HCA 205 Discussion A Day in the Life
HCA 205 Discussion A Day in the Life
HCA 205 Discussion A Day in the Life
Dental Hygienists.
Dental hygienists are licensed medical practitioners who work closely with dentists and dental assistants in a dentists’ office (Chapter 4, N.d.). Primarily, hygienists work to examine patients for the presence of oral diseases. This situation enables them to provide ailing patients with preventive care to allow them to exude optimum oral health (Chapter 4, N.d.). Also, they educate their patients about the methods that they can use to maintain or improve their oral health (Chapter 4, N.d.).
Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW).
These individuals are licensed clinical social workers are who work in diverse setups including hospitals, mental health clinics, private practice, schools, and social service (Chapter 4, N.d.). Primarily, they provide a wide array of health services to people experiencing trauma and life challenges such as child adoption or terminal illness at every stage of their ordeal (Chapter 4, N.d.). Also, they work to support vulnerable societal groups including children, geriatrics, disabled persons, and the homeless by ensuring they have access to critical necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, and security (Chapter 4, N.d.).
Dental hygienists often begin a typical day by examining their scheduled patient charts to ascertain the necessary preventive treatment for different patients. After that, they proceed to meet with the rest of the staff to brief them on the help that they might need to ensure the day runs well and that patients receive a high quality of care. Afterward, they then set up their treatment rooms to ensure that they have all the resources they need for the adequate treatment of their patients. In running their day, critical issues may arise when dental hygienists confront a patient who refuses to take an x-ray for fear of the potential harm the radiation poses to their health. Also, they may encounter a crisis when their patients in exercising their autonomy choose a treatment option that threatens to impede their long-term wellness.
Click here to ORDER an A++ paper from our Verified MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS HCA 205 Discussion A Day in the Life:
In regards to LCSW, they often begin their day with a staff meeting to get insight on their roles for the day. After that, they proceed to meet with their patients in their diverse settings to offer continual help in dealing with their social problems. Moreover, they may also provide diagnosis and treatment services to patients who exude severe emotional or mental issues to help them cope with their predicaments. In running their day, the primary critical issue that LCSW may face includes a lack of ready access to assist in dealing with strife especially amongst patients in rural areas. Also, they may encounter problems in maintaining patient confidentiality in situations where the problem under treatment is out of their scope. This situation may impede their efforts to form trusting relations with their patients.
Chapter 4. (N.d.). Healthcare Personnel.
I think the job of a Dental Hygienists is very interesting and very similar to that of a Dentist. The only thing different is that the Dental Hygienist does not extract teeth. The Dental Hygienist is the eyes of the Dentist. They are the ones that take the X-rays, cleans the patient’s teeth, and while they are cleaning the patient’s teeth, they are also looking for things such as brittle teeth, a potential for overbites, or underbites, and they can also tell when a child’s teeth are not going to be able to fit into their mouth properly by looking at the X-ray. You mentioned that sometimes patients may not want to take an X-ray due to the fear of being exposed to radiation. The Dental Hygienist can simply explain that the X-ray is a critical part of getting their teeth cleaned. It will help the dentist see if there are any underlying issues that the patient may not notice at the moment and will save them pain and time just by getting the X-ray. Also, there are ways to protect the patient from being exposed to the radiation. Just like when a pregnant woman has to get an X-ray, there is an apron that is placed across the pregnant woman’s stomach, that fits like an apron. The patient can wear that during the X-ray. A Dental Hygienist’s day can be very busy and fulfilling, especially when cleaning children’s teeth. At the end of the visit, they usually let the child choose a sticker, and give them a brand new toothbrush with some dental floss. That sticker brightens up that child’s entire visit. I am sure that is the highlight of the Dental Hygienists day.
I believe you are correct. I think that a hygienist probably does come up against this issue more than most of us would think. When encountering a patient who is afraid of radiation exposure and refuses x-rays a hygienist must rely on her people skills. It would take some persuasion of some sort to get the patient to take the x-rays. At this point the hygienist would have to find out what works. The patient might need to hear the benefits of the information from the x-ray versus what could happen if she doesn’t take the x-ray. Or the patient might need to know how little radiation he would actually get with the x-ray. The hygienist would need to talk with the patient and find out a way to persuade him to get the -rays. If not, the patient may need to be rescheduled at a different facility.
