen et al, 2020). One of the key aspects of change in healthcare is uncertainty. Research has revealed that organizational changes are often linked to psychological uncertainty among employees about how the changes will impact their work situations, roles and general life (Nilsen et al, 2020).

High rates of organizational change have certain effects on employees’ well-being and health as evaluated by various indicators such as lessened organizational commitment, work-related stress, change fatigue, adverse sleep patterns, mental health problems, reduced productivity, and sickness absence, among others (Nilsen et al, 2020). With such adverse effects on the healthcare workers, when change is not well implemented or does not involve the active participation of the employees, adverse effects are also expected on patients. For instance, fatigue and burnout of physicians are said to result in an angry, impatient, and irritable physician with high rates of absenteeism, reduced quality of care, and reduced productivity (Yates, 2020). Furthermore, this is also linked to a heightened risk of medical errors, causing negative patient experiences, such as adverse drug effects. This results in poor outcomes for the patients and the physicians as well.

It is important to note that patient satisfaction is the balanced quality of care while patient experience focuses on how the patient perceives healthcare facilities. Patients can witness a lack of collaboration, coordination, or oneness in the healthcare facility as evidenced by prolonged waiting times. This could be through communication breakdowns and constant medical errors caused by poor communication. Such things result in negative experiences for the patients who might not be cared for properly due to communication breakdowns or inattention caused by change fatigue and other factors. Eventually, their level of satisfaction also declines, reducing the probability of reusing the care facility, recommending it to others, or even taking legal action for patient neglect or poor patient outcomes. Feeling understood and having transparency in healthcare are among the most valued things for a good patient experience. Furthermore, Fang, Liu, and Fang (2019) reveal that the medical staff’s attitude and having quality care can enhance patient satisfaction. It is, therefore, important to ensure increased participation of healthcare workers in the change process to reduce the chances of resistance and the negative effects linked to poor change management and implementation.

Rationale for Coordinated Care Plans

The rationale for a coordinated care plan is to increase the quality of life and care, improve system efficiency for patients with complex long-term problems, and improve patient satisfaction (Plant et al, 2015). Influencing the care outcomes of patients requires ethical decision-making by the healthcare practitioner. Ethical decision-making depends on the practitioner’s skills and knowledge, a good understanding of the ethical principles, and good relations with the patients. In coordinated care plans, ethical decisions are important, given that information is to be shared among different parties. High levels of confidentiality, patient protection, and ethics are needed. An ethical approach to patients’ coordinated care is needed to ensure that all parties uphold the ethical regulations and standards of care and that care is patient-centered to increase the quality of care offered to patients.

The principles of justice, beneficence, autonomy, and nonmaleficence should guide ethical decision-making. It is assumed that an individual has perfect information, resources, and cognitive ability to choose by evaluating all the alternatives before making a choice, and therefore, ethical decision-making is expected during coordinated care plans. Suppose the individual lacks cognitive abilities to make such decisions. In that case, their closest family member or caregiver must make a wise and ethical decision on their behalf while upholding the value of “do no harm.”

Potential Impact of Health Care Policy Provisions on Outcome

Health insurance coverage like Medicaid and Medicare are among the most important healthcare policy provisions. Compared to insured adults, uninsured adults are less probable to receive screening and preventive services and are also less probable to get these services on time. Fan et al (2019) states that public health insurance could positively impact individuals’ health, such as increased healthcare utilization and health-related behaviors. Furthermore, insured patients with chronic illnesses are more likely to receive appropriate care to manage their health conditions. Studies also show that uninsured hospitalized patients have a higher probability of in-hospital mortality; they get less services and are more likely to experience a negative medical event due to negligence than those who are insured (NLM, 2020). Therefore, given that health insurance improves the outcome of care, it should be highly recommended, especially among people experiencing poverty who can be covered under certain coverages.

Nurse’s Role in Coordination and Continuum of Care

In conclusion, I would like to discuss your role in the coordination and continuum of care. Nurses can be the central link between various individuals involved in the coordinated care plan of patients. This will help facilitate safety, efficiency, and quality of care, resulting in enhanced healthcare outcomes considered with the holistic and patient-centered care framework in nursing (Cropley & Sanders, 2016). You can share knowledge about the patient care with the relevant parties, facilitating a seamless transition of care and collaborating with the other members to develop a plan that s proactive and personalized plan to manage the patient’s healthcare needs. Remember that nurses constitute most of the healthcare workforce; no hospital can do without us. Upholding quality care and ensuring that others uphold the same standards is a collective responsibility, especially among nurses, who are the major link between patients, families, and other healthcare practitioners.

Thank you!

References

Cropley, S., & Sanders, E. D. (2016). Care coordination and the essential role of the nurse. Creative nursing, 19(4), 189-194.

Fan, H., Yan, Q., Coyte, P. C., & Yu, W. (2019). Does public health insurance coverage lead to better health outcomes? Evidence from Chinese adults. Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 56, 0046958019842000.

Fang, J., Liu, L., & Fang, P. (2019). What is the most important factor affecting patient satisfaction–a study based on gamma coefficient. Patient preference and adherence, 13, 515.

Goodridge, D., Henry, C., Watson, E., McDonald, M., New, L., Harrison, E. L.,& Rotter, T. (2018). Structured approaches to promote patient and family engagement in treatment in acute care hospital settings: protocol for a systematic scoping review. Systematic reviews, 7(1), 1-7.

Morley, L., & Cashell, A. (2017). Collaboration in health care. Journal of medical imaging and radiation sciences, 48(2), 207-216.

National Library of Medicine. (2020). The Difference Coverage Could Make to the Health of Uninsured Adults. National Academies Press (US), Washington (DC).

Nilsen, P., Seing, I., Ericsson, C., Birken, S. A., & Schildmeijer, K. (2020). Characteristics of successful changes in health care organizations: an interview study with physicians, registered nurses and assistant nurses. BMC health services research, 20(1), 1-8.

Plant, N., Mallitt, K. A., Kelly, P. J., Usherwood, T., Gillespie, J., Boyages, S., … & Leeder, S. (2015). Implementation and effectiveness of’care navigation’, coordinated management for people with complex chronic illness: rationale and methods of a randomised controlled trial. BMC health services research, 13(1), 1-6.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2020). Supporting Patient and Family Engagement: Best Practices for Hospital Leaders. Retrieved from https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/professionals/systems/hospital/engagingfamilies/howtogetstarted/Best_Practices_Hosp_Leaders_508.pdf

The National Library of Medicine. (2019). Engaging Patients, Families, and Communities. National Academies Press (US), Washington (DC).

Yates, S. W. (2020). Physician stress and burnout. The American journal of medicine, 133(2), 160-164.

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