boarder1025

I am going to finish my NP in two years. Education and patient advocacy is my passion. Working with nurses to achieve both would also work from the ground up and make a broader impact. What are your suggestions for focus?

You should follow your dreams. I started school when I was 28, got my Diploma RN in 2008, finished my Associates in 2016 and am enrolled in the Bachelors program now. My goal, though I'm nervous, is to finish as a NP in 2020. Life has slowed the progress of my education but has also given me the chance grow. That is an important part of nursing, maturity and the empathy of others. Find a place that you will enjoy working as you age. Keep chasing the knowledge and changing lives as you go.

Trying to empower patients seems to be the biggest problem. Finding something that is easy to use and gives them positive feedback would be good. In acute situations they tend to be singularly focussed. If we could get the population to integrate easy to use platforms, we could educate them on their conditions. Disease and injury prevention is the key idea behind readmissions. Just like the kids get lollipops for a doctors visit, I wonder what the public would consider a reasonable reward? Money is always a motivator. Maybe if they watch certain material and pass a REALLY simple test, they receive a certain monetary value off their bill. Similar to the insurance company requiring health coach visits for customers with HF or COPD.

I am all in with the ED having a separate treatment area for all incoming patients. With that in mind, the theory of service oriented care must relax. We are not McDonalds or American Eagle. If we are neglectful, disrespectful or texting at the nurses station, then they can bring up the issue of service. Nurses are VERY busy with everything being important. If doctor offices do not want to have a triage nurse on call, they can hold classes or hire an educator. The other thing they can do is set up online teaching that all parents can access. The best option is a triage nurse on call that can work from home. This benefits the nurse and the patient. A two way access would be optimal so the nurse can get their eyes on the patient. In regards to a secondary treatment area, anyone over there would not be deemed an emergency so they can come on a first come, first serve basis. Behavioral therapy may stop them from sitting for hours over a runny nose or hang nail.

In relation to patient education, using new media and lowering hospital readmission rates, how can we combine the first two to equal the third? Can new media be used to facilitate patient education? I think if we utilize the correct platforms, patients would learn. Although the older generation is not using multiple mediums, they are willing to use the basic ones. With baby boomer getting ready to retire we have to find new ways to educate those that aren't comfortable with technology. What are your thoughts?