The Team Around the Patient Flashcards
(32 cards)
The traditional Primary Health Care Team
Receptionists Community nurses Midwives Health visitors Nurse practitioners GP partners GP assistants and other salaried doctors GP registrars Practice nurses Practice managers
GP Partner
GPs provide a complete spectrum of care - physical, psychological and social problems. They work in teams with other professions, helping patients to take responsibility for their own health.
Responsibilities of GP Partner
Most GPs are independent contractors to the NHS. This independence means that in most cases, they are responsible for providing adequate premises from which to practise and for employing their own staff.
Practice nurse
General practice nurses work in GP surgeries as part ofthe primary healthcare team, which might include doctors, pharmacists and dietitians. In larger practices, they might be one of severalpractice nurses sharing duties and responsibilities while in others, they mightbe working on their own, taking on many roles. General practice nurses may also have direct supervision of healthcare assistants at the practice.
Responsibilities of Practice Nurse
They might be involved in most aspects of patient care including:
obtaining blood samples
ECGs
minor and complex wound management including leg ulcers
travel health advice and vaccinations
child immunisations and advice
family planning & women’s health including cervical smears
men’s health screening
sexual health services
smoking cessation.
District Nurse
- Visit people in their own homes or in residential care homes, providing increasingly complex care for patients and supporting family members.
- A teaching and support role, working with patients to enable them to care for themselves/ with family members teaching them how to give care to their relatives.
- Accountable for their own patient caseloads.
- Keep hospital admissions and readmissions to a minimum and ensure that patients can return to their own homes as soon as possible.
- Assess the healthcare needs of patients and families, monitor the quality of care they’re receiving and are professionally accountable for delivery of care.
Midwife
- Midwives provide care during all stages of pregnancy, labour and the early postnatal period.
- Work in the community, providing services in women’s homes, local clinics, children’s centres and GP surgeries.
- Some hospital based, where there are opportunities for midwives to work on antenatal, labour and postnatal wards and neonatal units.
Health Visitor
- Lead and deliver child and family health services (pregnancy through to 5 years)
- Provide ongoing additional services for vulnerable children and families
- Contribute to multidisciplinary services in safeguarding and protecting children
Macmillan Nurse
Macmillan nurses specialise in cancer and palliative care, providing support and information to people with cancer, and their families, friends and carers, from the point of diagnosis onwards.
Macmillan nurses offer the following:
-Specialised pain and symptom control
Emotional support both for the patient and their family or carer
-Care in a variety of settings – in hospital (both inpatient and outpatient), at home or from a local clinic
Information about cancer treatments and side effects
-Advice to other members of the caring team, for example district nurses and Marie Curie nurses
-Co-ordinated care between hospital and the patient’s home
Advice on other forms of support, including financial help.
Allied Health Professionals
Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Dietetics
Podiatry
Pharmacy
Counselling
Pharmacist
- An expert in medicines and their use.
- The majority of pharmacists practice in hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy or in primary care pharmacy, working to ensure that patients get the maximum benefit from their medicines.
- Advise medical and nursing staff on the selection and appropriate use of medicines. They provide information to patients on how to manage their medicines to ensure optimal treatment.
- Pharmacists are able to undertake additional training in order to allow them to prescribe medicines for specific conditions.
Dietetics
Dietetics is the interpretation and communication of nutrition scienceto enable people to make informed and practical choices about food and lifestyle in health and disease.
Dietician
-A dietitian will be trained inhospital and community settings as part of their course. Most dietitians are employed in the NHS, but may also work in the food industry, education, research and on a freelance basis.
-Dietitians have a wide range of responsibilities including:
- working with people with special dietary needs
informing the general public about nutrition
offeringunbiased advice
evaluating and improving treatments
-educatingpatients/clients, other healthcare professionals andcommunity groups.
Physiotherapist
Physiotherapists help and treat people with physical problems caused by illness, accident or ageing.
- They see human movement as central to the health and well-being of individuals and identify and maximise movement through health promotion, preventive healthcare, treatment and rehabilitation.
- A physiotherapist’s core skills include manual therapy, therapeutic exercise and the application of electro-physical modalities. They also have an appreciation of psychological, cultural and social factors influencing their clients.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is the assessment and treatment of physical and psychiatric conditions using specific activity to prevent disability and promote independentfunction in all aspects of daily life.
Occupational Therapist
Occupational therapists work with people of all ages to help them overcome the effects of disability caused by physical or psychological illness, ageing or accident.
Occupational therapists work with young children, adolescents, adults and older people in these areas:
physical rehabilitation mental health services learning disability primary care paediatrics environmental adaptation care management equipment for daily living
Care Manager
Care managers are experts in working with individuals to identify their goals and locate the specific support services that enhance well-being.
When faced with the array of choices and challenging decisions, care managers provide support to find the best solutions.
They are highly trained social workers who work with the patient to advise on social and financial support services.
Other Professions in the Health Care Team
Complimentary therapists, for example:
Acupuncture
Homeopathy
Social services, for example:
Social workers
Social care workers
Health promotion, for example:
Gyms
Education
Factors of change affecting the PHCT
- Economic factors
- Political Pressure
- The development of new and extended professional roles
- The growing number of ageing patients
Economic factors affecting change on the PHCT
About 60% of primary healthcare premises are still owned by GPs
Many existing premises are too small or unfit for purpose and growing numbers of new GPs need to be accommodated.
There is a trend away from smaller traditional doctor-owned premises to much larger buildings owned and developed by private companies.
There is a developing trend towards a much wider range of services within enlarged premises. The introduction of additional services is helping to fund new surgeries and this trend is likely to continue for both political and economic reasons.
This presents a massive challenge to successful teamwork.
Political change affecting PHCT
There are political pressures to:
Reduce the cost of treatments.
Provide more treatments closer to where patients live.
Examples of new and extended professional roles
The development of healthcare assistants (often from existing staff).
The extended role of pharmacists in medicines’ management and minor illness.
The development of nurse prescribing and triage.
Implications of the growing number of ageing patients on PHCT
More long term conditions (managed largely in primary care).
A greater demand for healthcare generally (managed largely in primary care).
The Principles of Good Team Work- governing board
The forum on teamwork in primary healthcare - an initiative between the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, The National Pharmaceutical Association, The Royal College of General Practitioners
