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At Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, support staff collaborate with case managers to follow up on tests, consultations, evaluations, and other procedures, making sure anything that could impede a patient's progress is carried out in a timely manner.
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When a case manager or social worker at Saint Luke's Medical Center is concerned about a patient who is being discharged, he or she asks the RNs staffing the hospital's Nurseline to make a follow up call after the patient gets home.
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Although home health agencies have focused on falls in the home for many years, their importance was brought into the spotlight when the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations included that category in the 2005 National Safety Patient Goals.
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Smoking causes 90% of all lung cancer. While not all smokers develop the disease, the longer and more intensely a person smokes the greater the likelihood of getting lung cancer, says David W. Wetter, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Health Disparities Research at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
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Continuity of patient care has many facets, such as availability of information, availability or constancy of a clinician, a usual source of care, and follow-up appointment keeping. It is driven by the goal of providing seamless patient transitions from one setting to another.
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The job of patient education manager/coordinator has become more valuable in recent years, according to many in the field. There is growing awareness among administrators and staff about health literacy problems and the importance of using documents that are easy to read. Materials written at appropriate reading levels usually fall under the direction of the patient education coordinator.
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Each type of cancer needs a different education perspective, says Mary Szczepanik, MS, BSN, RN, manager of cancer education, support, and outreach at OhioHealth Cancer Services in Columbus.
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Smokers admitted to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, ME, are offered nicotine-replacement therapy to help them manage their habit in a smoke-free environment.
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A perception gap often exists today between what health care providers say, prescribe, and advise, and what patients actually understand and carry out in their self-care. Many factors can influence this gap, including a lack of language comprehension. Yet, even when a patient is well educated, highly conversant, and appears to understand what the health care provider is saying, a perception gap can result.
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Hospital admissions related to poor medication adherence cost the United States billions of dollars a year. Two physicians reviewed the literature and discussed adherence to medication in the Aug. 5 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
