Introduction
Even though the increase in health care facilities is aimed at reducing the morbidity and mortality of humans, the increase has been characterized by a high mortality rate due to an increase of medical error that results from ineffective communication among the caregivers in health care settings (Cohen, 2007). The increase of labor in these settings is also characterized by work overlap that tends to create a challenge of the proper communication channel between the various disciplines as well as between diverse healthcare settings (Frankel, 2009). Therefore, a balance must be sought that bridges the communication gap between the various disciplines and between the diverse health care settings.
Discussion
Problem Statement
Communication in the health care setting plays a critical role in ensuring that the patients receive adequate care (Coiera & Tombs, 1998). This is because the health care workers keep a wide range of information that monitors the patient health status such as the clinical progression and the results of the diagnosis test. This information helps to give adequate information to caregivers when the patient crosses from one level of care to the other, either in the same health care institution or in another health care institution (Jrc, 2008). These transfers call for clear information of medical history that will help the patient to receive further treatment.
A Proposed Plan for Addressing This Problem
An effective solution can be applied after the healthcare workers assess the problems. The assessment of communication will be beneficial as it involves different health care institutions, which include hospitals, home-based care, hospices, and government clinics (Simmers, 2003). The rationale of this assessment is based on evaluating the level of cooperation concerning effective communication that exists within these healthcare settings. This can be achieved by collecting data based on the level of cooperation that exists between these health care institutions. Data will also be collected that aims at measuring the attitude of the health workers in these different health care settings. The participants for data collection will be the medical practitioners of diverse healthcare settings.
It is important to assess a qualitative as well as a quantitative study (Landy & Conte, 2009). The qualitative study will help us to base the argument of miscommunication from an experience point of view that results from different attitudes that the health care have towards each other. Whereas the quantitative study will help us to assess the number of times that the medical history is distorted between the diverse health care settings (Melnyk, 2005).
The assessment aims at creating varying degrees of collaboration between the healthcare workers in different health care settings (Darley, 2002). After carrying out the data collection and analysis practice that will help to define the root cause of the problem, a solution of coming up with a central location of accessing data related to the healthcare settings should be put in place. With this central location for patient medical history, the information regarding each patient should be accessible as it will facilitate proper treatment (Smeltzer, Bare, Hinkle & Cheever, 2009).
The barrier to Implementing the Proposed Plan
A possible challenge presents itself when handling education. This is because different health care setting handles their education in a different manner (Pertersons, 2009). One of the health facilities such as the home-based could be having a low service level, thus reducing the effectiveness of the proposed plan. This is normally caused by a lack of adequate education and professional clinical knowledge required to facilitate this plan. Improved education and knowledge help the caregivers to provide quality information on the patients’ medical history (World Health organization, 2000).
Solutions for Overcoming the Barrier
It is worthwhile to note that different health care institutions offer different services, which are determined by the education provided for that institution (Johnson & Jacobson, 2007). Therefore, a clear definition of this outlines that a strong relationship between the health care settings should be put in place (Lindh, Pooler & Tamparo, 2009). This will help to come up with a program that includes the provision of incentives to home-based care to provide quality education /information for the patients.
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