Client Name
Capella University
NURS-FPX6616: Ethical and Legal Consideration in Care Coordination
Instructor’s Name
August 2024
Community Resources and Best Practices
Slide 2: Hello everyone, I am _____, a practice leader. In today’s presentation, I will discuss how improvement in healthcare services can decrease hospital readmissions for type 2 diabetic older adults of Valley View and identify the ethical issues regarding the implementation and use of healthcare information technology. Older adults are more vulnerable to various health issues including increased blood glucose levels, or hyperglycemia which needs timely response to prevent health disparities (Lahijanian & Alvarado, 2021).
However, traditional healthcare services are not effective enough to provide an early response and enable regular monitoring of the healthcare services (Gizaw et al., 2022). These healthcare issues need effective advanced technology-based solutions to enhance the patient experience and improve patient safety.
Purpose
Slide 3: The agenda of this presentation is to identify ethical issues related to the implementation of healthcare technology in clinical systems along with the legal issues implicated with the current healthcare practices (Zarif, 2021). Advanced technologies need more security protocols and standards to keep patient information safe. It will also focus on the current and seen outcomes, the evidence-based interventions, and the role of stakeholders in this intervention (Triplett et al., 2022). This presentation will also recommend ongoing practices to improve outcomes for the leaders of healthcare organizations for the better implementation of healthcare strategies.
Specific Situation and Current Resources
Slide 4: A local healthcare organization the Valley View Health Network uses various information systems for providing care to elderly adults suffering from type 2 diabetes. These systems include HealthLink and MediTrack. These systems help in the effective monitoring of patient health conditions through improved communication and collaboration between healthcare providers regarding patient information (Sheehan et al., 2021).
Moreover, Valley Community Health and Wellness Center, and Valley diabetes support alliance are community resources that aim to provide education regarding diabetes management, dietary guidance, physical activities, and counseling. However, irrespective of all the available resources coordination care still encounters problems due to the gaps in the information provided to the healthcare professionals, ineffective communication between the community resources am the healthcare providers, and the inability of the elderly adults to understand the advanced systems results in ineffective assessment and monitoring of the health conditions.
Ethical Issues Related to the Use of Information Technology
Slide 5: Emerging technologies increase the demand for the implementation of advanced healthcare tools and strategies in current healthcare organizations (Junaid et al., 2022). These technologies are beneficial at a great level but they also have some ethical issues necessary to taken into consideration for better patient outcomes. Consent regarding healthcare treatment and care services must be taken from the patient as the most important ethical right. A few ethical issues are listed below;
Patient Confidentiality and Security
The information about patients is gathered by healthcare organizations regarding medical, psychological, societal, and financial history for a better understating of the healthcare requirements of the patient and the assistance best suitable for the improved patient experience (Oben, 2020). The security of patient information is the major concern of healthcare organizations and they should maintain authorized access to the patient data. Keeping the systems secure improves the trust of the patients and keeps the data integrity effective.
Inaccurate Information Sharing
The most important ethical issue regarding patient safety is the information sharing that is inaccurate and can result in various healthcare disparities thus causing issues both for the patient and the healthcare organizations (Chiruvella & Guddati, 2021). Information needs to be shared with complete access and accuracy for better healthcare outcomes.
Ambiguous Consent Process
The consent for the treatment and information gathering needs to be clear and effective for better patient outcomes (Sharkiya, 2023). Ambiguous consent leads to ethical violations and ineffective health outcomes. Adequate information regarding the consent should be provided to the patients so they can effectively decide their health demands and preferences.
Inequity and Injustice
Equal treatment should be provided with accurate justice to all people around the globe without any discrimination of status and race. Inequity leads to ethical issues that hurt the response of the patients regarding health services provided to them. (Pauly et al., 2021). The values of the people need to be properly addressed and considered while providing healthcare services.
Legal Issues of Current Practices and Potential Changes
Slide 6: Compliance with laws is mandatory to ensure effective healthcare practices and standardized strategies. The management of the information provided by the patients, data organization, and maintenance of data collection systems should be considered and managed by legal rules and regulations (Ismail et al., 2020). In the valley view, the current practices often refer to some legal violations that need to be effectively addressed and monitored for better patient outcomes. A few legal issues regarding current practices in Valley View are given below;
Conformity with Standard Laws
Standard laws are designed and developed to ensure the safety of patient information and the adequacy of healthcare organizations in managing the data of the patients regarding medical history or other healthcare statistics (Pool et al., 2024). These laws guide the organizations and the staff members about the proper maintenance of information systems and preventing any health disparities due to legal issues.
