N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse

N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse Role Study Guide a separate space of one’s own more than others. Some may express emotions openly while others may value stoicism. The nurse should find out not only what the patient’s cultural values and beliefs are but also seek to understand how the patient views those values. Economic Issues that Affect Healthcare Healthcare given by nurses can be affected by economic factors. Many nursing leaders emphasize preventative service. These leaders see that the cost of correcting problems is sometimes greater than preventing those problems in the first place. The healthcare system seeks to educate individuals about good health practices and early detection systems. Cost Containment • Preventative services : This involves the efforts to prevent disease from ever occurring. Primary prevention can be aimed at stopping the cause of the disease. Helping individuals to be more successful in resisting disease and maintaining health and educating people regarding healthy diets are a few examples of primary prevention. Immunizations prevent disease not only in the people immunized, but also in others by lowering the overall existence of communicable disease throughout the community. Smoking cessation campaigns are aimed at primary prevention and help the individual who quits smoking, but also benefit those who might otherwise be subject to second-hand smoke. • Secondary prevention: This involves early identification of health problems through screening and the prevention of complications and adverse consequences of illness. Nurses in ambulatory settings help clients to identify screening tests that are important and facilitate the scheduling of those tests. When admission histories are obtained, the nurse can attend to the information about screenings that is needed and encourage the patient to value that activity. The nurse must understand the current recommendations for screening in specific groups within the population. Asking about screening emphasizes its importance to clients and creates an opportunity for clients to gather additional information. • Tertiary prevention: This focuses on preventing long term disability and restoring functional capacity. Rehabilitation efforts often have been singled out as the major place where tertiary prevention occurs. Long-term care has regulatory mandate to prevent deterioration of elderly individuals, which places increased emphasis on maintaining functional independence. Rationing of Healthcare Rationing is restricting the availability of some desired commodity (healthcare). Most consider rationing to be a planned, thoughtful approach to a limited supply. Some would argue that we currently ration healthcare by restricting its availability to those with the financial means to pay. Insurance companies ration by limiting what they will pay for and how much they will pay. Closely related to rationing is the concern for scarce medical resources, especially as seen in regard to the need of organs for implantation. Technology has allowed people to live longer and new treatment modalities have become more expensive. Dollars do not exist within our current social system to make all forms of healthcare available to all who wish to receive it. Some states have begun to address these issues by passing statutes that among other things, create a process to establish healthcare priorities so that Medicaid and state-encouraged private coverage could provide the most cost-

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