Primary Care Clinic Review Discussion Paper
Primary Care Clinic Review
I work as an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) in a for-profit hospital in the US West Coast. The facility is financed via collections from insurance providers and from patients. Being a profit-generating organization, it is important that we generate adequate revenue to run the hospital and satisfy the economic interests of stakeholders. The hospital uses the WHO-provided definition of quality: safe, efficient, patient-centered, and equitable healthcare (Lee et al, 2019). Patient safety is a key part of our organization’s mandate, where we seek to minimize risks, and prevent harm and errors in our clinical processes. This entails concerns such as medication errors and protection of electronic patient information. Notably, the term evidence-based practice is extensively utilized in definitions of care processes. In addition, I understand that it is my responsibility as an APRN to employ evidence-based techniques in my work for the sake of professionalism and accountability (Davis, 2017). Primary Care Clinic Review Discussion Paper
Patient outcomes are defined in terms of care interventions to patients (Bruyneel et al, 2022). As a nurse, quality patient outcomes are patient satisfaction, where patients report being content with service; patient safety, where patients do not experience harm or exposure to risk; and functional status, where it is improved or maintained (Kleinpell & Kapu, 2017). These outcomes are measured through patient-reported quality of life, incidence of adverse effects such as medication allergies, falls, length of stay in the hospital, disease-free survival rate, and disease recurrence and progression. Policies that should be implemented to improve patient outcomes include developing more robust data access controls, implementing a medication management program to prevent mislabeling and drug-to-drug interactions, and discussing treatments with patients (Lee et al, 2019). These policies cover the operational and structural areas of service provision at the hospital. Primary Care Clinic Review Discussion Paper
References
Bruyneel, A., Larcin, L., Tack, J., Van Den Bulke, J., & Pirson, M. (2022). Association
between nursing cost and patient outcomes in intensive care units: A retrospective cohort study of Belgian hospitals. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 103296.
Davis, C. (2017). The importance of professional accountability. Nursing made incredibly
easy, 15(6), 4.
Kleinpell, R., & Kapu, A. N. (2017). Quality measures for nurse practitioner practice
evaluation. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 29(8), 446-451.
Lee, S. E., Scott, L. D., Dahinten, V. S., Vincent, C., Lopez, K. D., & Park, C. G. (2019).
Safety culture, patient safety, and quality of care outcomes: a literature review. Western journal of nursing research, 41(2), 279-304.
Thinking of a rural primary care clinic where you may work as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (i.e. outpatient clinic, rural clinic, federally-qualified health center), please answer the following. Primary Care Clinic Review Discussion Paper
Describe the organizational type (i.e. government, non-for-profit)
Discuss how the organization is financed
Describe how quality care is defined. Is patient safety part of the definition? Is the term evidence-based practice used in any definitions?
Discuss how quality patient outcomes are defined and measured
Discuss the types of policies and procedures that should be developed and implemented at this facility Primary Care Clinic Review Discussion Paper