Nursing in Tron-Land

Welcome to Insight in Nursing Episode 28

Nurse Practitioners and Primary Care

Host Jamie Davis was joined on this week’s show by Terri Pollick from Nurse Ratched’s Place and Terri Schmitt from NurseStory.com.

In the first article, they talk about nurse practitioners and where they stand in the primary care setting. When an insurance company recognized nurse practitioners as primary care providers, it opened new roles and advanced the nursing profession in the field of primary care. They also talk about how nurse practitioners make a difference in the shortage of primary care physicians in the course of health reform. Also, the quality of care provided along with the cost of care through nurse managed clinics makes nurse practitioners an ideal resource for primary care services especially for the under served population. They also talk about the different areas where NP’s can apply their practice like in mental health care and community based care.

Virtual Patient Beds?

This article from the UK opened the idea of virtual beds. The concept is about installing virtual beds for dementia, stroke, and aged patients to receive care in the comfort of their own homes. This is aimed at reducing prolonged hospital stays in acute care facilities and admissions to long term care. Apart from being cost-effective, our guests think that this is another situation where technology is taken another step further for the benefit of patient care and better patient satisfaction. This concept also reduces the risk of health care acquired infections, patients are happier because they are better rested and do what they want without sacrificing the accessibility of care providers.

Nursing Program Approval Yanked

In the third article for this week, a nursing program in Ohio lost its approval from the Ohio Board of Nursing due to “recurring deficiencies related to a disregard for the students”. This led to the discussion on online nursing programs, how it affects the nursing profession, is it advisable to get into it, and its impact on the quality and safety of patient care. They were also thankful for the presence of nursing board and accrediting bodies that look out for students and hear their complaints regarding the quality of education that they receive from the nursing program that they enrolled in. In the topic of nursing and nursing programs, they also discussed the present population of individuals getting into the nursing career and the qualities they should possess to become an effective health provider.

Health Care Fraud Crackdown Nets $4B

A report last week stated that the government recovered 4 billion dollars from health care fraud preventions. Where do nurses come to play in the vigilance to proper use of health care resources? One suggestion that came up is getting knowledgeable on the billing process and patient education on what their health care needs are and not ending up getting something that isn’t necessary for their care. Drug makers’ marketing strategies were also discussed since almost half of the 4 billion came from drug makers which led to educating health providers to prescribe medications according to the practicality of use and not according to how well it was marketed to them by medical representatives. For nurse practitioners, responsible prescribing by using the cheapest, most effective medication available is also a way to reduce costs.

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Thanks to bandwidth sponsor AllNurses.com, the Largest online community for nurses. Continue the discussions there!

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Join us!

On the panel this week:

Terri Schmitt from NurseStory.com and on Twitter @onlinenursing.

Terri Polick of Nurse Ratched’s Place and on Twitter @motherjonesRN.

and host Jamie Davis, the Podmedic, RN, NREMTP, BA, AAS managing director of the ProMed Network and host of the Nursing Show and MedicCast weekly programs.

Join us as we delve in to our week’s topic.

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Links from the show:

Expanding Role for Nurse Practitioners

Virtual Beds Fill the Gap

Nursing Program Approval Withdrawn

$4B Recovered Through Health Care Fraud Prevention

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Contact Insights in Nursing

Do you have a question or a comment for our nurse panelists for this or any other episode of Insights in Nursing? Email us at InsightsInNursing@GMail.com with your comments on this episode, suggestions for the show or future episodes or just to tell about what you think is important right now for you as a nurse!

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