Essay Sample on Four Types of Nursing Care Delivery Systems

Introduction

Nursing care delivery systems provide suitable structures that improve service delivery to patients by health care facilities and is thus varies from one facility to another and from one set of patient circumstances to another. The distribution of the care includes assessing the care needs, formulating a plan of care, implementing the program and evaluating the patient's response to the intervention mechanism.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Tiedeman and Lookinland (2004) suggested that systems of nursing care delivery are a reflection of social values, management ideology, and economic considerations. (Tiedeman & Lookinland, 2004)

Team nursing care involves the use of a team leader and team members to provide various aspects of nursing care to a group of patients. Its main advantage is that less prepared staff (nurses) can be used to perform some functions that don't require a high level of expertise. On the downside, however, team nursing care is time-consuming as the team leader has to monitor communications within the team while still planning, supervising and coordinating the staff which is likely to confuse.

Primary nursing care, having been conceptualized by Marie Manthey, refers to comprehensive, individualized care provided by the same nurse throughout care. (i.e., designed to place the registered nurse at the patient's bedside. It emphasizes the continuity of care by one nurse hence complete care. It is however expensive and requires a high level of expertise on the part of the nurse.

Case management nursing care is a system in which a registered nurse oversees a patient's long-term care plans. In such a case, the patient typically has chronic or complicated medical conditions. Thus, this type of care is continuous, holistic and expert. However, continuity of care may suffer because each nurse has the right to modify the care plan; hence the patient may get different approaches to care.

Patient-centered care, developed by Carl Rogers, is a system of caring for patients in ways that are meaningful and valuable to the individual patient. It includes listening to and involving patients in their care. The patient's desires, values, family situations, social circumstances, and lifestyle are taken into consideration. The method is beneficial as it places the client at the center of the process hence promoting their well-being. On the contrary, problems may arise for clients with more profound and more complicated issues.

Therefore, as a patient, I would prefer the primary nursing care approach as it guarantees more consistency on my progress because dealing with one expert nurse throughout my recovery journey is more convenient thereby reducing bureaucracy.

I am less likely to prefer the team nursing care approach which will subject me to deal with a team of less qualified nurses as compared to one expert nurse. When a large of group of nurses are dealing with a single patient, it is likely to result in a collision within the team, and as the patient, I am more prone to be affected the disagreements and lack of expertise.

Ways Nurses Can Get Politically Involved

Lack of awareness, inadequate skills, and little opportunity for involvement are some of the reasons that bar nurses from immersing themselves into politics. However, a professional nurse may find a political career very beneficial especially in the development and implementation of healthcare policy. It is not uncommon to hear nurses becoming frustrated by policies affecting nursing practice, mainly when those policies are written by individuals with limited healthcare knowledge and experience. The result of this is frustration which often leads to negativity, bitterness, and burn-out. The upside of this is that nurses can and should use this pent-up bitterness and failure to make a positive difference in their profession and create an impact in the lives of their patients. A nurse's involvement in politics has never been more critical than it is today. Nurses can become politically involved in the following ways:

Voting

As simple and as cliche as this sounds, it is the most important (first) step to being politically involved. Why? Because, as a nurse, one gets to vote and make a decision on policies that they support. In addition to this, you get to elect leaders that support the policies that you stand for. Because let's face it, the healthcare system is very crucial in that it needs constant revamping and formulation of policies that ensure that both nurses and patients and everyone, in general, gets what is worth their while. A straightforward vote makes a whole lot of difference.

Reading

As previously stated, one of the main reasons that nurses shy away from politics is due to lack of awareness. This is where reading comes in. A nurse can get politically involved by reading books, articles or even journals that touch on their government's history and particularly on their government's constitution and their rights. They say that books are a key to the world; they are merely your eyes to the world. As a nurse, being aware and having information at the tips of your fingertips is essential in the political arena as it keeps you on toes and you're able to defend the policies that you stand for. While this may seem "boring," it helps you as a nurse become more politically involved because you will make better choices when you vote based on an understanding of how the political system works.

Joining a Campaign

A nurse may join a campaign in which the candidate stands for views and policies that are similar to theirs. Pushing for what you stand for is quite fulfilling, and for a nurse, one can contribute towards helping that candidate stay or get elected. This can take many forms such as distributing campaign materials, sending out emails or sensitizing others to support your cause.

Conclusion

In conclusion, nurses should fight and advocate for matters that are very important in the nursing field. They should join their voices to positively influence healthcare policies by promoting politics that are significant to health care. Through joint efforts in the nursing professions, more energy, new ideas, and more creativity could be brought to effect political activism that would be healthy for the healthcare field.

References

Blais, K., Hayes, J. S., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. L. (2006). Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives. Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Boswell, C., Cannon, S., & Miller, J. (2005). Nurses' political involvement: Responsibility versus privilege. Journal of professional nursing, 21(1), 5-8.

Tiedeman, M. E., & Lookinland, S. (2004). Traditional models of care delivery: what have we learned?. Journal of Nursing Administration, 34(6), 291-297.