Data Breaching Liabilities
Organizations should have secure data organizing and managing systems so that no one can attack the information and misuse it. Attacking and misusing of information will ultimately lead to legal issues will be penalized in various ways. These liabilities secure the conformity of legal practices in any healthcare organization.
Incompatible Information Systems
The information systems need to be advanced, well-managed, and integrated with proper encryption systems to protect the information of the patients efficiently and effectively (Popescu et al., 2022). The information systems maintenance should be done regularly to prevent any data damage or information breaches.
Data Demolition
Data should be destroyed legally without being shared with any source as it can lead to the violation of the confidentiality and privacy of the patient thus impacting the integrity of the organization. Proper demolition methods and strategies need to be used to make sure that the data destroyed can not be used further for any illegal practices. Compliance with standard laws and regulations is mandatory both for storing the data and destroying the data as it will prevent any kind of attacks including cyber or phishing attacks.
Comparison Between Current Outcomes and Outcomes Seen
Slide 7: The healthcare systems need continuous evaluation of the implemented strategies and this can be done by identifying the efficiency of the outcomes generated as compared to the previous outcomes of the healthcare practice (Powell et al., 2019). Integration of the best and improved practices can generate outcomes that are suitable for the organization and align with the compatibility and competency of the staff members. In the case of View Valley, a few comparisons are given below;
Integrated Information Systems
The information systems in View Valley are not integrated to effectively organize the data due to which the data is scattered and the chances of data breaches increase. The best practice to keep the information well organized is to use or implement a platform that arranges the information in a unified system without involving various data systems for different situations.
Advanced-Data Protection
Security of the data and maintaining the privacy of user information is most crucial for any healthcare organization whether at the local level or international level as fundamental ethical rights of the patients can not be compromised at any healthcare facility (Williamson & Prybutok, 2024). Therefore advanced technology should be used to improve the security systems for the protection of patient data.
User Education about Information Systems
Advanced training should be given to the healthcare providers to effectively understand the information systems and their functionalities. The inability of the staff members to effectively operate information systems leads to data breaches and violations of security laws (Kuo et al., 2021). As healthcare information systems are becoming the most important need of the security systems and healthcare organizations therefore guidance and education regarding their implementation and processing should be provided to the healthcare providers and the staff members.
Easy and Engaging Technical Platforms
The information systems interfaces should be user-friendly and interactive so that the patients can easily access them and use them for better causes. The platforms will only be effective if they can easily engage users.
Evidence-Based Intervention
Slide 8: Evidence-based practices hold a significant role in improving the medical conditions of patients by giving treatment through scientifically proven data and resources. These evidence-based resources help in monitoring and responding to deteriorating patient conditions more effectively and efficiently (Considine et al., 2021). To provide standard quality of care coordination to the older adults of View Valley, integrating telehealth services will be beneficial for proper data sharing and eliminating communication gaps between the healthcare providers and the patient.
Telehealth services ensure the timely intervention of interprofessional teams to prevent deteriorating patient conditions and provide early treatment to produce better patient experience and improved health outcomes (Ransdell et al., 2021). Telehealth services also provide the advantage of providing treatment to people at their homes without hospital visiting which in some cases is difficult mostly for older people due to lack of resources or remote locations. This technology helps older people monitor their health conditions remotely and consult regularly with their healthcare providers to inform them regarding any change in condition and receive suggestions about changes in management plans or medicines.
Role of Stakeholders and Interprofessional Teams in Intervention
Slide 9: Stakeholders and interprofessional teams have great importance in the successful implementation of telehealth services for older adults with type 2 diabetes in the View Valley healthcare system. The efficiency of the team members in operating the telehealth services is the major factor in the assessment of the betterment of this improved technology (Morelli et al., 2024). The important stakeholders included in the successful intervention of telehealth services are healthcare providers, nursing staff, case managers, care coordinators, leaders, dietitians, and IT specialists. They all together serve as a cornerstone in providing high-quality health care to the patient using telehealth services including telehealth medicines. The roles of a few stakeholders are given below;
- IT specialists are responsible for the proper maintenance and monitoring of the functionality of the telehealth systems.
