Australian Health Care Standards

The University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) has taken a unique approach to improving revenue and reducing bad debt. By taking “a proactive, patient-friendly approach to communicating with patients about their financial responsibility through an integrated revenue cycle model,” UPMC has increased patient payments from an average of $16 million per month in 2012 to an average of $20 million per month since March 2013 (Langford, 2013, p. 88). Additionally, UPMC has been able to “significantly reduced bad debt and enhanced patient relationships through greater financial advocacy” (Langford, 2013, p. 88). In the fiscal year of 2009, UPMC’s bad debt accounted for 52% of UPMC’s uncompensated care, and as of 2013, the bad debt accounts for 24%

In U.S., spending on health care has been growing at a faster pace than spending in rest of economy since 1960s. The government was spending 4.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) at that time, which grew to 16.2% in 2007, and is expected to rise to 20% of GDP by 2017(1). Without any drastic measures, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), these numbers will project to 25% of GDP in 2025, 30% by 2035, and 49% in 2082 (2). The major components of U.S. health care spending are hospitals (31%), physician and clinical services (21%), pharmaceuticals (10%), and other spending (25%) (3).

As an integral part of the healthcare team, nursing has evolved tremendously. In Nurse of the Future Nursing Core Competencies a picture was painted of what the future of nursing looks like. From my own opinion I do feel that a reform or evolution in nursing education is required to create competent nurses of the future. Current nursing school programs are academic heavy with an emphasis on skills. While growing competency in clinical skills is necessary, there is much more to the future of nursing than being highly skilled. It is time to distinguish not just skills, but characteristics of a successful nurse of the future. This is a nurse who will be well rounded with the tools and resources to help guide healthcare and the patient experience

Established in 2002 by the Joint Commission to address the issue of safety in healthcare were various patient safety goals which dealt with many safety problems the accredited organization might face including medication and communication errors. The Joint Commission has also established National Patient Safety Goals for accredited organizations to follow in order to encourage patient safety by reevaluating the sentinel events data collected every year and revising the goals by omitting achieved goals and creating new ones. Hospitals evaluated by the Joint Commission must demonstrate compliance with the NPSGs as part of the accreditation process (Ellis & Hartley,

The Care Quality Commission (previously the Healthcare Commission) is an independent regulator of health and social care in England. It regulates the quality of care provided by the National Health Service, public service, local authorities and voluntary organisations in the United Kingdom. The CQC was established by the Health and Social Care

Nurses’ primary goals are to promote patient safety and give the best quality of care to the patients. They also play a vital role in preventing and reducing medical errors in their work place. Nurses must be fully aware of the new recommendations and guidelines to follow in the healthcare setting. The Joint Commission established the National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) in 2002 (The Joint Commission, 2015). The goal of this program is to assist the health care providers with issues and concerns regarding patient safety and to help solve them. Hospital National Patient Safety Goals include: a) identify patients correctly, b) improve staff communication, c) use medicines safely, d) use alarms safely, e) prevent infection, d) identify patient safety risks, and, e) prevent mistakes in surgery (National Patient Safety Goals, 2016).

Nurses are critical for promoting health in the society. The profession is highly flexible, since they specialize in diverse operations in the medical field. Registered nurses, for instance, are responsible for the administration of medicine and inoculations to patients (American Nurses ' Association, 2000). Additionally, these professionals observe, record, and enlighten doctors of any changes in a patient’s health. Nurses interpret and evaluate diagnostic examinations to determine an individual’s condition, as well as making the necessary adjustments in patient treatment plans on their health progress. In collaboration with other medical personnel, nurses engage in the development and enactment of patient care plans. Furthermore, they provide education to families and groups on various health issues such as disease prevention, among others.

Since the addition of Crossing the Quality Chasm six aims of quality patient care was created by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), there has been a significant change in the effectiveness and condition of patient care. Before this report came out in 2001, health care providers did not realize that they were not providing proper care to patients in addition to disorganization and complexity of standards of care. The IOM was able to determine that, “failure of system processes, poor communication, and unhealthy work environments contribute to medical errors, ineffective delivery of care, and stress among health professionals” (Winterbottom 2012). It is essential for patients to feel

My duty to the organisations is to devise strategy and criteria to measure standards in the organisation to bring in line with National Standard 2008, a provider of health and social care providers must ensure that service users are given appropriate treatment, in line with regulation 20 of health and social care Act 2008. I will measure the standard of service offered by using two methods, quantitative and qualitative by gathering information from for customers, Stake holders, regulators, internal and external customers, I will also

Patient safety emerges as a central aim of quality. Patient safety, as defined by the World Health Organization,” is the prevention of errors and adverse effects to patients that are associated with health care. Safety is what patients, families, staff, and the public expect from Joint Commission–accredited organizations. While patient safety events may not be completely eliminated, harm to patients can be reduced, and the goal is always zero harm “3 .

In this situation there are key ethical and legal situations that arise from the treatment and transportation of Craig. As the police are now involved the paramedics have better assistance with the legal side of restraint however the ethical issues remain import and need to be managed correctly.

The NHS Constitution established the principles and values that are fundamental to service users on how appropriate clinical decisions are made for the delivery of quality care (Department of Health 2010). It provides explicit information for patients to understand their care, what to expect, and feel more empowered involving in their own care (DH 2010). The NHS constitution explains the behaviour expected from stakeholders such as staff, patients and the public (DH 2010). This prevent the government from making alteration and give the NHS complete autonomy and protection against political change without the full involvement of stakeholders to achieve transparency in the delivery of care (DH 2010).

The NSW is rolling out ambitious plan of “enabiling ehealth” which is aimed at providing universal accessibility of health care to all the patients. It is strategic to look into limitations and strengths of the reforms and planned for the future for its sustainability. Strengths of the plan such as telehealth and to provide quick access to patients need to be implemented. The limitations are to be addressed such as lack of infrastructure, high start-up cost and optimal funding need to be allocated. At this point of time it is apposite to to plan for the future through this recommendations using the telehelath, good governance, maintain good infrastructure, patient awareness and implementing the laws. Implementations of all this will transform the current health care into technological advanced health care. There by reaching being more feasible to clinicians and patients.

Reviewing the standards and practices employed by primary care the practices, training is the very important when it comes to risk management, and achieving accreditation with a self-governing organization such, as The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization. This organization performs intermittently on site reviews of procedure and compliance. This will help to promote awareness and compliance (Reising, 2012). Nurse Practitioner needs to protect themselves by: (1) Caring, establishing a good connection with patients and maintaining confidentiality. (2) Communicating with client by following up with all laboratory results and follow up with referrals as this will show competence. (3) When charting documenting everything, and practice by the standard of care. (4) Never attempt to alter the medical records. (5) Do not diagnose or prescribe over the phone, and be prepared to apologize. Better communication and trust are the keys to avoid litigation (Malloy,

With patients today using the threat of reporting low satisfaction rates in the hopes of receiving faster or higher quality care, they seem to have taken the upper hand in some of the decision making of what takes place in the healthcare world today (Sullivan). But is it really the survey results that will make the drastic changes that are needed?