I could only imagine what an LCSW may encounter in a day. Ready access could definitely be a problem if the LCSW needs to send the patient to more care or a treatment facility. However if the LCSW is active in his area and has other relationships with providers it may be easier to get access to different treatment. When getting the treatment HIPPA is definitely something to consider. Even though this Act has made the laws more stringent, a provider has the authority to release information to other providers for the health and welfare of the patient.
I chose podiatrists and Surgical Technologists.
Podiatrists are medical doctors that provide medical and surgical care of the foot, ankle, and lower leg problems. Most podiatrists work in offices of podiatry or on their own business/practice or with other podiatrists. Some work in group practices with other physicians or specialists and others work in private and public hospitals and family practices.
In general, the workday for a podiatrist job may vary, but the average day is just like any other physician or medical specialist. podiatrists usually start working at 08:00 am in the morning and they use patients’ medical histories, x-rays and laboratory test results to diagnose diseases and malformations of the foot. They also prescribe medications, surgery, assisting and correcting devices to patients. One more thing they do is to help boost patients moral by comforting and educating those that are experiencing chronic pains or any other difficult situations. Two critical issues that a podiatrist faces on his job are; the surgical reconstruction of the extremity and the second is the treatment of conditions such as cysts, tumors, and ingrown nails.
Surgical Technologists are members of the operating room teams and are also known as operating room technicians. Surgical technicians work under the supervision of the surgeon and most of them work in hospitals or outpatient surgery centers.
The work routine of a surgical technician consists of preparing operating rooms, getting the equipment ready procedures and helping surgeons during procedures by passing instruments. The surgical technician also makes sure that the operating room remains sterility so that patients do not get any infections. A surgical technician job required technicians to stand on their feet for a long period of time (More than 8 hours) and may also need them to lift heavy trays of medical supplies. The first critical issue that surgical technicians face on the job is infection control; they have to maintain a sterile operating environment all the time before, during and after surgery. the second issue is the misplace surgical tools. Nearly eight hundred surgical tools have been left in patients in the U.S. since 2005 ( Jaslow, Rayan). So surgical technicians must pay very close attention to make sure this type of incident does not happen.
References:
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/podiatrists.htm (Links to an external site.)
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/surgical-technologists.htm#tab-3 (Links to an external site.)
http://www.owlguru.com/career/podiatrists/job-description/ (Links to an external site.)
https://www.truity.com/career-profile/podiatrist (Links to an external site.)http://www.ach.edu/2013/05/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-surgical-technologist/ (Links to an external site.)
The two professions in the medical field that I choose were EMT’S and Social Workers.
The role of an EMT is to respond to emergency calls and provide treatment and transportation to individuals who are suffering from medical emergencies. EMTs provide transportation to hospitals if necessary. They arrive and standby on scenes during dangerous such as shootings, fires, terrorist attacks, and other catastrophic situations. The severity of the situations that EMTs respond to varies from day to day. Two critical issues that these individuals face daily is responding to emergencies that puts their lives at in danger and the on the job stress. EMTs can become stressed form working long shifts, the pressure of helping to save someones life, and the overall danger they could be placed in when arriving on scenes within dangerous neighborhoods or during dangerous emergency calls.
Social workers within the medical field are responsible for assisting patients with access to care, counseling to patient and patient families, and providing overall support to patients and staff members. They work in conjunction with the provider to ensure the patient gets the resources he/ she needs and that their visit was successful. A social workers job can be very stressful and it ha been known that they often can become burnt out because of this. Two crucial issues that they face daily is addressing a patient or patients family who just receive devastating news about their health or when a loved one has passed and also patient retention. Patient retention can be very hard to get a handle on with patients who do not follow up on their health concerns and diagnosis.
