Remote Collaboration and Evidence-Based Care
The provision of care in the healthcare sector requires the involved inter-professional teams to collaborate among themselves and involve the patient in the care process. Although the involvement of the patient in the care process translates to autonomy, it doubles up as a collaborative approach that helps in the delivery of quality healthcare services (Young & Young, 2016). The provision of quality care in remote settings requires different collaborative approaches that aim at ensuring that the patient’s needs are addressed. The paper provides a nursing situation involving a patient in a remote setting and how interprofessional collaboration can be applied to ensure that the patient receives the best of care.
Patients in remote areas face various challenges that are likely to limit their chances of receiving quality healthcare services. Some of the challenges inherent in rural settings include duplication of services among the care providers, heavy dependence on public payers as well as limited economies of scale (Young & Young, 2016). With the presented challenges, a healthcare service provider who operates individually is likely to face challenges when delivering services to patients thereby affecting the quality of service delivered. Collaboration and coordination among healthcare service providers in remote settings are essential in improving patient outcomes.
Patient Situation
A 74-year-old patient presented in a remote healthcare facility with a diabetic foot ulcer. The patient had a history of type 2 diabetes. While at the remote care facility, the patient complained that his wound took long to heal and needed a medical check-up. After assessing the wound, the healthcare team arrived at diabetic foot ulcers as a possible diagnosis. The patient’s wound was assessed and he was discharged to receive care at home. The patient was in constant communication with the healthcare team that guided the caregiver on appropriate interventions.
As part of the healthcare professional team handling the diabetic patient, collaboration in identifying the patient’s diagnosis is essential. In the provided case study, the healthcare professional teams collaborated to ensure that the patient’s diagnosis was accurate. The collaboration among the inter-professional team eliminated the risk of misdiagnosis.
The inter-professional remote collaboration test was encountered after the patient was discharged to receive care. Throughout the care process, the patient was to be in constant communication with the healthcare professionals in the remote healthcare facility. One of the enablers of a remote collaborative approach is technology. The communication between the patient and the healthcare providers had to be technology-enabled.
Telehealth was one of the enablers of collaboration among healthcare professionals and the patient who had been discharged and was receiving care at home. Telehealth constitutes electronic distribution of services related to healthcare and dissemination of critical information to patient care (Young & Young, 2016). Through telehealth, patients in areas away from the healthcare facilities can communicate with the service providers or care, advice, monitoring, interventions, and education.
Through telehealth, the healthcare professional team coordinated the diabetic patient’s care. The care providers held consultative meetings to come up with interventions that would later be communicated to the patient to help in the management of the diabetic foot and his diabetic condition. The health education services that the patient received include the importance of adhering to a proper diet. The healthcare professionals ensured that the patient knew the appropriate foods that he was expected to eat to promote proper management of the diabetic condition. Education on an ideal diet was quite important for the patient.
Additionally, with technological advancement as an enabling factor, it was easier for the patient to understand the type of wound care that was needed. The patient received teaching on appropriate would care. Although he was always assisted by the caregiver, he had a grasp of the knowledge needed in cleaning the wound and changing the dressing. Apart from telehealth, the patient had a way of directly communicating with the healthcare professionals if he felt there was information that the healthcare team should have known. The provision of a direct contact number to the patients under remote care is crucial in reporting emergencies.
Benefits/Challenges
One of the benefits that were associated with the provision of remote care and monitoring to the diabetic patient was the ease of accessing the patient information. The delivery of quality healthcare services depends on available patient information. Through remote care, it was easy to limit poor patient outcomes that are associated with inaccurate patient information. Telehealth, for example, made it possible for the healthcare team to access the patient information thereby limiting the chances of errors.
The other benefit associated with collaboration in remote care was the limitation of healthcare costs (Young & Young, 2016). Being that the patient was receiving care remotely, he did not have to incur extra costs associated with hospitalization. I feel that the cost-reduction aspect of remote care is quite beneficial to the majority of the patients. Besides, the patient was better placed at cutting the costs associated with occasional movements to the healthcare facility. With limited infrastructural development in the rural set-ups, there is a significant likelihood that the healthcare facilities may be far from the patient’s home.
The other benefit associated with collaborative remote care in the presented case was the delivery of quality services and that resulted in positive patient outcomes (Young & Young, 2016). Through constant communication and patient education, the caregiver learned a lot. The patient was always served with the right meals. Additionally, the patient received proper would care as directed by the healthcare service providers. The direct contact that the patient maintained with the healthcare team enabled the patient to report any symptoms that he felt was necessary to report for proper interventions.
However, one of the challenges that the patient encountered was the difficulty of adapting to the tech-world. At 74 years, the patient encountered the application of telehealth in care for the first time. He greatly depended on the caregiver to facilitate the communication. I would say that the patient had difficulty with the technology because of his age. The majority of the older adults may not be tech-savvy hence the need for training or assistance.
In conclusion, the provision of care in remote settings comes with challenges. One of the challenges is related to the high cost of hospitalization in areas with limitations of economies of scale. To ensure that the patients receive quality healthcare services, healthcare service providers should ensure that collaboration is upheld. Collaboration limits the chances of errors thereby promoting positive patient outcomes. Additionally, it is essential to understand that technology plays a significant role in ensuring that remote collaboration and care is a success. Nurses and other healthcare professionals should thus be updated on healthcare-related technological advancements.
References
Young, S. K., & Young, T. K. (2016). Assessing clinical support and inter-professional interactions among front-line primary care providers in remote communities in northern Canada: a pilot study. International journal of circumpolar health, 75(1), 32159.