www.nursingmattersonline.com
Future
Continued from page 4 first patients were shown in to examination rooms. “A lot of Denver Health patients are so complex,” said Dr. Benjamin Feijoo, looking up from his desk. Patients often have multiple health issues, too many to handle in a typical 20-minute visit. “It’s a bit of a crunch,” he said. So Feijoo turns to his colleagues for help. For instance, if a patient has both a medical and a mental-health issue, Feijoo can address the medical problem and then ask a mental-health specialist to step into the examination room and tackle the mental-health problem. If a patient needs, say, a crash course on prenatal health, she can meet with a nurse for an hour-long discussion. And if a living situation is compromising a patient’s health – such as unstable housing or insufficient access to healthy food – the clinic’s social worker will try to find a solution. The clinic also employs two community health workers, who spread the word about Denver Health in low-income neighborhoods, and a patient navigator, who calls the clinic’s patients when they leave a Denver Health hospital – and, for a subset of patients, other major local hospitals. The navigator helps them schedule follow-up appointments with their primary-care providers. Denver Health began expanding its care teams in 2012, when it received a $20 million federal grant. The system spent about half the money on hiring staff such
Nurses Day
Continued from page 5 campaign banner is also available for downloading and printing. Nurses can submit photos of themselves holding the banner. Show support to nurses and universal health coverage with the hashtags #VoiceToLead and #IND2018. In 2018 the International Council of Nurses will launch a website dedicated to International Nurses Day and will
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November • 2017 as social workers, patient navigators and clinical pharmacists. The rest was spent on software that identifies patients who are spending avoidable time in the hospital, including people who are homeless or have a serious but treatable condition such as HIV. New smaller clinics wrap even more services around those patients, allowing them to come in for multi-hour visits. The new system now saves Denver Health – an integrated system, which includes a health plan – so much money on hospital stays and emergency-room visits that it covers the salaries of the additional hires, said Tracy Johnson, director of health-reform initiatives for the system. Reconfiguring care teams has also made financial sense for UCHealth. Although the clinic where Lin and Peterson work has about twice as many medical assistants today as it had a year ago – plus a social worker and nurse manager – the configuration saves doctors so much time that they’re able to see more patients each day. The extra visits bring in enough money to cover the cost of adding more employees. “The reason a lot of this happened is physician burnout was significant, especially in primary care,” said Dr. Carmen Lewis, the medical director of the Lowry clinic. The redesigned teams launched earlier this year aim to make doctors’ lives less stressful. Patients across the UCHealth system don’t seem to mind the change. A few will ask to speak with their doctor in private, but others are more open with the medical assistant than with their doctor. “Sometimes, they don’t feel as judged,”
publish important resources and evidence to support this work. In addition, an International Nurses Day 2018 video will be available. The International Council of Nurses is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses and leading nursing internationally, the council works to ensure quality care for all and sound health policies globally. Visit www. icn.ch for more information.
Join us on Our DoorWay to Excellence Door County Medical Center, an integrated hospital system serving the health care needs of the Door County region since 1943, offers a full range of services including clinic, inpatient, outpatient, and long term care. Key services and facilities include a cancer/radiation oncology treatment center, physical, occupational and speech therapy, and emergency/urgent care.
NURSING PROFESSIONALS
DCMC is seeking qualified Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, & Certified Medical Assistants. New graduates are encouraged to apply For career opportunities and to apply on-line please visit: www.dcmedical.org DCMC is an Equal Opportunity Employer
SCOTT CLARK/WISCONSIN NEWS CONNECTION
A doctor examines a patient in a Denver Health primary-care clinic. Below, patients check in at the reception desk.
Peterson said. Lin said that since he’s started working with Peterson, his patients have been better able to keep their blood pressure and diabetes under control. “Patients will forget to tell me that they’re out of prescriptions,” he said – or he’ll be so busy tackling a more immediate problem that he’ll forget to ask. With a medical assistant methodically asking all the opening questions, crucial details such as prescription renewals no longer slip through the cracks.
Rethink medical school Medical-school leaders want to ensure the next generation of doctors has the skills
and mind-set the jobs of the future will require – such as the ability to lead teams effectively, draw insights from data sets and guide patients through a system full of bewildering treatments, care settings and payment options. Students traditionally spend the first two years of medical school learning science in classrooms and two years getting hands-on experience at clinical sites. That’s no longer enough, said Susan Skochelak, group vice-president for medical education at the American Medical Association. She said students need to understand “health-system science” – everything from how health insurance works to how factors such as income and education affect health. “We had medical students who were graduating, not knowing the difference between Medicare and Medicaid,” she said. So in 2013 the American Medical Association began issuing grants to medical schools that wanted to do things differently. One program allowed Indiana University to put anonymous patient data into an electronic health record students can use to search for clues to a patient’s health – such as whether he is showing signs of opioid addiction. Another grant allowed Pennsylvania State University to create a new curriculum that requires medical students to work as patient navigators. “Brand-new medical students – they totally get the need for this,” said Robert Pendleton, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Utah and the university hospital system’s chief
See FUTURE, Page 8
Registered Nurses Mile Bluff Medical Center currently has the following RN positions available: • Part time Charge RN in the Medical/Surgical department (12 hour shifts). Previous charge/supervisory experience required. • Full time positions available in the Medical/Surgical department (12 hour shifts) for Day and Night shifts. Experience preferred, new grads will be considered. • Full time Labor/Delivery RN (12 hour shifts). • Full time positions available for a Family Practice RN at Mile Bluff Clinic in Mauston and New Lisbon Family Medical Center. Minimum two years of experience preferred. • Full time and part time positions available at Crest View Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (New Lisbon). • Full time positions available at Fair View Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. Please visit our website at www.milebluff.com to learn more about our facilities, the benefits available to our employees, and to complete and online application. Resumes can be emailed to humanresources@milebluff.com.
Mile Bluff Medical Center 1050 Division St. Mauston, WI 53948
An Equal Opportunity Employer