HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
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View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
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View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreAlthough it’s been around for close to 50 years, primary care nursing is often misunderstood or overlooked as a model for effective nursing care. To deal with any uncertainty about where it could be deployed, or where it might not be of value, let’s look at the basics of what the primary nursing model is and does.
First, realize that in addition to primary care nursing, other nursing-delivery models include:
Each has its adherents, and each can and should be evaluated to see if it would work in the particular healthcare setting under review.
Primary Nursing Model Definition
Primary care nursing is when a single nurse is identified as the point of contact and primary caregiver for a patient during his or her particular hospital stay or other episode of care. As envisioned by staff nurses at the University of Minnesota in 1969, the primary care nursing team is composed of that lead nurse, who directly supervises the engagement of a licensed practical nurse and/or nursing assistant in that patient’s care. Further, the primary care nurse acts as care partner, serving as communications liaison between the patient and his or her doctor and other care team members. (In many facilities and systems, the position of nurse practitioner has been created to fulfill this role.)
The Primary nursing model is hailed by proponents as creating a better bond and trust relationship between patients and caregivers, thanks to that single-source relationship. They say that the patient’s care is elevated by having that single nurse overseeing its delivery, and that its structure empowers the nurse to utilize managerial abilities as well as deploy their best bedside care.
Adapting the Primary Nursing Care Model Has Challenges
Even so, it’s not an easy system to put into place for a variety of reasons. For one, the nurses who engage in it must have strong interpersonal skills. Nurses are known for their empathy, certainly, but large patient loads and nurse shortages mean that many if not most are working with many time constraints, and so may have seen those skills atrophy somewhat.
What’s more, becoming a primary care nurse means accepting responsibility for that patient’s outcome, to a degree. The nurse is acting as both caregiver and care manager, and that can be a difficult balance to maintain.
Resistance to Change
And lastly, there’s the usual resistance to change. It’s natural to be wary of a new system, even if it promises to solve many vexing problems that nurses face in today’s hospital and other care settings. Their chief goal is almost always to spend more time with patients and grow those interpersonal relationships with patients and their friends and families. Done properly, primary care nursing provides the setting for those interactions to take place, and also can do much to improve patient safety and better outcomes, not to mention staff satisfaction and improved retention.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsUtilize patient access solutions and advanced reimbursement solutions to manage clinical denials and improve your organization’s reimbursement strategy.
View All ReimbursementExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
View All ProductsComprehensive, industry-leading provider onboarding and credentialing software that validate health outcomes and support provider assessment.
View All CredentialingOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
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