Hucl1301 Reflective Summary On Hospital Assessment Answers

Questions:

1. What information/topic struck you as most interesting, informative, and valuable? Explain.
2. Has the course content help you in your understanding of the role of the HUC? Provide examples.
3. In your own words, describe the scope of practice of a Hospital Unit Clerk and how this relates to transcribing and processing medical orders.
4. Explain the importance of knowing and working within your scope of practice. Provide evidence.
5. Explain the impact of working outside of your scope of practice can have on you, your client’s, your co-workers, the unit, other departments, and the agency you work for.Provide evidence.
6.  List 3 tools you plan to use in order to help you stay within your scope of practice once you are working in your role of a Hospital Unit Clerk. How will these help you accurately and effectively complete the task of transcribing and processing medical orders?

Answer:

After going through relevant literature and class proceedings in HUCL1301 unit, I have learnt that, the primary means through which physicians assert their authority in the medical or healthcare facility are known as medical orders (Baker & Strosberg, 2013). Primarily, they are always patient-centered. When I get into actual practice, it will be my role as a health unit clerk to adhere to medical orders to ensure that a patient receives the highest quality of treatment from the medical institution that I will be affiliated with.

The course content has been of great significance all along in developing my understanding of the major roles that a Health Unit Coordinator is expected to play in a health facility setting. I learnt that HUCs perform various tasks to support physicians, patients, nurses and various departments within the facility (Marquis & Huston, 2009). It came to my awareness that it is upon a HUC to maintain organization within the facility as well as coordinating conveyance of information between medical personnel and patients. I was also able to learn that scheduling appointments, performing clerical duties, checking in patients, ordering fresh supplies, graphing readings of vital signs, collecting medical records and preparing admission and discharge forms are all roles to be undertaken by HUCs.

A hospital unit clerk has a wide scope of practice that is directly related to transcription and processing of medical orders. It is upon a HUC to transfer orders, therapy and diet instructions from doctors into charts relating to various patients accordingly (Roussel & Thomas, 2015). Notifying the nursing staff and other personnel on changes and modifications as received from other departments/staff also falls under HUCs’ scope of practice. They are also required to make orders and make appointments for laboratory tests, accept and thereafter record reports from the lab and finally order prescriptions from doctors based on the lab reports. Included also in the scope of practice for HUCs is their role to transcribe orders from physicians available in individual patient’s chart to relevant forms in readiness for verification by professional personnel. Acting basing on already processed orders, it upon a HUC to maintain a clear track of changes in wards, transfers to other healthcare facilities, discharges and new admissions. Preparing and completing records and forms for patient discharges, admissions, transfers tests and examinations are other duties under HUCs’ scope of practice (Roussel & Thomas, 2015). They could also thin, update, assemble or disassemble patients’ charts. On a prescription order, it is upon them to transcribe and process information from physicians correctly by ensuring that the drug name is correct, the right dosage, right time and/or frequency and the right route has been documented.

I have also gained vivid understanding on various reasons as to why it is crucial to know and act in my scope of practice. To begin with, knowing my scope of practice will aid me in provision of safe patient care as well as effective undertaking of my routinely practices. Since nurses are called upon to do many things, knowing my scope will give me a clear understanding of what I can do and what I cannot do legally and operationally (Mathes & Reifsnyder, 2014). For example, it is not my duty to diagnose patients. Since every state has its own laws that govern the scope of practice for nurses, I have gone through the Nurse Practice Act to boost my understanding on my scope of practice. By working within my scope of practice, I will also be liable for my actions in the course of performing my duties. Working outside my scope is lethal to me and to all related parties. On my side, it is ethically and legally wrong and could result my deregistration as a nurse. It could also bring complications on the client by performing exercises that are not meant for me such as performing surgeries (Dimond, 2015). I could also put blood and blame on the hands of my colleagues and/or departments should an activity conducted outside my scope cause complications resulting to death. My actions could also cause cancelation of operating license for the agency I could be working for by the government.

A proper filing system is one tool that will help me operate within my scope of practice as well as effectively transcribe and process medical orders through maintenance of proper records that could be referred to in case of any discrepancies (Kearney-Nunnery, 2015). Another tool will be timely recording of activities pertaining my scope of practice as soon as they occur. This will help avoid recording of activities out of my scope as well as avoid misinterpreting or avoiding data hence effective transcription and processing of medical orders. The last and most significant tool will be self-discipline. It will require high levels of discipline for me to operate within my scope of practice without any deviations while simultaneously transcribing and processing medical orders accurately with minimal or no errors. 

References

Baker, R., & Strosberg, M. (2013). Legislating Medical Ethics: A Study of the New York State Do-Not-Resuscitate Law (illustrated ed.). Springer Science & Business Media.

Dimond, B. (2015). Legal Aspects of Nursing (7, revised ed.). Pearson Education Limited.

Kearney-Nunnery, R. (2015). Advancing Your Career Concepts in Professional Nursing. F.A. Davis.

Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2009). Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application (illustrated ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Mathes, M., & Reifsnyder, J. (2014). Nurse's Law: Questions & Answers for the Practicing Nurse (reprint ed.). Sigma Theta Tau.

Roussel, L. A., & Thomas, T. (2015). Management and Leadership for Nurse Administrators (illustrated ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.