Resources:
I’m glad to read someone posting about EMTs. I believe they are overshadowed often in the healthcare field. I believe they are a huge piece to the backbone of many emergency, and possible emergency situations. I enjoyed how you pin pointed that they are under stress from the situations they may arrive at, and experience on the job. They are often ones who are the first step to saving someone’s life while in transport to the hospital. I have often seen though, that due to the dangers and stress they face, many EMTs struggle with managing those factors,and sometimes, lead themselves down dangerous roads of coping mechanisms.
I see every day the impact Social Workers have, especially in a permanant care facility. They often too much address things with patients such as weights, and diet options. They are constantly working with patients to find a viable solution to better the long term health of a patient, and continuous open communication with family members.
A Health Care Office Manager is similar to the type of career related to why I am here at Ashford. After I earn my degree as a Health Care Administrator, I will be taking on many of these roles. These types of tasks take leadership qualities and a constant growth mindset. An office manager has to be organized. There has to be a lot of planning and developing a system in order for the office to be run effectively, and efficiently. Once a system has been developed, an office manager is better equipped to maintain day to day activities as an office manager such as selecting, training, and maintaining employees. Makes sure everyone in the office works together as a team, by showing leadership qualities. The team has to see confidence, loyalty, and dependability in their leader. Other tasks are making sure payroll is complete, preparing reports, and staying up-to-date on any educational training.
Thank you for choosing these two professions. A lot of times it seems these get looked over because they do not have a lot of patient face-to-face time. I have been employed in both positions. The critical issues you listed are true issues speaking from my experience. Coding can be difficult when you come across something new. However, coders are trained to look up procedures and diagnosis in certain ways. Falling back on the training will help the coder with this issue. There are also coding programs that can be bought to help a coder with an encounter and make the procedure faster so he can meet the billing quantity standards.
As an Office Manager a person can have quite a bit of responsibility for how the office runs. HIPPA is definitely critical to comply with for all concerned. But, just like other professions it can become second nature. So creating in-service trainings or sending out reminders are some ways that the Office Manager can overcome the HIPPA hurdle. Setting internal safeguards with checks and balances is usually a good idea. This can be time consuming but it is so worth the extra work. Using those safeguards will too become second nature and will benefit the business and the patients. I have not heard a company with safeguards say they wish they did not have them. But I have heard a company with out safeguards say they wish they would have had them in place.
Medical Biller
After reading about the day in the life of a medical biller I would have to say I couldn’t do it! I would have to say that time management is critical for this job position. To maintain their time and to get things done accurately and in a timely manner would be the hardest job. The proper codes would have to be put in the system to ensure that they accurately billing the insurance company or patient.
Health Medical Office Manager
I went to school for a medical assistant (Front and back) medical office procedures. This job comes with a lot of responsibility. HIPPA is a very important part of the medical field, it protects patient privacy. Having distance between patients and the service window are a great benefit, never use patients’ names. Even in assisted living facilities its very important not to share patient information. Unless you have the proper documentation.
I chose a Dental hygienist because before I decided to switch to a social worker, I wanted to be a dental hygienist. Hygienist work with the dentist closely and clean the patient’s teeth before the dentist comes in double checks for cavities. The dental hygienist also cleans the plaque off the teeth and looks for oral diseases that could be present. They also work closely with the dentist in filling cavities or teeth surgeries performed. A critical problem a hygienist could face would be having a small child in their chair not wanting to cooperate. This is where the dental hygienist has to become creative on thinking how to make the dentist visit fun for the kids. Another critical issue a hygienist would face is someone having an oral disease form and they have to then be a teacher and help give suggestions and strategies to help make it better or use preventative methods to help all around.
The second profession I chose to write about is a Social Worker. Social workers do not have a day with the same exact routine as the day before. Social Workers assist people and families with dealing with daily struggles and helping find strategies to overcome life obstacles. A social worker can work in an agency, hospitals, schools, and mental clinics, among other places. Clinical social workers provide many of the services social workers do, but also diagnose and treat mental disorders. Treating or dealing with mental disorders itself can be a critical situation to deal with on the daily especially if it is with someone who is off their meds or refuses to take them. A social workers safety is a major concern each day on the job as well.
Batnitzky, A., Hayes, D., & Vinall, P.E. (2018). The U.S. healthcare system: An introduction [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/