Introduction to the Healthcare Issue
Heart failure is a complicated clinical disease characterized by signs and symptoms indicating worsening of the heart’s ability to sustain normal circulation. Signs of heart failure might be produced by pulmonary and systemic stasis, structural abnormalities that induce heart failure, structural abnormalities caused by heart failure, or therapeutic consequences.
Heart failure is a life-threatening disorder in which the heart fails to pump enough blood throughout the body. It affects an estimated 64 million individuals globally, and symptoms might be vague, necessitating a trip to the doctor for diagnosis (Nagueh, 2021). New healthcare technologies, care coordination, and community resources are improving patient care for those with heart failure.
Impact of Healthcare Technology on the Healthcare Issue
The patient uses a cuff to measure blood pressure and an Apple Watch to monitor heart rhythms. Using the cuff allows the patient to track blood pressure. Having a tonometer with this feature at home makes it possible to monitor the heart at home. The most important thing for the patient is to monitor his blood pressure and diagnose cardiovascular problems in time (Honkala & Snyder, 2022). However, factors such as improper hand placement and body position can affect measurement accuracy. That is why the results obtained with the cuff cannot be regarded as completely reliable.
Apple Watch is a sophisticated device that can perform functional diagnostics, detecting not just ailments but also allowing users to run numerous tests to evaluate their health status. Moreover, all of this is owing to the heart rate monitor, which was included in the watch’s very first edition. Stanford University researchers discovered that the Apple Watch may be used to conduct exercise testing on individuals with heart failure (Honkala & Snyder, 2022).
In a clinical environment, similar tests are performed as part of the 6-minute walk test, which determines how far a patient can walk in six minutes (Honkala & Snyder, 2022). This is accomplished by walking for 6 minutes at the fastest pace they can maintain. The distance traveled is used to determine the functional class of heart failure (Honkala & Snyder, 2022). Although the distance traveled is often monitored, the Apple Watch also records the body’s state, enabling more precise measurement.
In the clinical environment, the patient needs to walk, and his physical state is not considered. They are permitted to halt if they are exhausted or short of breath, but the break will be taken into account in the final measurement (Pazinski et al., 2020). Apple Watch allows users to track both steps and heart rate fitness simultaneously. The Apple Watch can accurately measure a 6-minute walk test at 90% (Honkala & Snyder, 2022). That is rather high, allowing the smartwatch to be used remotely as a functional diagnostic tool.
No, assume that the patient no longer needs to go to the hospital and that all testing can be done at home. The doctor will merely need to compare the results to an existing list of exercise tests and assign the patient to the right class. Some watches, however, may malfunction. As a result, the measurements acquired with this device can only be considered somewhat trustworthy. They are great, however, for measuring cardiac rhythms at home.
The patient additionally employs the Health app on her smartphone. This software allows users to track the results of ECGs collected with the Apple Watch. The ECG monitors the heart’s function, detects irregularities, and provides alerts for worrisome symptoms (Honkala & Snyder, 2022).
The software can arrive at one of four conclusions: sinus rhythm, atrial fibrillation, low or high heart rate, or inconclusive. However, the inconclusive result outcome may be deceptive to the user, which can be viewed as a drawback of the technology. It is also worth noting that the patient uses a telemedicine platform to contact her cardiologist regarding specific concerns.
A lady might also use the site to ask questions about her diagnosis. A new study found that telemedicine gives patients who are at high risk of developing heart failure hope for a better life. Patients suffering from heart failure are at a significant risk of requiring several hospital visits or dying. Remote monitoring improves the care process by allowing patients to seek assistance at any time and from any location (Pazinski et al., 2020).
Patients can also learn about their diagnoses by visiting websites like the National Institutes of Health and WebMD. However, the patient was cautioned that WebMD is not a credible source. However, the mentioned technologies have barriers and costs, such as the high cost of the Apple Watch, internet outages, and inaccurate information.
