The following articles were published in the Perspectives in Ambulatory Care department of the Nursing Economic$ journal and authored by members of the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing. The PIAC column captures the essence and makes sense of today's changing ambulatory care market.
Identification: 2015_NEC_JF
Issue: January/February 2015
Credits: None available.
Ambulatory nursing care can be difficult to comprehend in all its complexity. In August 2013, the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing commissioned a task force to identify nursing-sensitive indicators specific to ambulatory care settings. Given the great variation in settings, staff mix, patient populations, role dimensions, skill sets, documentation systems, and resources, determining metrics that apply across the entire continuum of care is a daunting task. However, it is incumbent upon nurse leaders to define the metrics that will promote the value of the registered nurse in ambulatory practice and care coordination. Once initial measures are identified, piloted, and validated, the infrastructure can be created for ongoing benchmarking and collaboration. The long-term goal is to leverage professional nursing practice, based in the ambulatory care setting, to improve quality, safety, and cost in health care.
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Identification: 2014_NEC_MA
Issue: March/April 2014
Credits: None available.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) established clear provisions for Patient-Centered Medical Homes and Accountable Care Organizations. In both, care coordination and transition management are methods to provide safe, high-quality care to at-risk populations such as patients with multiple chronic conditions. The emphasis on care coordination and transition management offers opportunities for nurses to work at their full potential as an integral part of the interprofessional team. Development of a model for the registered nurse in care coordination and transition management provides nurses the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be a resource to the team and to patients, and to contribute to high-quality patient and organization outcomes.
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Identification: 2010_NEC_JA
Issue: July/August 2010
Credits: None available.
Ambulatory care nursing has emerged as a distinct professional nursing specialty. Many characteristics differentiate ambulatory care nursing from other specialty practices, including the settings, the characteristics of the patient encounters and the focus upon groups, communities, and populations, as well as individual patients and their families. A conceptual framework for ambulatory care nursing was developed in 1998 and recently revised, through consensus of leaders in the specialty. The key elements of the Ambulatory Care Nursing Conceptual Framework are the patient, the environment (both internal and external), and the nurse, practicing in three major roles.
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