Presentations 2.4 Flashcards
What does patient advocacy exist to do?
Ensure that patients’ rights such as privacy are protected in healthcare
● Allow patients’ voices to be heard by efficient communication
● Help patients understand their diagnosis and make informed medical
decisions while respecting their autonomy
● Assist with insurance and billing
● Ensure patients are receiving the necessary care and respect
● Avoid patient discrimination
What is a patient advocate?
● Can be healthcare professionals, family members, caregivers, a friend, or even the patient themselves.
● Healthcare should not have to be confusing, and
patients should be apart of and feel confident
about the decisions made regarding their health.
Who is entitled to pt advocacy?
ANY person who receives health care is entitled to patient advocacy
List 3 reasons patient advocacy is important
1) Ensuring patient safety
2) Promoting equity in health care delivery
3) Improving patient outcomes
How do pt advocates ensure pt safety?
■ Leading cause of medical errors are miscommunications or misunderstandings between patient and their provider
■ Medication dosing, wound care, provider understanding complaints
○ Organizations work to ensure standards and protocol are being upheld
■ Sanitation, proper training
How do pt advocates promote equity in health care delivery?
■Advocates work to remove barriers that may be inhibiting a patient from receiving equal health care opportunities
■ Income, language, location, race
■ Expanding insurance coverage
How are pt advocates important in improving patient outcomes?
Incorporating a patients’ preferences and/or beliefs into a treatment plan is shown to increase patient adherence to the plan, ultimately leading to better outcomes
2022 CHCAO study involving 188 patient and caregivers, 262 advocates, and 91 providers found what?
■ 92% of patients felt a positive impact on their health care
■ 98% of providers felt a positive impact on patient outcome
■ 92% of providers felt advocates decreased staff burden
What key skills and responsibilities are required for a patient advocate to succeed?
1) To be effective, a patient advocate must possess key interpersonal skills, especially
active listening and clear communication. These abilities allow them to accurately
convey the patient’s concerns and questions to healthcare providers.
2) These skills also help the advocate explain things in a way that’s easy for the patient
to understand, whether it’s medical terms, billing, insurance, or anything else.
3) Empathy and compassion
4) Problem-solving skills
5) Knowledge of basic medical terms
Describe Empathy and Compassion in the context of patient advocacy
Being a patient advocate means helping people through challenging times, so it’s important to truly empathize with their situation. At its core, the role is about showing compassion and being a steady support as patients navigate their healthcare journey
Describe Problem-solving skills in the context of pt advocacy
Advocates help patients make informed choices about everything from insurance to treatment by using problem-solving, doing research, and carefully looking at all the options.
What knowledge of basic medical terms do pt advocates need to have?
Patient advocates need to have a strong grasp of how the healthcare system works, along with a good understanding of medical terminology. They should be comfortable with things like common medical abbreviations, reading health records, and other related tasks
List some duties of pt advocates
Scheduling medical appointments
➢ Aiding a patient in accessing financial and legal resources.
➢ Negotiating and reviewing medical bills to ensure their accuracy.
➢ Keeping notes of what happens during medical visits
➢ Helping a patient connect with support groups and other social resources.
➢ Supporting patients’ rights
➢ Assisting patients with completing forms and applications.
Describe the role of health professionals in advocacy
Healthcare Professionals’ roles stay consistent in advocacy
over the wide variety of jobs this umbrella term covers.
They should always:
1. Actively support and protect their patients rights
2. Ensure access to necessary care
3. Help navigate patients through the healthcare system
by
a. Being their voice
b. Explaining complex medical bills
c. Educating them on their medical procedures
d. Ensuring they understand their privacy rights
List 5 individual strategies for pt advocacy
1) Build a strong patient relationship
➢ Understand the patient’s concerns and create a safe,
comfortable environment
2) Teach patients ways to advocate for themselves
➢ Encourage patients to take notes, ask questions, and understand
their rights
3) Use strong documentation
➢ Thoroughly document interactions including discussions and treatments
4. Follow up with patients
➢ Check in with patients after appointment to see if they have received necessary
referrals/medications
5. Advocate for policy changes
➢ Sign petitions and attend meetings to support better healthcare policies
List some organizational strategies for pt advocacy
Train the healthcare staff in patient advocacy
➢ Teach all healthcare workers how to effectively recognize and address patient needs
2. Implement patient centered policies
➢ Make guidelines that prioritize the needs and safety of the patients
3. Offer patient assistance programs
➢ Offer case managers or helplines to assist patients with medical challenges
4. Collaborate with local/national groups
➢ Partner with other organizations to expand resources
5. Monitor and evaluate advocacy efforts
➢ Asses and adjust strategies to enhance effectiveness
Sum up the pt advocacy presentation
1) Anyone receiving medical treatment is entitled to receive patient advocacy and there is no limitation on who can be an advocate. Patient advocacy promotes efficient and effective care for the patient, ensuring the patient is both fully aware and involved in what their treatment plan is.
2) An advocate uses their set of interpersonal skills to help patients navigate the healthcare system through things like medications, insurance and billing, access to care, and maintaining patient autonomy.
3) As a provider, our role in patient advocacy becomes even more centered around the patient. Building strong patient-provider relationships with communication at the foundation allows for a more cohesive effort in determining treatment options and ultimately resulting in better outcomes for the patient.
T/F where someone lives is a factor in determining equity of healthcare
delivery?
True
What two skills are needed to effectively convey the patient’s questions and concerns to the healthcare provider?
Active listening and clear communication
Define patient advocacy
-To someone without prior healthcare knowledge or experience, navigating the healthcare system can be difficult or seem daunting, but the goal of patient advocacy focuses on the well-being of the patient.
