Ambulatory Care, Long Term Care, and Mental Health Services (Essay Sample)

Non-Hospital Entities - Ambulatory Care, Long Term Care, and Mental Health Services
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Non-Hospital Entities - Ambulatory Care, Long Term Care, and Mental Health Services
Question A
Barriers to Achieving Seamless Continuum
Continuum of care is associated with old people’s facilities and refers to ability to provide care needed by a person at all level required, transitioning between the levels with ease (Evashwick, 2005). The main challenge in attaining such a care is encouraging a broad range of professionals that include a pharmacist, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists among others who operate separately at the primary care level to work together under one budget. Typically, introducing an aged care service teams in which a group of professionals comes together with common objectives, tools and common philosophy to offer a complete continuum of healthcare services from home and community support to hospice, residential, acute hospitalization, and social work care would improve ability to deliver a seamless healthcare (Wilson, Whitaker & Whitford, 2012). However, this is undermined by many hurdles that are required to be overcome such as lack of skilled personnel, especially in areas that are hard to serve. Also, the healthcare professionals often lack an adequate supply of essential commodities and diagnostic equipment. Affordability of such a healthcare is also a challenge among patients especially those from low-income families who are uninsured.
Social, Family and other Non- System Barriers
Some individuals have low demand for care. Mostly such people often seek health care when is late and they poorly comply with medication. In addition, achieving seamless continuum is also undermined by language, cultural and literacy barriers. Some of the gaps in language or literacy especially in elderly who have started becoming senile may lead to misdiagnosis. As such, healthcare team should be careful when screening such persons (Wilson, Whitaker & Whitford, 2012). On the other hand, culture influences dominant perception of management and accuses of illness. Such beliefs may cause newly admitted patients to avoid some sensitive health issues such as abuse of substance and alcohol or sexual assault.
Solutions
The government should review policies related to community and family support to promote things such as emergency healthy loan plans and transport schemes. The health department should clarify both integration and its purpose so that professionals and the community to understand that it should be intended to create a seamless continuum of care and not for the purpose of business (Wilson, Whitaker & Whitford, 2012). The government should also try to eliminate its imposed barriers to integration such as costs for such actions and try to streamline healthcare bureaucracies. Finally, the healthcare department should help in installation and improvement of electronic medical records which stores detailed information about patients and is accessible to every member of the healthcare team involved in care delivery.
Question B
When many patients without well-circumscribed conditions seek emergency department (ED) frequently brings a huge burden on a hospital care system and raises demand for care, which can be handled adequately at other levels (Cowling &...