Improving Patient Care Through Patient Engagement: A Case Study Essay.

Patient Engagement for Quality Healthcare Outcomes

Body of Essay – Gibbs reflection

1. Description: Describe the patient’s experience. Aim to focus on a particular relevant aspect, identify key themes and justify these themes of care focus. Write in third person here. Write one paragraph here (no dot points)
This first sentence of your paragraph should provide the main point.The remaining sentences – describe the patient experience, identify the key themes and include a justification for these themes of care focus.

2. Feelings and Thoughts: Describe and examine your feelings and thoughts in response to your description. Identify the values and beliefs that connect you to your feelings and thoughts and evaluate your response to the patient’s experience in terms of those feelings and thoughts. For example, why did you feel
that way? 

Write in first person here.
Write one paragraph here (no dot points)
This first sentence of your paragraph should provide the main point. The remaining sentences – describe and examine your feelings and thoughts in response to your description. Identify the values and beliefs that connect you to your feelings and thoughts and evaluate your response to the patient’s experience in terms of those feelings and thoughts.

3. Values and Beliefs: Describe some values and beliefs of yours that may have impacted on your feelings and thoughts about what went on. After reflecting about the ‘values and beliefs’ that connect to your feelings and thoughts, identify where these values and beliefs originate from? Why are these  values and beliefs important? Who are they important to and why? 

Are they important to you, the patient and the patient’s family?
Write in first person and in third person as applicable Write one paragraph here (no dot points) This first sentence of your paragraph should provide the main point.
The remaining sentences - describe some values and beliefs of yours that may have impacted on your feelings and thoughts about what went on. Identify the ‘values and beliefs’ that connect to your feelings and thoughts. Identify where these values and beliefs originate from and justify why they are important to you as a person and nurse as one, the patient and the patient’s family.

4. Analysis - Analyse the patient experience and partnering in care case scenario, identify and explain the care displayed in the case scenario (inadequate and adequate care). Draw upon some literature to support your analysis of the case scenario and relate it to the scenario by providing examples. Aim to make sense of this patient experience in terms of how you reacted to it.

Patient Engagement for Quality Healthcare Outcomes

Patient engagement that involves patients sharing their experiences is believed to be a very fundamental strategy in improving the quality of care and outcomes provided by most healthcare facilities. Patients should be actively involved in working with health practitioners across different levels of healthcare to improve service delivery within the system (Ahmed, Burt & Roland, 2014). Taking an example of the presented case scenario of the 75 years old patient, we notice that engaging him and being informed regarding his experience can only improve future care plans for patients with similar complications. In this essay, I will talk about the experience of the patient. I will additionally share my feelings regarding the same. Furthermore, I will discuss some of the values and beliefs impacted on me by his experience.

Mr. Taylor experienced a serious fall that led to serious injuries that have impacted him to date. His right arm got incapacitated and he could not use it to perform any tasks. There was no one to help him out of the gutter so he had to struggle to rescue himself and get home. At home, his wife wanted to drive him to a public hospital but he refused due to his former experience at a similar facility. He instead contacted his GP who gave him directions on what to do. Four weeks after diagnosis he again experiences another fall in the house after feeling dizzy. He is then diagnosed with anemia but the doctor could not find why he as anemic so he had to be given a pill cam.  He also has other conditions such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and allergic rhinitis.

I feel that care in public hospitals should be made faster to improve the quality of the outcome. This could prevent patients from having to wait for long hours before being attended to. In the presented case scenario, Mr. Taylor refused to go to a public hospital because of his previous experience. If the patient care at the public hospital was better, then he could not have waited until the next day to see his personal GP. What if his injuries got worse during the night leading to deterioration? This is the question that has influenced my thoughts and feelings because of the fact that he had to wait until the next day when he could instead go to a public hospital to receive urgent care. According to Epstein & Street (2011), this can only be made possible if the facilities in public hospitals could be improved and patient-centered care made better.

An Elderly Patient's Experience: The Importance of Patient-Centered Care

From the scenario, it is clear that one of the most important values anyone could have is a family. This value together with the belief of quality care must have impacted on my feelings and thoughts about what transpired. These two originate from the strong family bonds that people share together with the goodwill of caring for others. A family is very important especially when one of the members falls ill. This is because they are the most immediate caregivers. Like in the case of Mr. Taylor, his wife was able to drive him to see his GP the next day and for several other weeks when he still could not use his arms. This goes far to prove how a family was important to Mr. Taylor after his accident. Additionally, the belief of quality care must also have affected my feelings after reading that there was some time when Taylor had to wait in a public hospital for eleven hours before being attended to. Quality care should be fundamental in any healthcare setting to ensure positive care outcomes.