-Patients have the right to be informed, involved, and supported when it comes to decisions regarding their health.
1) What are health screenings?
2) Are they diagnostic?
3) What is the main goal?
Health screenings are medical procedures or tests that are used in asymptomatic populations to evaluate an individual’s risk/likelihood of developing a disease or disorder1
Not diagnostic but rather used to identify subset of population who should undergo further diagnostic testing to determine absence or presence of a disease2
3) Early detection→this is key to improving treatment outcomes and reducing morbidity/mortality1
Good screening tests should target diseases that do what?
1) Cause significant morbidity/mortality
2) Are prevalent in the population
Why is HTN screened?
1) Major risk factor for CVD (which is the leading cause of death in the US)
2) Long-term can lead to increased risk for heart disease, kidney failure, stroke, and premature mortality
What is one of the leading causes of death globally (second to heart disease in the US)?
Cancer
(~20 million new cancer cases and 10 million cancer-related deaths annually worldwide)
Cancer:
1) Do they grow quickly?
2) What cancers can you screen for?
1) Many grow slowly and may not show obvious symptoms until they have progressed significantly
2) Breast, cervical, prostate, colon, and lung cancer
Diabetes:
1) How many ppl does it affect?
2) Who may go undetected? What can this lead to?
1) Affects more than 30 million people in US
2) Type 2 Diabetes may go undetected for years due to mild/vague symptoms in the early stages
-Untreated this can lead to severe complications (i.e. heart disease, kidney failure, nerve damage)
Breast cancer screenings:
1) What should be monthly?
2) What if you’re average risk?
3) What if you’re high risk?
1) Monthly Self-Exams
2) Age 40-74 biennial screening mammography
Age 75+ shared decision making with provider
3) Start annual screening mammography at age 30
Colon cancer screening:
1) How often if average risk?
2) How often if high risk?
1) Regular screenings from age 45-75
-Age 75+ shared decision making with provider
-Freq. of screenings is based upon the method of screening chosen
2) Those with 1st degree relative should begin screening 10 years prior to age of relative’s diagnosis
Prostate cancer:
1) How often is screening in the younger age group?
2) How often is screening in the older age group?
1) Age 55-69: Shared decision making with physician
2) Age 70+: Risk factors such as older age, African American descent and family history should be taken into account when making personal decision
Type I diabetes screening:
1) Is this commonly screened for?
2) Why is it important?
3) How often is it screened/ why?
1) Recognizing the need for screening
2) Importance of identifying the disease before symptoms appear
3) Early consensus recommends screening between ages 2-6
-Not exclusively a childhood diagnosis and not exclusively familial
Type II diabetes screening:
What ages? What groups?
Age 35-70
Overweight or obese
Glucose test every 3 years with normal results
Detection of pre-diabetes
Weight reduction interventions
Early detection screenings such as genetic testing, self-examinations, some available at-home screenings, and education allows for _______________
proactivity
Give some examples of Txs that are more effective when started early
-Breast cancer, colon cancer, hypertension, and diabetes are more effective when detected early.
-Due to the increase in the outcome of treatment, survival rates also increase with early detection. In some cases, this can be substantial
1) What is BRCA1? Should you test for it?
2) What should be done if it’s detected?
1) BRCA1 is a gene linked with breast and ovarian cancer. A family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer could grant the need to have genetic testing performed for precautionary measures.
2) Upon detection of this gene at an early stage, one is able to act accordingly in regards to next step treatment.
BRCA1 detection with double mastectomy surgery can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 90-95%.
Barriers to screenings:
1) List 3 solutions to financial barriers
2) List 2 solutions to lack of awareness and education
1) Policy Change
Public Health Program
Sliding Scale Fee
2) Health Education Campaigns
Health Profession’s Role
Barriers to screenings:
1) List 3 solutions to geographic barriers
2) List 3 solutions to Cultural and Linguistic Barriers
1) Mobile screening units
Telemedicine
Partnership with Local organization
2) Cultural Competency Training
Interpreter Services
Community Health Workers
Barriers to screenings:
1) List 2 solutions to psychosocial barriers (Fear, Stigma, or Misinformation)
2) List 3 solutions to Time and Convenience Barriers
3) List 2 solutions to Disability or Special Needs
1) Normalization and de-stigmatization
Patient Support Systems
2) Flexible Time
Simplified Appointment Schedule
Workplace Screening
3) Accessible Facilities
Specialized Screenings
Encouraging Preventative Care: why should it be encouraged?
1) As we mentioned, screenings and adequate care for chronic conditions may not always be accessible, so timely intervention is key!
2) Many diseases (such as cancer) do not show signs or symptoms until they are advanced, meaning more invasive and life altering treatments
3) Assessing risk early on, and making lifestyle changes can save patients millions of dollars in healthcare costs
List 3 things providers can do to encourage preventative care
1) Education
2) Finding support systems
3) Encouragement
At what age should you begin annual mammograms if you have high risk factors?
30
Name one of the 3 ways we can overcome geographical barriers.
Either mobile screening, telehealth, partnering with local organizations
Describe some lifestyle modifications you might recommend to help prevent Diabetes Mellitus II?
Diet, exercise, carb control, etc
I am a 60 year old male establishing care for the first time in my life. Give me an example of how you would educate/encourage me to be screened for some high risk disease processes
→Which screenings should I do?
→ What can we do in the Primary Care setting to determine which screenings I need?
1) Prostate cancer? A1c?
2) Explain any risk factors, make him comfortable, let him know you want to be thorough, etc
What are some risk factors of prostate cancer?
Older age, African American descent and family history should be taken into account when making personal decision
