Nursing Answers

1. It can often be inconvenient for patients to visit a doctor’s office: they must take time off work, re-arrange their schedules, find a means of transportation, and so on. For patients in rural areas, it may involve a long drive, or even a flight if no specialist is available in the region. For these reasons, some medical providers have been exploring ways to provide medical attention remotely, using the telephone.

Watch the following videos on the use of telephone technology to provide health care remotely.

Elementary School Uses Telehealth to Enhance Student Care (3:29)http://youtu.be/Q9r8QKStXZU

Telemedicine Puts a Doctor Virtually at Your Bedside (8:36) http://youtu.be/u1-MFo7_n-Y

Identify three ways that telehealth could be more effective than conventional medical treatment, and three ways that it could be a challenge.( note: I am medical billing/coding) Save your work in a Word document titled “Telehealth”

1. The mission of all health care providers is to make people well. As a consequence, all employees must be concerned about patient safety. This is one of the main considerations of TJC accreditation, and it should be on the minds of everyone working in a medical facility, all of the time. Watch this video that explains how organizations should ensure patient safety.

   What Is Patient Safety? (2:57)http://youtu.be/_wzdmaWJ69E

   Read the Evaluating Patient Safety (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. PDF on how to evaluate a facility for patient safety. (Optional)

   Read the Engaging Patients To Help With Patient Safety And Quality Of CarePreview the document article on how to engage patients in order to help ensure their safety. (Optional)

   Review the data in What’s Wrong with this Data? (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. In a Word document, summarize why the author feels it is misleading. Your work should be three or more paragraphs. Save the file as “PatientSafety”

2. The Joint Commission, or simply “TJC,” is an organization formed to accredit medical facilities. It is a private organization composed of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, risk managers, and other professionals. The main concern of TJC is patient safety. The Joint Commission Accreditation is voluntary. However, CMS states that, in order to receive reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, a health care provider must have completed the accreditation survey and be approved by The Joint Commission. Typically, TJC will visit every 18-24 months to ensure compliance.

   HIM Professionals should be aware of what TJC evaluates to accredit a medical facility, because he/she may be called upon to provide needed information or otherwise assist in a TJC audit.

   Suppose you worked at a medical facility and were given the assignment to prepare the facility for a Joint Commission audit. Watch the video on the TJC again, and download and view the TJC Readiness Checklist.Preview the document

   What to Expect from THC Surveyor (6:59)

   A patient came to Dr. Bayberry’s office. She was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was given an antibiotic injection. Before the injection, she was asked the appropriate questions and denied having any allergies to medications. The medical assistant had the patient wait the allowed 15 minutes, and there was no visible adverse reaction. The patient was released to go home with her daughter. Five minutes after leaving the office, the daughter came back in a panic: the patient was unconscious in the car. Dr. Bayberry and the medical assistant went to the car to find that the patient had gone into cardiac arrest. EMS was called and the doctor and medical assistant did CPR until they arrived.

   According to the article about sentinel events from TJC, what takes place now? Is there a need to do any reporting? Is TJC involved? Write a four-paragraph paper on what takes place after a sentinel event such as the above occurs. Save the file as “SentinelEvent”