Category: Self-Care

My initial thoughts about the use of electronic health records in nursing were that it is used to document vitals, assessment findings, and medical history. I was pretty blind to the fact they can be used for so much more than just nurses and providers. With the presentation from last Wednesday, I was able to see that there are so many more people involved in the process of documenting in electronic health records and without all those various aspects involved that would not allow all the types of healthcare providers to provide the most holistic care possible. To me modern medicine seems more holistic and in my opinion, this is just another step in that direction. 

I will apply what I learned about electronic health records to enhance the care that I provide in two ways. One I will take a deeper dive into the charts of the patients that I am working with to see if there is information in there that would be beneficial for me to know in hopes to provide quality holistic care. Two I will take my documentation process more seriously knowing that this can be used to help other healthcare providers down the line, not only will this help healthcare providers but in turn make the patients care and experience better. I always knew that accurate timely documentation is important but not to the level that I do after the presentation from HIN. 

Trauma exposure impacts the whole person, as healthcare providers we are not only treating the patient as well as the family. The patient might have obvious physical issues, but they need to be looked at wholistically because in my opinion the psychological and spiritual welling being is almost more important. There can be long term physical ailments but if we ignore the mind and only treat the physical, we are only looking at half of the person. I will apply the trauma informed care principles in all my patient interactions. I think it is important to treat everyone the same and treat them like family. Part of this is addressing their past whether it’s good or bad. I will go into it always assuming that the patient has some form of trauma, personally I believe that everyone has some form whether small or big it doesn’t matter to that person it is a “traumatic” experience and we need to support them in a way that speaks to them the loudest. Long-term impacts of adverse childhood experiences can range from physical to emotional/mental and beyond. A few that come to mind right away are PTSD, anxiety, depression, cardiac issues, diabetes (from unhealthy eating and physical activity habits), as well as skeletal abnormalities. I think as healthcare providers this is one of the most important aspects of our care because it helps us develop trust and rapport with our patients, without trust and rapport there is a significant lack in the healing relationship. 

There are many factors that influence the health of the vulnerable and marginalized populations. So many that I cannot possibly name all of them in this post. The ones that come to the front of my mind are the elderly, children who are in the “system”, and access to health insurance. People who cannot find jobs that provide them with the opportunity to have access to health insurance or the elderly/early elderly people who are on the cusp of Medicare and Medicaid. There are many factors that go into this but just in the way that we are all raised and brought up in this world sets you up for the person you will become and the opportunities you have. I feel that it also has to do a lot with your personality, there are people who are born into very privileged homes and come into adulthood with inadequate drive and skills to be a successful adult and then there are those who are thought to have no chance at surviving this world and have the most beautiful success stories. Because of this wide range I feel that it is hard to pinpoint very specific ideas as there are so many. Job opportunities, money, support systems, and upbringing are the ones that come to my mind first. 

I do not feel that we will ever be able to solve healthcare disparities as this is what makes the world go around. However, I do think that there are always ways to improve. It can be as simple as recruiting and helping people find jobs that provide health insurance. Education is huge and starts young, creating a health conscience vision that our younger population will understand and buy into will make a huge difference. Also providing support groups and systems, the first one that comes to my mind is for new first-time parents, both for moms and dads, it is a team sport. There are also ways that as healthcare providers we can help connect with our patients more by meeting them at their level and learning about where they come from and why they made the decisions they made to put them in the predicament that they are in today. There are so many ways to improve, and it is a revolving door but starting small and working our way up is the only way we can start. We can sit here and think about it and keep coming up with ideas but until people take initiative nothing will change. By taking initiative I don’t just mean the healthcare system workforce, I mean as a country as a whole, everyone needs to do their part in order to live a healthier lifestyle not just those who are providing the care.