NUR2058 Dimensions of Nursing Practice

Contemporary Issues Rasmussen College NUR2058 Dimensions of Nursing Practice Course Contemporary Issues Client access to care is a contemporary issue that sparked my interest- to learn why it is difficult for some groups to receive care than others. The article I found is from the International Journal for Equity in Health. It looked at published literature on access, and developed a revised conceptual framework of access to health care. In this article, access is defined as the opportunity to reach and obtain appropriate health care services in situations of perceived need for care (Levesque et al, 2013). This article conceptualized five dimensions of accessibility of services: Approachability, Acceptability, Availability and accommodation, Affordability, and Appropriateness. The first dimension of accessibility of services is Approachability. This dimension relates to the fact that people with health needs have to be able to actually identify that some form of services exist, that they can be reached, and that they have an impact on the health of the individual (Levesque et al, 2013). Transparency, information regarding available treatments and services and outreach activities, are elements that contribute to making services more or less approachable (Levesque et al, 2013). The second dimension of accessibility of services is Acceptability. This dimension relates to cultural and social factors that determine if people will accept aspects of the service and the appropriateness for the persons to seek care (Levesque et al, 2013). For example, in a society that forbids casual physical contact between unmarried men and women would reduce acceptability and accessibility for women if health care providers are mostly men (Levesque et al, 2013). The third dimension of accessibility of services is Availability and accommodation. This dimension refers to the fact that health services, either the physical space or those working in health care roles, can be reached physically and in a timely manner (Levesque et al, 2013). Access can be restricted if available resources are unevenly distributed around a country, or across levels of care (more specialty care than primary care) (Levesque et al, 2013). The fourth dimension of accessibility of services is Affordability. This dimension relates to the economic capacity for people to spend resources and time to use appropriate services (Levesque et al, 2013). It results from direct prices of services and related expenses in addition to opportunity costs related to loss of income (Levesque et al, 2013). The fifth dimension of accessibility of services is Appropriateness. This dimension relates to the fit between services and client needs, its timeliness, the amount of care spent in assessing health problems and determining the correct treatment and the technical and interpersonal quality of services provided (Levesque et al, 2013). Appropriateness relies strongly on the person’s capacity of self-efficacy and self-management in addition to the importance of receiving care that is actually appropriate. They needs to be fully engaged in their care for access to optimal care of the services offered and provided. (Levesque et al, 2013).