Blog 3

6/7/2016  

What a great first day!  The Cherokee Indian Hospital is a beautiful facility that is structured and filled with artifacts that represents the Native American culture.  The staff was amazing in providing us with information on the hospital and how they provide care to the members of the community. The healthcare system in this community is ran by the Native American tribe.  The tribe members sets the rules for who receives care and how the healthcare should be incorporated to their culture. I learned from one of the staff members that if a person fills that they have been treated poorly they can file a complaint to the Cherokee Agency for a review.

The members of the healthcare team consisted of the physician, physician assistant, RN case manager, LPN, CNA (case manager assistant), dietitian, behavioral health therapist, pharmacist, and nurse educator.  I was able to observe how all the members interacted with one another on the patient’s plan of care.  One example as the PA was writing orders for one of the patient she was able to communicate with the pharmacist on the medication to prescribe for the patient.

When the patients comes into the hospital for care they’re seen for their admitting problem and also the staff is able to pull up an alarm screen.  The alarm display allows the healthcare providers to see if the patients are due for mammograms, immunizations, or other things due.  The patient who’s able to be treated at the facility are only Native Americans.  The services that’s available to the patients are all free including medications.  The team is great with making sure that the patient are coming to their follow up all appointments.  I was able to see how the case manager would call other facilities to see if a patient came in for offsite referrals.

The similarities that I observed with the organization was teamwork, education, and effective patient centered care.  The healthcare team members worked great together by getting the patient information and collaborating with other team members. One of the patient who came in for their visited was given a number of things to do.  The patient was asked to stop taking specific medications, start new perceptions and follow up appoints.  After speaking with the patient on the changes the PA asked the patient to repeat back what she needed to do.  Some differences I saw time management, arranging referrals, and payments for services.  I witness how the PA was very eager in making sure that the patient received everything she needed before leaving the hospital.  I was amazed at how she spent the time outside of the patient room making calls and referrals.

The complementary and alternative therapies used by the facility is yoga, acupuncture, and massage.  The nurse case manager also mention that the facility would soon have chiropractic treatments.  I asked about what alternative medications or other alternative therapies are used by the community and was told that the patient aren’t willing to share if they are using other treatments.  The Native American uses yellow roots for sore throats (Village presentation).