The healthcare system is a large, ever-changing system accompanied by highs and lows throughout many decades. The healthcare field includes a wide range of professions, all of whom are important. Some of these careers include nursing, patient care nursing aides, case managers, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, physicians, and many others. With all these professions, they encounter challenges, both negative and positive, related to the changes implemented in the system. As we go through, we will talk about specific challenges that affect the delivery of nursing care, such as shortage of health care professionals, delivery changes, and patient and workplace safety, as well as dive deeper into the role of case management, and look at …show more content…
“Case managers work to meet patients' needs through assessment, coordination, and planning, and by evaluating the available options and services (Armold, 2019).” Case managers can be a nurse, social worker, or other professional. The involvement of a case manager ensures patients are advocated for, even after their discharge from the hospital. There are many different models of case management, including traditional, full immersion, and nurse navigator role. In a traditional model, the focus is on discharge planning and determining if the care planned throughout the patient's stay is necessary and appropriate so insurers will pay for the services. This type is on a different end of the spectrum for case management models, compared to the nurse navigator role. With a nurse navigator role, the goal is to reduce barriers to care for vulnerable patients that may experience delays in access, diagnosis, treatment, and fragmented, uncoordinated care. This role has been used in the past for expediting diagnosis and treatment of abnormal breast screenings, as well as assisting patients with cancer or other serious chronic disease receive screening, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care (Zerwekh & Garneau, 2018, pg 329). Lastly, the full immersion model allows for deeper involvement of cases. With the full immersion model, the case managers have decreased caseloads in order to expand their role function, which allow for daily chart reviews, documentation, and further communication with other members of the interdisciplinary team (Thomas,