This article is based on all about patient care meaning and types, Patient care jobs and salaries, Careers in nursing, and Patient Care Technician Degrees & certifications. We have come up with the information about patient care in brief and hope it will help you!
What is Patient Care?
Speaking in general and technical terms, patient care quite literally refers to the service rendered by the health and medical staff for the benefit of a patient.
Patient care ranges from various factors such as the prevention, management of illness, and treatment of the illness. Thus conserving the physical and mental health of the patient falls under patient care, the health professionals taking care of all these accounts to proper patient care.
Patients are subject to basic human rights, which give them the proper opportunity as a person in need of care and treatment on fairgrounds. The health care professionals are required to follow the terms of – right to informed consent, right to refuse medical treatment, right to confidentiality right, to refuse medical treatment and privacy of the patient. Thus, patient care is an important vein of the field of medicine and also a promising career option for aspiring students.
Types of Patient Care
There are classifications of patient care depending upon the condition and the circumstances of the patient in most cases. The different types of patient care are as follows:
- Primary care
- Specialty care
- Emergency care
- Urgent care
- Long term care
- Hospice care
- Mental health care
1. Primary care:
Primary health care is the basic day-to-day care given by a health worker to a patient. Primary care providers are generally the first person who comes in contact with the patient and the help provided to the patient ranges from normal to specialized care.
Patients may avail of primary care in a doctor’s chamber or any local community health center. The patient’s general health is taken care of at this stage, tests are run and they are diagnosed and treated accordingly. Primary care can be given by doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. Widely speaking, primary care is the most important phase as primary care is responsible for proper coordination, among specialists and the next levels of care.
2. Specialty care:
When primary care is no longer able to withhold the condition of the patient, and they need more specific and specialized care, the phase is known as Specialty care. It is for patients who have advanced health problems and require medical attention that is beyond any primary care.
The patients are therefore sent to specialized doctors, who have knowledge and skill in the area or field in which the patient needs attention. For example, a patient with a serious heart condition will be sent to a cardiologist
3. Emergency care:
As the name suggests, Emergency care revolves around that stage of patient care wherein the patient might be diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and needs immediate attention. These are taken, as life-saving measures during drastic situations of health deterioration of the patient.
Examples of emergency health care can be the immediate availability of an ambulance during a road accident and the health officials coming to the rescue with it.
4. Urgent Care:
Clinics of Urgent care are set up for providing medical support to those who require immediate treatment. For example, a finger cut shouldn’t keep for the next day. As described in the California Contract, it is not life-threatening but still requires immediate attention as the pain inflicted by the aforementioned causes, can be put the patient through much agony.
5. Long-term care:
Some patients lose their ability to do the bare necessities of day-to-day life; Long-term care is meant for them. It is thus the assistance needed by a patient who is no longer capable of doing their daily activity and take care of themselves.
These actions may include, brushing, moving around the wheelchair, eating food, and taking medicine. This type of care is for people who take chronic illness or disability and are therefore provided with a nurse at home or a health caregiver to meet their day-to-day needs.
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6. Hospice care:
Hospice care is “palliative care”, given to patients, who are in the last stages of their life and have little or no time left. Hospice care is to provide physical, mental, and emotional support to these patients so that they have a somewhat smoother sailing through the acute pains.
It also involves spiritual or social care to both the patient and their family. This type of care can be given in either home of the patient or a hospice care center.
7. Mental Healthcare:
As the name suggests, Mental Healthcare involves caregiving to the patient suffering from mental illness or emotional disadvantage. This healthcare may involve mental reassurance through psychotherapy that is given through psychologists, counselors, etc.
Duties of Patient Care Technician
People might think what does a patient care technician do? The job of a patient care technician is not limited as it may range from the admission of the patient to the diagnosis and further assistance during the treatment. The question that comes in is what exactly does a patient care technician do? The duties of a patient-caregiver are as follows:
- Checking the blood pressure, heart rate of the patient on a regular basis, and keeping the doctor updated.
- Monitoring the food and water intake of the patient.
- Leading the patients for tests, X-rays, and other necessary imaging processes.
- Updating the patient care team with the condition of the patient regularly.
- Providing emotional and mental support to the patients.
- Keeping the room of the patient clean and hygienic.
- Collecting samples and specimens of the patient for the tests.
- Providing informational assistance to the patient’s family.
Salary for Patient Care Technician (Patient Care Coordinator Salaries)
Patient care technician salary: The average certified patient care technician salary is $90,110 as of August 27, 2021, but the range can fall between $80,200 and $99,220. The salary could also differ based on different factors, like educational background, years spent on training, certificates, and additional training.
Besides this, there is also the patient care coordinator, whose salary ranges from an average of $34,199 as of August 27, 2021. The same dependent factors of education, certifications, and additional certifications span the salary dependence.
Source: healthgrad.com | Patient care coordinator salary
Patient Care Technician Degree & Programmes
1) Patient Care Technician Program, Bridgeport, CT
Job opportunities for Patient Care Technicians (PCT) are higher in number according to the current stats. The number of qualified PCTs has increased in demand in recent years and it, therefore, is a very prospective field to be chosen as a career option. According to the United States Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics, the current rate of employment of nursing assistants and technicians has grown 8%, which is way faster than any other occupation.
Since Patient care is a very important part of the health care sector; therefore taking proper training and education for the same is expected to give better results both for the job pursuers and the future patient in need. Thus, at Bridgeport, you can avail these training and education opportunities as they have promising results and thorough training procedures, which will swiftly land you on a job.
What do you learn here:
- Nurse Aide Training
- Phlebotomy Training
- EKG Training
Duration: 10 months (can vary according to the program and course selected and further studies)
2) Health Informatics for better and safer healthcare, Israel X
The field of medical studies and healthcare is very much in demand in recent years and, therefore knowing more about the field can be fruitful in a thousand ways. Healthcare providers across the globe are seen to rely more on health information technologies for their daily tasks.
This course brings about the retractions, closing the gaps between health informatics education and major aspects of this field to beginners and advanced technical audiences. Manual working is hectic and may sometimes be wrong. Just depending on informatics and electronic ways is much more reliable these days.
What do you learn here:
- Careers in health care informatics
- Core disciplines of healthcare information technology
- What is clinical decision support work?
- What is an electronic health record, what it is made of, and how it works?
- What do we need health terminology for?
- What are text and data mining?
Duration: Online course, varies depending on the learner
3) Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us, University of Pennsylvania
One of the most sought-after and fundamental courses for a healthcare professional is; the reading of vital signs- body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, pain, and metabolic rate. Communicative information on physiological conditions of the body is very crucial and therefore systematic understanding of the same is very much required. This is a very in-demand course.
The course is more general and people with or without any former knowledge in healthcare can apply for it. If you want a career in healthcare but do not want to delve too much deeper and keep to the basics and earn a job, this is the right course for you.
What do you learn here:
- Dolar assessment
- Metabolic pathways
- Vital signs
- Pain management
Duration: Approximately 14 hours to complete
Patient care technician classes
Taking up patient care classes can prove to be successful if one wants to have a career in the same. Patient health care is in demand in these and reputable jobs too, thus availing one of these courses may land you in a smooth job. The medical field is vast and promising and, above all is for helping the unfortunate, securing a job there might affect your life positively. Thus, the classes and courses arranged and provided are beneficial in learning every type of patient care even without prior knowledge.
Article by
Soubhik Nath
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