Core Competencies For Health Professionals

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A report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) introduced five core competencies for health professionals: provide patient-centered care, work in interdisciplinary teams, employ evidence-based practice, apply quality improvement, and utilize informatics (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2003). The objective of the report was to improve the United States health care system. IOM proposes that if all five core competencies are utilized by health professionals, quality patient care can be achieved.
Integrating Evidence-Based Practice
To implement a new screening system for depression, all clinic staff will be educated on the importance of recognizing depression in hemodialysis patients. Furthermore, all team members of the interdisciplinary team will have a clear understanding of their role in this new screening procedure. The selected tool in the screening process is BDI. For current patients, the initial screening process will be done at chair side when the nurse is performing either the pre or post hemodialysis assessment. New patients, on the other hand, will be screened during the admittance process. Once the initial screening is done, patients will be re-screened every six months. According to Battistella (2012), the most effective way of recognizing the early onset of depression is to do screenings when the patient first starts dialysis, then every six months or annually.
In a recent study by Keskin and Engin (2011), using BDI, they found that 40.2% of their participants with renal failure had depression. The study confirmed that depression increases significantly with age and lower educational status. Additionally, suicidal ideation is more prominent in this patient population and increases with the severity of ...

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...ave symptoms of depression, however, they fail to recognize their symptoms and/or believe the need for treatment is unnecessary. Due to the prevalence of depression in ESRD patients and the decrease in quality of life, screening for depression is essential in the hemodialysis center.
The most utilized tool in clinics and research in the evaluation of depression is BDI; not only does BDI evaluate depressive affect it also evaluates cognitive content (Keskin & Engin, 2011). The survey has 21 questions: two questions on emotions, 11 on cognition, two on behavior, five on physical signs, and one on interactive signs. The questions are scored on a scale from zero to three, with a total score ranging from zero to 63. A score less than nine indicates absent or minimal depression, 10 to 18 mild depression, 19 to 29 moderate depression, and greater than 30 severe depression.

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