Clinical Significance
In nursing practice, clinical significance may be defined as the importance attached to individual treatment. The effects of such an intervention must be genuine and be noticed to have brought a positive change in a patient’s life. Clinical significance refers to minute changes in the outcome of a patient that would be considered worthwhile by a medical practitioner. Any change that occurs in patient’s outcome would be termed as clinically relevant only when there is little or no harm. This is the basic statistical analysis that can be run to determine statistical relevance. Statistical significance responds to questions of probability, using science. In this case, statisticians have the responsibility of validating or rejecting a given hypothesis (Allen, 2016).
The evidence-based practice involves incorporating a patient’s values, experience and evidence from research while making decisions for the patient (Stevens, 2013). Important to note is the fact that not all research conducted in the medical field results in the best outcomes for a patient. Some patients respond well to a given procedure, while other patient’s results may be worse simply by using the same approach. The Transitional Care Model (TCM) is a perfect choice especially for older patients with a chronic illness. Using this model benefits all patients who are 55 years and above from developing complications after discharge. However, there is need to manipulate the TCM since patients spend their lives both in and out of their homes due to incidences of acute illnesses. While at the hospitals, it would not be possible to fully utilize the transition care model.
Unlike other handover communication techniques (such as SBAR or IPASS), the model provides patients with a comprehensive discharge plan in addition to being provided with a nurse who conducts home visits. In a period of 30 days, the nurse can make weekly visits until when the patient is stable. During the visits, the nurse can detect any deviations that may have occurred in the patient’s health status, makes adjustments to the management and must accompany them whenever instances of readmissions occur (Naylor, Bowles, McCauley, Maccoy, Maislin, Pauly & Krakauer, 2013). Though costly, the model has proven to save lives of numerous geriatric patients.
References
Allen, J. G. (2016). A STEP in the Right Direction: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Transitional Care.
Naylor, M. D., Bowles, K. H., McCauley, K. M., Maccoy, M. C., Maislin, G., Pauly, M. V., & Krakauer, R. (2013). High‐value transitional care: translation of research into practice. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 19(5), 727-733.
Stevens, K. (2013). The impact of evidence-based practice in nursing and the next big ideas. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(2).
