The Nature of Acute Care and the Challenges it Presents in the Profession

Acute care typically takes place when at the onset of a significant but sudden medical problem. For example, let’s say that your sixty-five-year-old father begins to experience chest pains. You rush him to the emergency room where he is quickly identified as a high-risk patient at triage.

Upon arrival, he is hooked up to a heart monitor. The medical team performs an EKG and uses all of the diagnostic tools at their disposal to rule out a heart attack. Good news for Dad, he was just having an anxiety attack.

But the type of care that saw him through his episode is considered acute. The symptoms were significant and abrupt. The response was prompt, thorough, and effective.

Acute care is typically categorized by fast thinking and rapid interventions. It’s life-saving healthcare that can only be administered by highly trained healthcare workers.

Naturally, it’s difficult. In this article, we take a look at what goes into acute care and what type of challenges it poses for the healthcare community.

Acute Healthcare Today

In the introduction, we posed a scenario in which you, the reader, are forced to bring your father into the ER to receive acute care.

In our little story, care is administered quickly and your dad is able to get back to the ballgame that very afternoon.

But what happens when hospitals aren’t staffed as effectively as the one described in our hypothetical scenario?

The same circumstances can have a much different ending. If a patient requiring emergency care services is taken into an underperforming ER, they may not receive a positive outcome.

Keep in mind that we are talking about some of the most sensitive healthcare conditions. People who need acute care require it immediately, if not sooner.

Even the briefest delays can result in someone not making it back home. As the healthcare industry deals with staffing issues almost nationwide, many hospitals struggle to deliver their requisite level of care.

Family NP VS. Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP - What’s the Difference?

If you have an elderly family member you might be very aware of the realities of acute care. While anyone can require urgent medical attention, it is a regrettably common fact of life for older citizens. As you select a healthcare professional for your aged family member you may come into contact with many options. Here’s a common question:

What’s the difference between a Family NP and an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP?

Admittedly, it’s not the sort of common question people feel inclined to ask three times fast.

Family NPS (nurse practitioners) work in basically the same way as a general practitioner. They can provide basic examinations. Make diagnoses and prescribe medicine. Those last two points actually depend on where you live, but the general essence of the job remains the same.

They specialize in preventative care. They might provide you with recommendations that can help avoid acute care scenarios. However, once a patient’s health status progresses into a higher risk category, they will need to plan appropriately.

That’s where Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NPs come into play. They work directly with older patients to administer day-to-day care as well as perform life-saving interventions whenever necessary.

How this care is administered will ultimately depend on a range of factors— not the least of which is what your insurance coverage will pay for. Some people benefit from the full-time services of an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP while others access them in a much more limited capacity.

Elderly patients may also see Family NPs for routine care, though that will ultimately depend on their general healthcare strategy.

Emotional and Psychological Aspects of Acute Care

Healthcare work takes a special type of person. That’s never truer than when it comes to acute care professionals. They deal with the same stresses as their colleagues but with the added challenges of constant high-pressure scenarios.

They know that their choices mean the difference between life and death. They often return home to their families heavy with the burden of people not saved.

That can take a serious toll on their mental and emotional health. Acute care professionals are just one of many different categories of healthcare workers who find themselves struggling with the weight of the job.

That struggle is much of the reason our healthcare system is so understaffed in the first place.

Things are improving, slowly but surely. Many hospitals all over the country are now making efforts to help their staff cope with job-related stress. These strategies have included everything from mentorship programs that connect new employees with experienced veterans, to more tangible therapeutic resources. Mindfulness classes. Therapy sessions. Community discussion groups. Many hospitals are also tackling work-related stress by revising their scheduling policies.

The modern healthcare worker schedule forces people to work in conditions that are not conducive to high-quality results.

Studies show that the average person only has about four good hours of work in them each day. That’s the maximum amount of time the average human brain is able to produce top-level sustained effort.

Obviously, people can still get things done during the other 20 hours of their day but not at their highest potential.

If your job involves writing reports, making proposals, etc. your sub-optimal work sessions might drag on a bit but the actual risk involved is minimal.

For acute care specialists, that’s not the case. When the quality of their work lapses people can die. Hospital policy that recognizes and responds to that reality is a strong step in the right direction.

Conclusion

Acute care certainly is not for the faint of heart. However, if you want to work in the world of healthcare in a meaningful way, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better career. Acute care professionals are true front-line workers, tackling health-related disasters at the most critical junctures.

Don’t wait. Learn more about how you can secure a role for yourself in this crucial healthcare career.