Leadership in health care services for people with complex chronic conditions
Section: Opinion
How to quote
Morales Asencio JM. El liderazgo de la atención a personas con enfermedades crónicas complejas. RIdEC 2010; 3(2):33-41.
Authors
José Miguel Morales Asencio
Position
Profesor del Departamento de Enfermería de la Facultad de Enfermería, Fisioterapia, Podología y Terapia Ocupacional, Universidad
Contact address
Facultad de Enfermería, Fisioterapia, Podología y Terapia Ocupacional. Universidad de Málaga. Paseo de Martiricos, s/n. 29009 Málaga
Contact email: jmmasen@uma.es
Abstract
Chronic diseases are the responsible of 60% of the global mortality, with a heavy morbidity burden and loss of quality of life in millions of people around the world, but it still is not a priority concern for many Health Care Services. Conversely, many of them are designed from an acute-care perspective; so when the acute diseases get chronic and multiple, health care become fragmentary, discontinuous and variable.
Different alternatives have been explored to organize health care in order to cope with this problem, with special emphasis in those with a comprehensive orientation, as the Chronic Care Model, among others. The features of these models place the nurses in a strategic position for leading this care, owing to their holistic view and their orientation towards self-care promotion through education and empowering the person’s capabilities. Nurses are key agents in the continuity of care processes, home care follow-up and health promotion, more than ever when advanced roles are developed into their practice, with high effectiveness and improvement in resolution among the rest of the health care team.
The key is that Health Care Services must integrate many of the actions and resources that already have, with an adequate coordination and reorientation from a comprehensive model that make sense and serves as a guidance for citizens, providers and policy makers.
Different alternatives have been explored to organize health care in order to cope with this problem, with special emphasis in those with a comprehensive orientation, as the Chronic Care Model, among others. The features of these models place the nurses in a strategic position for leading this care, owing to their holistic view and their orientation towards self-care promotion through education and empowering the person’s capabilities. Nurses are key agents in the continuity of care processes, home care follow-up and health promotion, more than ever when advanced roles are developed into their practice, with high effectiveness and improvement in resolution among the rest of the health care team.
The key is that Health Care Services must integrate many of the actions and resources that already have, with an adequate coordination and reorientation from a comprehensive model that make sense and serves as a guidance for citizens, providers and policy makers.
Keywords:
advanced practice nursing; Case Management; chronic care; complex chronic disease; pluripathology; self-care
Versión en Español
Título:
El liderazgo de la atención a personas con enfermedades crónicas complejas
