A A Payson | PubMed Health

PubMed1998

Health teaching needs of clients with serious and persistent mental illness: client and provider perspectives.

1. Clients are interested in health education regardless of age, sex, or primary Axis I diagnosis. 2. Contrasts between staff and client ratings suggest that results support the practice of assessing clients' own perceptions of their needs in treatment planning and developing educational programs. 3. Items ranked as having most interest to clients included: psychiatric medication and side effects; getting what you need from the mental health system; and ways to solve problems.

Adult↗

PubMed1987

Determining true nursing costs improves financial planning.

The traditional method of apportioning nursing care costs ona per diem basis does not consider nursing intensity or patients' special needs and often includes nonnursing duties. Many hospitals now favor a fee-for-service concept and are determining direct patient care costs to identify the true nursing cost. A patient classification system correlated with the diagnosis-related group (DRG) classification improves nursing cost analyses. For each patient, nurse managers need systems to determine quantified nursing tasks and patient acuity levels for each day. This information can be used to adjust staffing and to establish variable billing procedures. Then they can institute variable billing methods that are based on direct care costs as well as indirect costs of administration, education, and supplies. Variable billing identifies revenue cost centers, allows systematic monitoring of nursing services, and improves budget planning. The entire nursing staff must become involved in the financial system so the hospital can obtain an accurate data base for rate setting and third-party reimbursement.

Accounting↗