Assignment: Comprehensive Needs Assessment Essay

Assignment: Comprehensive Needs Assessment Essay

Assignment  Comprehensive Needs Assessment Essay

 

While the Affordable Care Act has been efficacious in expanding insurance coverage for most Americans, its impact on diabetes care is hardly known. Thus, it is difficult to assess the effect of this legislation on diabetes outcomes. Of course, the fact that ACA has enabled early diagnoses of diabetes for most people is a positive impact. Similarly, earlier treatment of diabetes reduces mortality rates in the United States. However, this law has not helped many Americans in managing conditions associated with diabetes. For instance, in the case of Mr. Decker, he did not have his toe infection treated as early as required, which made the wound worse and would have required an amputation. Also, he did not have much family support, and his wife reports that he often forgets to take his medication. His daughter is outside the country and is unavailable to provide additional support and his nephew faces problems while trying to help.

The policy requiring elderly patients to receive diabetes care under Medicare faces constant challenges associated with funding. It also limits itself to the amount allocated to patients. In the case of Mr. Decker, Medicare wanted him to get out of the hospital after receiving primary care, but there are fears that he will not receive the care he needs at home. His continued hospitalization may not help because of the increasing cost of care. The family has to pay out of their pocket to access care outside the home. The current policy relating to Mr. Decker’s situation requires all health plans to provide some coverage to cater for diabetes care. However, this policy does not specify the services that these providers should provide (Myerson & Laiteerapong, 2016). The policy may help poor families if it requires coverage to ensure follow-up to ensure every diabetic elderly patient takes insulin as directed by the physician. A combination of strategies may help, including home care with support from a social worker, coordination by various health professionals, and use of electronic health records.

Strategy for Gathering Additional Necessary Assessment

            The physician can rely on other people who know Mr. Decker well, which is referred to as an informant report. It is also possible to use direct observation, which involves observing Mr. Decker undertaking various activities. An effective tool that can be used in obtaining this information is the InterRAI Comprehensive Assessment Tool recommended by Gray et al. (2018). The physician can also use various secondary verbal or written sources, including medical reports, hospital records, communication from care providers in the community, as well as investigation results. The Comprehensive Assessment Tool might be used in exploring particular conditions like, pressure, pain, nutrition, or injury.

Since Mr. Decker is aged, no single standard may be used to assess his condition, but the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment can be more efficacious. This tool is useful in understanding the multidimensional complex care needs of elderly patients in the long- and short-term. It is imperative that multiple team members with particular skills are involved based on his needs. Similarly, it is important to take into account Mr. Decker’s situation by collecting information and cues, which is achieved through questioning close family members and observing him. The health professional should then process the information with the aim of understanding what he needs. Finally, it is fundamental to establish goals, take actions or perform interventions, and evaluate care outcomes.

Click here to ORDER an A++ paper from our MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS: Assignment: Comprehensive Needs Assessment Essay

Factors Most Likely To Affect Patient Outcomes

In the case of Mr. Decker, several factors might affect care outcomes or the quality of diabetic services provided. First, delays in following up on diabetes medication and presence of unmanaged comorbidities will worsen patient outcomes. For instance, his wound

has taken long to heal because a physician did not attend to it properly. Another factor that will affect patient outcomes is the presence or lack of continuity of care. Continued care and availability of a professional to follow up on Mr. Decker’s health status will improve the care outcome. The other factor that will influence patient outcomes is the availability of diabetes educational materials in the hospital and out-of-the hospital settings. If caregivers access these materials, the patient outcomes will improve. Another factor is the availability of nurses who can take care of Mr. Decker in his language and provide client centered care (Al-Alawi, Al Mandhari, & Johansson, 2019). The involvement of other professionals including dieticians will also improve patient outcomes. The patient has to receive diabetic medication between appointments, as this will also improve outcomes.

Specific Patient and Care Coordination Outcome Measures Related to Specific Accrediting Standards

In providing care for Mr. Decker, care coordination will be essential. For instance, it will be crucial to work with Medicare and insurance companies while conforming to the federal regulations. Health professionals should help patients get the best care by advocating for them and helping them understand the regulation requirements. The two organizations authorized to ensure that diabetes self-management training services comply with the required standards are the American Association of Diabetes Educators and the American Diabetes Association. Accreditation standards applicable to Mr. Decker’s case include providing ongoing support that recognizes the preference of the patient (CDC, 2019), continued evaluation of diabetes self-management training programs to ensure quality improvement, and the collaboration of experts in promoting the welfare of the patient. It is also imperative to promote diabetes self-management training within and outside hospital settings (Powers et al., 2017). Thus, the measures of care coordination outcome include the ability to provide continued support and care, effectiveness of education to the patient and health professionals, and the extent to which health providers and professionals collaborate with the patient to achieve the best health outcomes.