There were, however, aspects of care that were inadequate in the provided case scenario, like long waiting hours before attendance by a healthcare practitioner. One example was when Mr. Taylor had kidney stones and went to seek medication in a public hospital. He, however, had to wait for eleven hours before he could be attended to. He was in intense agony and had to ask for pills every 3 to 4 hours without anyone even attending to him. This could be classified as negligence. No matter how busy a health facility is, no one has to wait for eleven hours to be attended to. This is a violation of the nursing standards of care and patients’ right to quality care. The only way to ensure quality care and patient satisfaction is by ensuring that care is delivered swiftly and according to the nursing standards (Kusnanto).  The patient-centered approach should be employed in care to improve the standards of care.

It is also important to note that there were aspects of the care that were very adequate as evidenced by the provided case scenario. One such aspect was the patient-centered approach to care. Mr. Taylor decided to visit his personal GP and as he puts it, he was satisfied and had no complaints. He was not sidelined form any decisions regarding his wellbeing. He was sent to the best physiotherapist by his surgeon. The physiotherapist trained him on how to use his arm with the help of his other arm and additional aids and this was very satisfying according to him. From the scenario, we can clearly see that the kind of care that Mr. Taylor received from his personal GP was more satisfying and adequate than the kind of care he could have maybe received at a public hospital. According to Rathert, Wyrwich & Boren (2013), such types of care are fundamental in improving patient outcomes.

Challenges Faced by Public Hospitals in Delivering Timely Care

In conclusion, we can agree that some public hospitals are not the best when it comes to caring for patients. They receive so many patients in a day and this may sometimes make the workload unmanageable. This huge number of patients in most cases causes long queues in the hospital that may affect the quality of care. Some of the negative indicators to this revelation are as follows. Firstly, patients are kept waiting for so long as in the case of Mr. Taylor who had to wait for 11 hours. This can only make the situation of the patient worse because in most cases the patients do not get any care during these waiting hours. Another negative indicator is patient deterioration which may result from extended hours of neglect thus putting the safety of the patient at a huge risk. These two indicators may, therefore, be important in directing future changes in care by ensuring that the interests of the patients are prioritized to improve the quality of care.  

Conversely, private health facilities offer some of the best care in the country. They have some positive indications like patient-centered care and fast care services. The patient-centered approach involves the involvement of the patient during decision-making processes that affect their health (Barry & Edgman-Levitan, 2012). Taking the example of Mr. Taylor, he is involved when the decision to sew up his torn arm is made unlike the case of his father where the doctor made the decision of amputating his legs without extensively involving him. This kind of involvement increases the confidence levels of the patient regarding care. These private facilities additionally respond to patients swiftly and thus improving the quality of care and patient outcomes (Manary, Boulding, Staelin & Glickman, 2013). These two indicators may help in directing future changes in care by striving to ensure that any facility of care employs a patient-centered approach in their care plans.  

Based on the above conclusions drawn from the case scenario I would initiate an action plan to deal with the issue of overcrowding and negligence in public hospitals. The problem with public hospitals has always been the high number of patients they receive on a daily basis. And this is partly due to the high costs witnessed in private hospitals. The best way to address this is by increasing the capacity of private hospitals and the number of practitioners to meet the WHO requirements. Additionally, more people should be able to access affordable care plans to make it easier to seek medication even from the private sector. One of the ways of partnering with patients and families is by championing for everyone to enroll for the several care plans that are available. Additionally, the families should play a major role as the primary caregivers.

Conclusion

Patient engagement is one of the surest ways of understanding patient experience. Engaging a patient and getting to know what they have gone through, helps in designing the best care plans for future practices involving similar scenarios. As a result, the health practitioners know the areas that they have to improve on. Patients and families likewise get to understand their role in care plans with the aim of improving patient outcomes and ensuring quality care. It is also important to note that a patient-centered approach is arguably the most fundamental aspect of care. It is thus imperative to exercise a patient-centered approach for the best outcomes.

References

Ahmed, F., Burt, J., & Roland, M. (2014). Measuring patient experience: concepts and methods. The Patient-Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, 7(3), 235-241.

Barry, M. J., & Edgman-Levitan, S. (2012). Shared decision making—the pinnacle of patient-centered care. New England Journal of Medicine, 366(9), 780-781.

Epstein, R. M., & Street, R. L. (2011). The values and value of patient-centered care.

Kusnanto, H. Patient-Centered Care. Review of Primary Care Practice and Education (Kajian Praktik dan Pendidikan Layanan Primer), 1(2), 52-53.

Manary, M. P., Boulding, W., Staelin, R., & Glickman, S. W. (2013). The patient experience and health outcomes. New England Journal of Medicine, 368(3), 201-203.

Rathert, C., Wyrwich, M. D., & Boren, S. A. (2013). Patient-centered care and outcomes: a systematic review of the literature. Medical Care Research and Review, 70(4), 351-379.