PATIENT CARE
The aim of every health institution is not only to cure illness but also to enhance the health of its clients in every possible way. According to Ross et al. (2019), patient care is made up of two components. That is direct patient care and indirect patient care. Direct patient care are activities that enable the patient to meet their basic needs. In contrast, indirect patient care refers to activities that healthcare providers offer to the patient to maintain the patient’s environment and making it favourable for healing. While Kuipers et al. (2019) described patient care as the prevention, treatment, and management of diseases while preserving the patient’s physical, mental, and psychological wellbeing by healthcare professionals.
IMPORTANCE OF PATIENT CARE
Patient care is an essential aspect of healthcare because it has many benefits to healthcare clients. According to Kuipers et al. (2019), when patient care is efficient, it results in reduced length of hospital stays, patients’ pain is alleviated, and there will be decreased anxiety among patients.
EFFECTS OF COMPROMISED PATIENT CARE
Compromised patient care results from the impact of acts of the multidisciplinary medical team. However, Rose et al. (2019), argues that nurses are the core healthcare professionals, and an alteration of their environment results in adverse patient outcomes. Ross at al. (2019) suggests that nurse’s work in an environment where they encounter disease processes, technology, resources, policies, procedures, and resources, and all these at some point, act as distractors in the patient environment, therefore, compromised patient care. Clearly, et al. (2019) stated that safety is dependent on healthcare organizations and systems, and patients should be free from harm caused by interactions within healthcare organizations and systems. However, there are many incidences of compromised patient care. When patient care is distracted, patients experience severe physical injury, for example, when medical errors occur, the patient may suffer from rashes, itching, or permanent disability or death (Clearly et al., 2019). Besides, patients overstay in the hospital because of compromised patient care.
Also, when patient care is compromised, it affects the family and significant others of the patient. When patient care is compromised, sometimes, it leads to new medical conditions affecting the patient, and their loved ones incur financial costs in catering for medical bills for their loved ones (Clearly et al., 2019). Besides, when death results from a cause that would be preventable, the relatives of the deceased would be devastated. According to Ross et al. (2019), compromised patient care results in nurses and other healthcare professionals left care items undone. The often missed patient care includes patient surveillance and the capacity to monitor patients’ status for any variations. Clearly, et al. (2019) concluded that compromised patient care resulting from missed care lead to unnecessary loss of lives.
REFERENCES
Kuipers, S. J., Cramm, J. M., & Nieboer, A. P. (2019). The importance of patient-centred care and co-creation of care for satisfaction with care and physical and social wellbeing of patients with multi-morbidity in the primary care setting. BMC health services research, 19(1), 13.
Ross, C., Rogers, C., & King, C. (2019). Safety culture and an invisible nursing workload. Collegian, 26(1), 1-7.
Cleary, M., West, S., Saghafi, F., Lees, D., & Kornhaber, R. (2019). Finding common ground for the common good: Compromise in health care. Issues in mental health nursing, 40(10), 926-928.