Expert Solution Preview

Introduction:

The case study given to the medical college students involves preparing a memorandum for staff arrangements to meet the needs of out of the facility appointments, in-house appointments, reducing the number of out of the facility appointments, and an organizational plan to accommodate scheduled appointments, emergency appointments, and preventive appointments.

Answer:

1. What staff arrangements are available to meet the needs of out of the facility appointments?

To meet the needs of out of the facility appointments, the staff arrangements available are home care providers, visiting nurses, and telemedicine services. These options would allow patients to receive medical care in their homes, reducing the need to travel to the facility. Telemedicine services provide remote consultation, diagnosis, and treatment through video calls, telephone calls, or messaging, which can be accessed by patients with internet access. These staff arrangements would provide patients with the necessary care while reducing the burden on the facility resources.

2. What staff arrangements are needed to:

a) Accommodate the out of the facility appointments (show the calculations);

To accommodate out of facility appointments, the staff arrangement required would be dependent on the number of patients referred out for medical care. Assuming a patient sees a specialist twice a year and the facility has a patient population of 10,000, with 25% of patients referred out for specialist care (2500), there would be a need for staff arrangement for 5000 appointments per year. This requires at least ten primary care providers and supporting staff to cater to the needs of the referred patients.

b) Meet the needs of in-house appointments (show the calculations);

To meet the needs of in-house medical appointments, the staff required would be dependent on the medical conditions of the patients, time required for procedures, and the number of patients. Assuming 75% of patients require in-house medical appointments and the facility sees an average of 50 patients a day, ten primary care providers, three specialist consultants and additional support staff would be required.

c) Reduce the number of out of the facility appointments (justify);

To reduce the number of out of the facility appointments, the facility could provide additional resources such as specialist consultants, in-house diagnostic testing, and telemedicine consultations. This would provide the patients with access to medical care without the need to travel to other facilities, reducing the need for external referrals. The facility could also hire additional primary care providers to accommodate patients who would otherwise require external referrals.

3. Organizational plan to accommodate scheduled appointments, emergency appointments, and preventive appointments.

The organizational plan to accommodate scheduled appointments, emergency appointments, and preventive appointments involves the development of a central scheduling system to manage appointments, with the ability to manage follow-up appointments. In the event of emergencies, the facility should have a triage system to ensure that patients are attended to based on medical need. The facility should also develop preventive care programs in partnership with the primary care providers to ensure continuity of care and reduce the demand for emergency and specialist care.