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Introduction
Hospitals are considered centers for acute care delivery for more than one hundred years (Fuller & Drenkard, 2011). An overview of a typical hospital care setting will allow the wary observer to detect the flaws in the health care delivery system. It is the responsibility of nursing practitioners to develop innovative solutions to improve the delivery of health care in an acute care setting (Norlander, 2011). The proponent of this study will discuss the potential benefits of the Agile Team model in an acute care setting.
Describe the Agile Team Model
The Agile Team model is an innovative solution created to address the inherent flaws of the conventional delivery system called the Total Patient Care Model. In the conventional model, a task-oriented nurse is given the responsibility to take care of the needs of the patients.
In this model, the registered nurse is responsible for the administration of medication, documentation, and other patient care procedures (Fuller & Drenkard, 2011). In most cases, the registered nurse struggles to provide quality health care, especially when dealing with the limitations created by work shifts.
The Agile Team Model calls for the creation of a group comprised of a registered nurse, a licensed practical nurse, and a nursing assistant. In other scenarios, the team is comprised of two registered nurses, and one care technician (Adamopoulos, 2013). The members of the team meet daily to engage in a planning conference and discuss the best way to provide patient care. The team uses an electronic medical record system.
Implementation of the Agile Team Model
The proponent of this study will attempt to apply the Agile Team Model to improve the health care delivery system in a primary care hospital. Patients are divided into groups of ten. Each group is placed under the care of a team comprised of two registered nurses and one unlicensed staff. The care technician can be a nursing assistant or an unlicensed staff.
The agile team utilizes the power of an electronic medical record or EMR. The EMR satisfies the technology aspect of the Agile Team Model. The team uses the EMR to create easy-to-access records. Thus, errors are avoided, because of the unlicensed staff that can confirm the validity of instructions via the EMR.
The team is comprised of three members. The first member bears the title of Registered Nurse or RN. The second member bears the title of Registered Nurse or RN. The third member of the team bears no title because he or she is an unlicensed staff. The unique role of the first team member is to plan out the treatment program for the patients. The unique role of the second member is to monitor the treatment program. The unique role of the third member is to handle mundane tasks. An example of a mundane task is to record data on the EMR. The Agile Team Model enables the registered nurses in the said hospital to distribute the workload. Thus, the model will help the staff defeat burnout and low morale.
The Evaluation of the Implementation of the Agile Team Model
The cost-effectiveness of the strategy was considered. The hospital can afford the application of the Agile Team Model because the hospital currently employs an EMR system. The model demonstrates the effectiveness of ancillary staff. The presence of the ancillary staff reduces the workload of the registered nurses.
To increase the probability of success, the strategy requires the incorporation of several themes: 1) Nurse-led and nurse managed healthcare; 2) Partnership and collaboration; 3) Continuity of care across settings, and 4) Technology. With regards to the first theme, the leader of the team must be a registered nurse with many years of experience. With regards to the second theme, the hospital encourages the creation of interdisciplinary teams to foster collaboration and partnerships with different groups of health workers. With regards to the third theme, the hospital encourages the use of the EMR system. The team’s use of the EMR enables the group to transmit critical information to specialists assigned to take care of the patient. As a result, the Agile Team Model provides the capability to handle the requirements created by continuity of care across different settings (Esperat et al., 2011). With regards to the fourth theme, the hospital pledges its commitment to invest in cutting-edge technology like the EMR system.
After the implementation of the model, the proponent of the study will measure the rate of turnover and patient satisfaction. The outcome is measurable through the feedback created by the patients. Questionnaires will be created to determine patient satisfaction about the quality of health care that the hospital provides for them. More importantly, the low turnover rate of nurses is a critical indicator of the effectiveness of the new strategy.
Conclusion
The application of the Agile Team model will help primary care hospitals address the problems created by the Total Patient Care healthcare delivery model. The Agile Team Model provides a way to handle the needs of patients by using an interdisciplinary team that focuses on treatment plans because the team leader is not distracted by the need to handle mundane tasks. The implementation cost is not a problem, because the primary care hospital has an existing EMR system. The creation of the teams only requires changes in organizing the staff, and the hiring of unlicensed staff.
References
Adamopoulos, H. (2013). Six key principles that will guide the bedside care team of the future. Web.
Esperat, C., Fiandt, K., McNeal, G., Drew, C., Heuer, L., & Denholm, E. (2011). Nursing
Innovations: The future of chronic disease management. In W. Norlander (Ed.), The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health (pp. 414-417).
Northwest, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Fuller, J., Drenkard, K. (2011). Transformational models of nursing in acute care. In W.
Norlander (Ed.), The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health (pp. 414-417). Northwest, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Norlander, L. (2011). Transformational models of nursing across different care settings.
In W. Norlander (Ed.), The future of nursing; Leading change, advancing health (pp. 401-403). Northwest, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
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