Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models - Essay Example

"Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models" is an engrossing example of a paper on care.
The entire field that is nursing has over time undergone a lot of growth and continues to evolve in terms of the role of nurses in our healthcare system. National healthcare focus in America at the moment is on restructuring the manner in which we deliver healthcare services with a sole aim of saving on costs whilst improving patient outcomes. I have personally interacted with & interviewed colleague nurses in our unit about the impressions of the anticipated changes and message is the same. That the ongoing changes in terms of the roles of nurses come with increased opportunities for nurses and they will continue to increasingly play of the role of leading delivery models.

Every nurse seems to be excited with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which provides for intertwining quality and cost in the delivery of care. The model of delivering care through medical homes has gained momentum the world over and its prominence will likely increase with time especially given with the operationalization of Accountable Care Organizations. This is because the ACOs will borrow some aspects of the medical homes in serving patients and generating more share savings (Swan and Hass, 2011).  another concept of service delivery lies in the establishment of the Nurse-Managed Health Clinics with the intention of taking comprehensive services in terms of primary care and wellness to the populations which historically been underserved and remained vulnerable.

In driving cost-saving the PPACA is undoubtedly in the spirit of holistic care, patient education, information dissemination and management of chronic illnesses. This means that advanced care will be a major focus of the healthcare system and based on educational levels, nurses will be the forefront of service delivery especially for patients with multiple conditions in an environment other than the acute care hospitals. As management paradigm in healthcare and the focus of service delivery shift away of the hospital settings nurses become increasingly important members of the system by leading other professional teams in managing change and shaping new healthcare models (Files and Patel, 2010).

Ultimately the focus on value for patients’ money and quality of healthcare service delivered basically a heavy dependence on nurse practitioners. The requirement is for the ACOS, Medical Homes and NMHCs to foster patient engagement, impalement and report measures to improve quality while saving costs and more importantly emphasis on the role of evidence-based-care. The focus care is shifting towards the patient in the patient will inform the direction of service delivery and as such more nurses as well their skills will be required to play the leadership role. They will lead other disciplines and professionals in the entire field such as nutritionists, social workers, mental healthcare professionals, doctors and physician assistants. This means that not only will more nurses be required but the role of the profession will become more increasingly important in our healthcare system.

In conclusion therefore the submissions of colleague nurses’ impressions of the anticipated healthcare changes are consistent with research on health reforms. Nurse practitioners have the necessary skills and as such the unique opportunity of leading change in the provision of primary care. This is actually the spirit of PPACA which was enacted into law very recently. Wellness, management of chronic illnesses, patient education and integration of service are at the core of paradigm shift in healthcare with the goal of containing costs and maximize outcomes.