Purpose of the initiative
There is an immense emphasis on a continuous improvement of the quality of health services rendered to elderly patients to guarantee optimum desired health outcomes (Birren et al., 2014). As such, the operations of Mount Sinai hospital need to take into account patient’s satisfaction and wellness. It is evident that elderly patients face a variety of health complications associated with old age which have devastating effects on their general health and their families. Hence as a health institution, we ought to be at the forefront of addressing elderly health problems and ensure our patients live a satisfactory life due to the safe and quality services they get at Mount Sinai hospital. Therefore, to adequately meet elderly persons’ requirements I propose a program customized for elderly persons comprising of holistic care centered on the patient supported by evidence-based practice, EHR, patient’s education and ensuring incorporation of interdisciplinary teams in giving care to elderly patients (Haughom, 2016).
Target population
The old persons are vulnerable population when it comes to illness matters due to vital organs failure and reduced immune system. As such, this population is highly susceptible to multiple conditions that are likely to affect their well-being. Notably, old persons suffered from variety health complications such as falls, arthritis, hearing impairment, cancer, obesity, cognitive impairment, hypertension, stroke and depression (Vann, 2015). Therefore, there is the need to set up a program which will entirely dedicate its effort in taking care of old persons to reduce their sufferings.
This program aims at addressing health issues of the elderly patient. As such, the main goal of this program is to reduce patients stayed at Mount Sinai hospital; enhance their health status and independence. For instance, long patient’s stay in the hospital increases the cost of care to both to the client and hospital. Furthermore, by staying long at the hospital, the patient is isolated from his/her family and friends. It is also increases the risk of hospitals’ acquired infections.
Benefits of the program
As mentioned, this program is aiming at improving the quality of life of the target group. The primary objective of this project is to include variety of experts to collaborate and analyze patient’s condition by going into the root causes of the ailments that affect the elderly which is an essential step in determining the most appropriate method of providing care (Dossey & Keegan, 2012). There is the need to identify the exact illness the patient is suffering from to avoid wrong diagnosis and wrong care plans which might endanger patient’s life or prolong his/her suffering.
Holistic care builds up a healthy relationship between nurses and patients which helps patients to share their personal information in addition to collaborating with the care providers during treatment. Additionally, such a bonding is crucial in the healing process since patients feel that their needs in regarding their mind, body and soul have been adequately addressed by caregivers (Dossey & Keegan, 2012). Additionally, patient’s education after discharge provides clients with vital information on aftercare activities which is critical in preventing readmissions (Dossey & Keegan, 2012). It is important that the elderly individuals know how to take care of themselves after discharge to reduce their dependence on family or care givers. Thus, patient’s education is critical in helping patients understand their condition and what they ought to do in future to avoid reoccurrence of their illnesses.
The application of evidence-based practice is a mandatory aspect when it comes to giving a comprehensive care in the sense that it makes use of the well-researched practices in taking care of the sickly (Stevens, 2013). Additionally, EBP is important as it plays the role of improving clinical judgments during the treatment process, therefore, making it easy to reduce cases of near misses, errors, mortalities and readmissions (Stevens, 2013). Working in interdisciplinary teams between the nurses and the physician is important since duplication of roles is avoided (Naylor et al., 2013). As such, when healthcare practitioners work in teams, they are able to provide a well-thought out and comprehensive plan for the elderly patients (Naylor et al., 2013). Additionally, an interdisciplinary team helps in addressing all the needs of the patients from nutrition, physical fitness to spiritual growth. Lastly, this program will also be useful since by keeping the records of patients in an electronic manner make it easy to have an access to the health records which will be important in coordinating the care that they will receive, working hand in hand with the results from EBP to make sure that only the best course of action in terms of care provision is followed and finally providing accurate and up to date data about the condition of the elderly person (Englebrigh et al., 2014).
Budget justification
Program Evaluation
This program will be evaluated on the basis of whether sufficient finances have been provided to oversee the implementation phase of the program and if it will be in line with the norms and traditions of the workings of the healthcare setting. The levels of elderly satisfaction as far as the outcomes of the tenets of this program are concerned will also be used as the baselines for evaluation. As such, reduced cases of diseases to the elderly will play a vital role in assessing the success of this program.
Reference
Birren, J. E., Lubben, J. E., Rowe, J. C., & Deutchman, D. E. (Eds.). (2014).The concept and measurement of quality of life in the frail elderly. Academic Press.
Dossey, B. M., & Keegan, L. (2012). Holistic nursing. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Englebright, J., Aldrich, K., & Taylor, C. R. (2014). Defining and incorporating basic nursing care actions into the electronic health record. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 46(1), 50-57.
Haughom, J. (2016). Five Deming Principles That Help Healthcare Process Improvement. Retrieved from https://www.healthcatalyst.com/5-Deming-Principles-For-Healthcare-Process-Improvement
Naylor, M. D., Lustig, A., Kelley, H. J., Volpe, E. M., Melichar, L., & Pauly, M. V. (2013). Introduction: The Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative. Medical care, 51, S1-S5.
Stevens, K. (2013). The impact of evidence-based practice in nursing and the next big ideas. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(2), 4.
Vann, M. (2015). The 15 Most Common Health Concerns for Seniors - Everyday Health. Retrieved from http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/most-common-health-concerns-seniors/