Evidence-based Practices from the Literature Necessary to Implement a Plan of Care Successfully

Coordination of various Healthcare Professionals

One of the ways to implement the plan of care is integrating medical office staff including the medical assistant into the diabetes care team. Collaboration is essential in nursing practice and health care organizations. With proper training, these professionals will facilitate coordinated and planned care that will improve patient health. Similarly, the patient will have more time with professionals.

Electronic Medical Records

With these records, it will be possible to provide the best care to the patient. For instance, if Mr. Decker visits a health facility he has never visited before, the new physician will know immediately that he had an infection in his toe previously (Han et al., 2015).. This will help in finding out if there is a need to address problems besides diabetes. Updated records will improve overall patient care.

Home Health Care with Social Worker Support

In the case of Mr. Decker, home-based care is the most affordable option. However, there is a need to have a social worker to follow up on the issues facing the family that might influence health care provision. It is also imperative for the family to seek financial help for diabetes care as recommended by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2019).

Medicare Savings Programs

Mr. Decker may seek additional financial support, which may necessitate paying Medicare premiums, coinsurance, or deductibles depending on his state. Nevertheless, the Department of Social Services will advise on his eligibility.

Benefits of a Multidisciplinary Approach to Patient Care that a Care Coordination Plan Would Foster

A multidisciplinary approach will be essential in Mr. Decker’s case as it helps in integrating care in the support and social services. The patient will get help from a multi-disciplinary team that will ensure safe and early discharge to home and overcome barriers to the provision of care (Hegarty, Buckley, Forrest & Marshall, 2016). Overall, the health of the patient will improve with the use of a multidisciplinary approach.

Assignment: Comprehensive Needs Assessment Essay Conclusion

Mr. Decker will benefit from a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates home care with support from a social worker, collaboration of various health professionals, and use of electronic health records. These records will help in improving care because different healthcare facilities and professionals can have information regarding the patient without wasting time. Coordination will help in providing the best care to the patient. Overall, the use of a multidisciplinary approach will help overcome the current gaps in the diabetes care policy.

Complete an interactive simulation exploring the role of the nurse in health care coordination. Then, complete a comprehensive patient needs assessment of 4–5 pages.

Note: Each assessment in this course builds on your work in the preceding assessment; therefore, complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.

Care coordination is an emerging and complex field in the health care system because of the growing number of providers, the various settings of care, and the numerous methods of delivering care. Hospitals are implementing several interventions to address gaps in care coordination, such as enhanced systems of communication, information technology, and personnel resourcing. This assessment provides an opportunity for you to complete a comprehensive needs assessment.

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
•Competency 1: Determine the influence of current health care legislation, policy, and research on evidence-based practice in assessment by care coordinators. ◦Identify current gaps in a patient’s care.
◦Develop a strategy for gathering additional necessary assessment data not readily available from an initial patient interview.

•Competency 2: Evaluate current factors (such as population health, cost, interprofessional communications) affecting patient outcomes related to care coordination. ◦Identify factors most likely to affect patient outcomes.
◦Advocate for the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to patient care that a care coordination plan would foster.

•Competency 3: Determine appropriate care coordination performance measures for driving high-quality patient outcomes, based on current accrediting standards and benchmarks. ◦Identify specific patient and care coordination outcome measures related to specific accrediting standards.

•Competency 4: Apply relevant evidence-based practices that reflect a shift toward a broader population health focus on patient outcomes. ◦Identify evidence-based practices from the literature necessary to successfully implement a plan of care.

•Competency 5: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with applicable organizational, professional, and scholarly standards. ◦Write clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.
◦Support main points, claims, and conclusions with credible evidence, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Context:
In their book To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, Kohn, Corrigan, and Donaldson (2000) identified collaborative communication and the reduction of medical errors as top priorities to improve the quality and safety of patient care. In response to this, the National Quality Forum (NQF), a nonprofit organization that works to catalyze improvements in health care, identified care coordination as an important national strategy to improve patient safety and quality of care delivery.

Coordination of care supports patient safety and quality and is a recognized professional standard shared by registered nurses regardless of their practice setting. Whether educating a patient about his or her medication and plan of care, or reviewing follow-up care, nurses are essential in facilitating the continuity of care for all patients.

Historically, nurses have engaged in coordinating care for every one of their patients. As the landscape of health care evolves, so does care coordination.

Assignment: Comprehensive Needs Assessment Essay Reference

Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J. M., & Donaldson, M. S. (Eds.). (2000). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9728

Questions to consider:
As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.
•What are the key reasons for completing a patient needs assessment?
•Which types of information are likely to be most valuable for improving patient outcomes?
•What are the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to coordinated care?

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• Student paper example
• Citing Sources
• The Writing Center is a great resource