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Chapter 9 Continuum Of Care

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Chapter 9: Organization of Care
Health Care Services
Clinical health care services include prevention of disease, maintenance of good health, curing disease, rehabilitation, and palliation. The first level in the continuum of health care begins with healthy people. There are multiple prevention service levels. Primary prevention focuses on education to prevent illness. Handwashing signs, immunization programs, weight loss programs, and workplace safety programs all aim to reduce disease by influencing behavior. Secondary prevention focuses early detection and screenings. Routine tests are meant to catch diseases even while the patient is still unaware of the condition. Patients that are already experiencing symptoms benefit from tertiary …show more content…

Acute care is short-term care centered around diagnosing and treating illness or injury. Acute curative services respond to life-threatening emergencies, acute episodes of chronic illnesses, and any health problem that requires immediate, time-sensitive response. Acute care can include emergency care, trauma care, acute care surgery, critical care, urgent care, and short-term inpatient stabilization (Yarbrough & Erwin, 2015).
Long-term care meets the non-medical care needs of people that need assistance with activities of daily living due to a medical condition. Activities of daily living may include bathing, dressing, eating, housework, or meal prep (Yarbrough & Erwin, 2015). Nursing homes or institutions are providers of long-term care, but Medicare will not pay for custodial care. Medicare only pays for medical care. Medicare will not pay for help with taking medication, using the toilet, or everyday tasks that someone is unable to accomplish due to chronic illness (Long-term care, …show more content…

The Patient-Centered Medical Home seeks to improve health system delivery through respect, coordination, and involvement of caregivers. The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) involves a team of nurses, legal consultants, pharmacists, therapists, insurance consultants, medical assistants, and physicians working together at one location to provide expert care in the health issues they are specialized to address. Team-based care is designed to make primary care meet the needs of patients by providing collaboration among medical professionals. Patient-centered care can potentially improve both clinical outcomes and satisfaction rates while improving quality of care and reducing costs (Rickert, 2012). A large portion of this cost reduction is due to a dramatic decrease in Emergency Medicine Department visits (Masterson,

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