Impact of Care Coordination on the Healthcare Issue
Care coordination can help alleviate patient confusion. It can also enhance health while reducing strain on patients and treatment costs. In this situation, the patient had cancer as well as heart failure, necessitating care coordination. Previous research indicates that this treatment reduces the likelihood of rehospitalization (Siegel et al., 2023). Patients who get this treatment are assisted in efficiently managing their condition on their own, regardless of their level of education or socioeconomic standing.
Resident care coordinators use excellent leadership and strong communication skills to keep care services operating effectively, enabling care teams to deliver the highest level of support to residents (Siegel et al., 2023). However, in other circumstances, care coordination is to blame for the leakage of sensitive patient information. That is why it is critical to personalize the information transmission method to ensure its security.
Additionally, using community services might be beneficial while caring for people with heart failure. The formation of specialized local units should be promoted and implemented on a larger scale. These clinics are intended to enhance the quality of care for heart failure patients while potentially reducing hospitalizations and total care in many health facilities. Thus, the benefit is that resource usage dramatically decreases healthcare utilization and expenditures, mostly by lowering hospitalizations.
However, this procedure may drive the individual to engage in self-medication. This will pose health concerns to patients and may exacerbate the condition. The findings are consistent with how I perceive care coordination and the use of community services in my nursing practice. However, the patient did not utilize support groups or community services (Siegel et al., 2023). At the same time, she was in contact with people who had a similar diagnosis, which helped her maintain a positive mindset. The patient also attended church and received moral support from a priest.
The scarcity of health care practitioners and other labor is one of the barriers to adopting coordinated care to address this challenge. Working with small independent healthcare institutions can be difficult because there is limited access to specialist services and professionals. Barriers to employing community resources may include a practice’s unwillingness to incorporate the intervention into established procedures. This might also include limited staff capacity to compile the resource inventory and the unavailability or expense of materials required to print the resource referral list.
State Board Nursing Practice Standards
Technology, care coordination, and community resources, like all other areas of health care, must comply with state laws. There is the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 (Kadakia et al., 2021). It allows HHS to develop programs to promote the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care by encouraging the adoption of health information technology. This encompasses electronic health records and the private, secure electronic exchange of health-related information (Kadakia et al., 2021).
The Care Coordination Act assigns each HH patient a qualified care manager (CM) who is responsible for implementing and documenting all care coordination activities(Engels et al., 2024). These must be consistent with the patient’s medical, behavioral, and social needs, as indicated in the care plan. Medicaid funding and regulation are among the most well-known measures. The aforementioned policies contribute to monitoring and ensuring fair and high-quality care for all people in need.
These policies will guide my decisions on technology, care coordination, and community resources to improve patient safety, quality of care, and costs to the system and the affected individual. In my professional work, I shall follow all state and organizational standards and rules. Local, state, and federal policies influence the breadth of nursing practice in terms of technology, care coordination, and community resources.
This is because all nurses’ actions must be consistent with the requirements of the applicable policies. According to nursing ethics, I must provide quality, individualized care to the patient, which involves the use of new technology, care coordination, and community resources. In this way, I will be able to care for the heart failure patient and cover all her needs.
References
Engels, A., Konnopka, C., Henken, E., Härter, M., & König, H. H. (2024). A flexible approach to measure care coordination based on patient-sharing networks. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 24(1), 1.
Honkala, A., & Snyder, M. (2022). Monitoring health through wearables and connected devices. Journal of The Society of Instrument and Control Engineers, 61(8), 572-577.
Kadakia, K. T., Howell, M. D., & DeSalvo, K. B. (2021). Modernizing public health data systems: Lessons from the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Jama, 326(5), 385-386.
Nagueh, S. F. (2021). Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: Insights into diagnosis and pathophysiology. Cardiovascular Research, 117(4), 999-1014.
Pazinski, S., Karras, P., Caban, T. Z., & Chaney, K. (2020). Mapping the path forward in health IT. Health IT Buz.
Siegel, E. O., Kolanowski, A. M., & Bowers, B. J. (2023). A fresh look at the nursing home workforce crisis: Transforming nursing care delivery models. Research in Gerontological Nursing, 16(1), 5-13.