Essay Sample on Primary Care in the 21st Century

There has been a remarkable improvement in global health conditions over the decades in terms of the provision of primary health care. Primary health care can be defined as the provision of the first contact individual health services, such as diagnosis and medication of the specific health condition, and providing management support, especially for chronic health conditions within the health system. Nurses are known as the essential providers of health services, especially in the handling of patients in primary care. Over the years, nursing research has been conducted to establish appropriate ways of improving primary care for victims in need.

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Nursing responsibilities have significantly evolved throughout the 21st century. Nurses do perform in diverse environments, including community health departments, home health care, hospitals, laboratories, classrooms, and even in the business sphere. Albeit each role contains distinct responsibilities, the prime objective of professional nurses remains the same, which is to be the patient’s supporter and provider of optimal healthcare especially based on the advancement and pieces of evidence secured through research. In the article “Nursing Practice in Primary Care and Patients’ Experience of Care,” different insights are provided after research was done to find out the impact of systematic patient follow-up as a nursing role on the patient’s health, their experience of primary care, and efficiency in health services.

Primary care plays a major role in improving an individual’s health. Numerous studies and research have continuously highlighted the fundamental role registered nurses have inpatient guidance and follow-up. Nurses’ activities in primary care can be categorized in different sets of activities such as intermittent activities and integrative activities (Borgès Da Silva et al., 2020). Intermittent activities are executed by nurses in response to the periodic needs by the patients and are mostly procedural. For instance, an intermittent activity includes patients' triage and assistance to physicians’ clinical responsibilities. On the other hand, an integrative activity advocates the optimal utilization of nurse proficiency to give exemplary healthcare services to patients. Some of these nurse proficiencies include systematic follow-up of patients (Borgès Da Silva et al., 2020).

Systematic patient follow-up up which is an integrative activity majorly realized through the use of nurse proficiencies is a model of care provision that is aimed at enhancing clinical results and it is often grounded on a deep awareness of patients’ needs. To accomplish this, the nurse evaluates the current health status of the patient and designs interventions and care based on the specific needs of the patient. In this situation, the nurse becomes the coordinator of the primary care process provides directions, and avails other useful health care resources within the health care system.

Researchers have shown that patient management by nurses in primary care positively influences care outcomes, patients' satisfaction, and experience of care (Borgès Da Silva et al., 2020). Therefore, outcomes of research covered in the article reveal that systematic follow-up of patients improves their care experience regarding accessibility. Ultimately, maximizing nurses’ range of practice provides an opportunity to enhance health service's effectiveness and patients’ encounter with care.

Reference

Borgès Da Silva, R., Brault, I., Pineault, R., Chouinard, M., Prud’homme, A., & D’Amour, D. (2020). Nursing Practice in Primary Care and Patients’ Experience of Care. Retrieved 15 June 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5937150/