nursingforsocialjustice

I think that one of the challenges in achieving continuity of care and a harmonious balance between inpatient care and care delivered in the community is that there seems to be so much adversarial sentiment that exists between people working on inpatient settings and those that work in the community. I have worked in both settings. In my experience the staff working in both areas want to help people, they have good intentions and they want to provide safe and competent care. However, there seems to be some misunderstanding about the service that is provided, the limitations, the expectations, the goals. There also seems to be some miscommunication (or even lack of communication at all) with the staff. It happens both ways.

Care providers on both sides may have distorted views of the amount of good their service providing. And, how are we quantifying good? Is it based on my personal sense of accomplishment at the end of the day? Is it based on how satisfied I am with my job? Or how much I enjoyed the events of the day? Or is it based on something else, something more tangible that is meaningful to the person being cared for and the quality of their life? I am understanding more and more that the rightness or wrongness of care providers beliefs seems inconsequential in terms of the effectiveness of the service provided, in terms of meaningful outcomes measures that demonstrate the benefits of the service. And, I think we are even less inclined to explore the potential harms of a service. It is not all good, even if we think that it is.

Peace,

Michelle D.