- Healthcare providers are responsible for the remote monitoring and consultation of the patient’s health condition and guiding in managing the health plans.
- Dietitians provide diabetic diet plans to patients so that they can effectively control their diabetes levels before and after meals.
- Interprofessional teams are collectively responsible for managing the IT department, medications, and consultations using telehealth services.
- Care coordinators can effectively engage patients in self-management thus making it easy for the patients to manage their blood glucose level or blood pressure.
Use of Data-Driven Outcomes
Slide 10: Outcomes obtained from the data collected are essential in determining the usefulness of telehealth services and identifying the changes that need to be made in the better integration of telehealth services in the healthcare systems (Brown & Hewner, 2022). Using data-driven measures the persuasive analysis of blood glucose levels and hemoglobin levels can be tested regularly and proper timely interventions can be used to prevent deteriorating patient conditions. The data evaluation of the readmissions of the older adults in View Valley can be used to identify influential tracking of telehealth services and patient health condition management.
These telehealth services enable patients to increase self-management by regularly taking care of their diabetic level by managing their blood glucose levels. The patient feedback can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the telehealth services which can be most powerful in understanding the reason behind the implementation of the advanced technology to address the needs of the patients. The rate of hospital readmissions and the cost of emergency departments in handling deteriorating patient conditions can be used to evaluate telehealth in healthcare facilities.
The initial data should be collected regarding blood glucose levels, hemoglobin levels, patient experiences, and hospital readmissions before the intervention to effectively evaluate the impact of telehealth services on the health of patients (Schubert et al., 2023). At the end of the month, the evaluation of the initial key factors should be performed to understand the change and determine its effectiveness. Regular monitoring of patient health condition and patient feedback along with the annual evaluation results the intervention success rate can be determined and proper measures can be taken effectively.
Recommendation of Ongoing Practices to Sustain Outcomes
Slide 11: Ongoing practices are important in maintaining and sustaining the telehealth services in the healthcare facility for improved patient experience and reduction in the cost of healthcare resources (Snoswell et al., 2020). The positive outcomes can only be improved and enhanced if they are continuously monitored by the staff as well as patients. Through the collaboration of the interprofessionals and stakeholders, new strategies can be identified and implemented to improve the outcomes of telehealth services and increase their sustainability for effective and improved patient outcomes recommendations to sustain outcomes are given below;
Continuity in Telehealth Education
Education regarding telehealth services should be provided to the patients and other people including health staff continuously so that they should be well aware of new advances and features changes in technology for better patient outcomes.
Interprofessional Collaboration
The effective collaboration of interprofessionals and stakeholders is mandatory to implement improved changes in the telehealth systems as they can effectively evaluate the measurements and data-driven outcomes and suggest changes accordingly.
Regular Analysis of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The analysis of the key indicators is essential to compare the initial measures and the after-intervention measures of the data-driven outcomes for the careful consideration of the changes that need to be made in the healthcare systems.
Quality Improvement and Data Security
The improvement of the healthcare systems and the data security and management platforms is necessary to intervene with telehealth services more effectively and sustainably for improved patient experience and better outcomes.
NURS FPX 6616 Assessment 1 Conclusion
Slide 12: The resources of the community are essential for the better intervention of information technology-based healthcare services in a community healthcare facility. the emerging demand for information technology telehealth services is increasing effectively due to their improved functionality and efficiency in generating enhanced patient outcomes and healthcare results (Lahijanian & Alvarado, 2021). However, ethical and legal issues are also connected with these technology-based systems which need to be considered and resolved using legal standards and regulations.
In View Valley Healthcare System the implementation of telehealth services can generate more positive outcomes when compared to the current results of the healthcare services provided to the older adults with type 2 diabetes. Telehealth services are based on evidence in producing effective outcomes along with the collaboration of stakeholders and interprofessional team members (Morelli et al., 2024). The data-driven outcomes and proper recommendations can be used to increase efficiency of the telehealth services and make them more advanced.
NURS FPX 6616 Assessment 1 References
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