Observation Unit with Tele

Answer

Observation Unit with Tele

The aim of this essay is to discuss how the Core Competencies for a New Vision for Health Professions Education relate to my area of nursing practice. The five core competencies include provision of patient-centered care, working with interdisciplinary teams, use of evidence-based practice, application of quality improvement, and utilization of informatics (Rubenfeld & Scheffer, 2015). My area of practice is the Observation Unit with Tele. The scope of this essay includes a description of how my workplace exemplifies the need to work with interdisciplinary teams and how plans are underway to improve on utilization of informatics tools. A chart (refer to Appendix 1) on how I apply the above five core competencies in my area of practice.

The New Vision for Health is relevant to the Observation Unit with Tele. The telemetry unit is committed to provision of patient-centered care since critical patients under observation need to be assessed to determine specific care and treatment they need. For example, it is important to identify patients requiring oxygen therapy through monitoring of SpO₂ levels.  The complexity of the care environment and dynamic patient needs in the unit has necessitated use of interdisciplinary teams in the Unit. As result patient care decisions and actions plans are made or developed by members of a multidisciplinary team in the Unit. Use of evidence-based practices in the unit, such as review of current research findings and use of evidence-based guidelines, is fundamental for ensuring patient safety and for delivering high-quality care. On the other hand, the observation unit basically runs by collecting and analyzing data, which facilitates quality improvement, identification and correction or errors and for evaluation of outcomes with focus on healthcare safety and quality.  Lastly, but not the least the Unit relies heavily on the use of technology and informatics. For example, computer systems and interconnected devices/systems are currently being used in the unit for collection, storage, and analysis of patient’s data. Besides, computer systems and existing networks are fundamental in coordination of various members of the multidisciplinary teams, who are involved in care of a particular patient (Rubenfeld & Scheffer, 2015).

My workplace has exemplified the Vision recommending use of interdisciplinary teams. Use of in-hospital multidisciplinary teams lead to improvement of patient outcomes (Epstein, 2014). Care experience in my workplace is characterized by members of multidisciplinary teams who often communicate effectively using various approaches including face-to-face communications, written/printed communications, and most importantly technology-assisted communications. The members of an interdisciplinary team also collaborate and cooperate in assessment, evaluation, monitoring and provision of care to each and every patient to ensure that the care is reliable and continuous (Rubenfeld & Scheffer, 2015).

My organization is planning to expansions and improvements on the use of informatics in practice.  Of key interest to note is that the organization is getting ready for the EPIC^®Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) system to be installed before the end of 2020.  EPIC^® provides tech-savvy front-end-to-back-end and a high-quality EMRs system for collecting, storing, and managing interconnected patient medical records and for timely reporting (Johnson III, 2016). In fact, the organization has already begun to train current staff on how to use EMRs system. Training also takes into consideration the legal and ethical implications of using the EMRs. The system would further improve safety and quality of patient care.