As an administrator of a nursing home, the premises received an announcement that the association was being purchased by a national group. Following that, there are new policies that will take effect and will hence be implemented, this will result in the displacement of some its residents. Some of these victims have no close families, have difficulty communicating and do not seem to support the reasonableness of their medical information. Following this occurrence, preparations for these persons are then required. There are a number of factors to consider before making preparations for these patients; such as methods of communication with patients. We therefore should take notice that each patient communicates on varying levels or none at all and all patients are diverse.
Communication is a sequence that will engage the emotions, exchange of information and judgment. In this condition, the types of communication that can be used to deal with patients having trouble in decision making or those that have complexity parallel would be, nonverbal and oral. Non verbal communication would be a good approach to be used on mute or hearing impaired patients (Lundgren, 2013, p. 63). This type of communication would take account of incorporating sign language, body language, signboards, paintings or even sketches. Verbal communication on the other hand would involve speaking in on ruthless or plain tone which is of paramount importance whether the patient is consistent or not.
It will also be needed to acquire notice in communicating with doctors, further facilities and health care providers. As the administrator of the organization, I will address and discuss how we will deal with the possible negative effects that our organization will cause to its residents after new policies are implemented. There are advantages and also disadvantages of using social media and traditional methods in addressing the residents. Newspaper, face-to-face and magazines are among traditional forms of communication. Some of the advantages of using magazines and newspaper are that they are explicit and precise in discussing the issue. Using magazines and newspaper will allow readers to know that the nursing organization is greatly concerned about the negative effects of the displacing of its residents. The disadvantages of using magazines and newspaper are that this form of communication has a small range of readers and that it only reaches a limited amount of people. Secondly, not every reader can read English and therefore resolving this issue would be limited since its effect would only be realized to a given region. Face-to-face communication will allow me to address this issue to renowned public figure in the field to ensure that these residents are considered and trust is built. Among the advantages in traditional methods of communication are; face to face consultation was provided to the public, postal letters and phone calls and everything was accredited by hand. On the other hand, the disadvantage to this would be calling the wrong patient or provider, loss of documents and releasing to the wrong person's personal health information (PHI). However, in this characteristic, the most significant advantage would be that providers and patients are more on a gratifying level (Bartlett, 2011, p. 115).
Social media and electronic communication are quite diverse in the sense that, most people today prefer the method due to its effectiveness and simplicity. Currently, many residents find it simpler to make a call or text a message. Seemingly, engaging friends and families through social media such as Facebook appears to cover more ground which the traditional methods do not. Being in a position to connect to a healthcare professional or doctor by instant messaging provides an easy and quick way to access healthcare in many areas.
It is the responsibility of the nursing home to respect the rights of the residents affected by the implementation of the new polices following the purchase of the organization. This organization should make sure that despite its purchase of the national, the rights and privacy of patient information are not violated. In any case, it is law and it must be followed. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) should take effect and be fully implemented in the local nursing home. Its implementation in this case will inform patients about their rights. Understanding of the law is of paramount importance both in helping the organization meet the new requirements that come along with implementation of new policies and also in ensuring that patients realize all the benefits provided by the law. HIPPA’s regulations are complex and extensive and if the workers in the organization violate the regulations knowingly, civil and criminal penalties will result.
In this case, HIPPA specifically addresses issues of protecting all identifying information such as social security number, a person’s name and phone number. Residents will therefore be needed to give a written consent just before their personal and work information is shared with other outside agencies. This clause is under the medical privacy provision which cannot by any chance be provoked and is only for short term use. To add on to that, residents will further be asked to authorize that the medical information they have provided can be used for other purposes other than job security and medical care. These residents have the right to revoke permission at any time since it is authorized for a specific time frame. These privacy provisions will definitely affect how the organization interacts with these residents at a given time frame. Here are the steps the organization could take in ensuring residents' privacy:
Confidentiality:
The effects of HIPPA and other regulations would include the rights of residents to authorize release of their own private work information. HIPPA rules for instance, list close to eighteen categories of categorizing information that ought to be stripped from a resident of record story in order for it to be considered de-identifying. This nursing home may wish to rewrite its HIPPA NPPs (notice of privacy practices) to contain levels of authority about or with a resident on Facebook, for instance if it is something that could happen on a regular basis.
The Phenomenon of Social Media
Steps to be taken by organizations to ensure patient privacy includes:
Residents need to fill out a form specifying what they exactly want and why they want to do before a change is inserted. Organizations ought to determine the steps to take seek to know their medical records. Residents have the right way options and refuse to comply if the proposed changes infringe their rights or if they are incorrect. Secondly security standards should be taken into account by health care organizations to ensure that they identify all methods of communication on the patients’ information (Black, 2011, p. 78). Healthcare workers should know in details where information is going and kept to ensure that all these transmissions are secure.
Communication in healthcare organizations is very important as it determines all operations, management and the welfare of staff and patients. Every party involved should be given a chance to address their issues. New policies implemented in the organization should be fair and considerate so as not to infringe the rights of health care workers and patients. Regulations and policies should be unambiguous and well detailed for everyone to understand. Arrangements for the residents in the nursing home will entail clear procedures by law such as HIPPA to ensure that the crisis is resolved using clear communication methods.
References
Lundgren, R. E., & McMakin, A. H. (2013). Risk communication: A handbook for communicating environmental, safety, and health risks. Wiley. com.
Bartlett, Y. K., & Coulson, N. S. (2011). An investigation into the empowerment effects of using online support groups and how this affects health professional/patient communication. Patient education and counseling, 83(1), 113-119.
Black, B. P., & Chitty, K. K. (2014). Professional nursing: Concepts & challenges. St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier.
