Is the Total Patient Care Model Right for Your Facility?

Providing safe, individualized patient care is the top priority of many healthcare facility administrators. With the variety of care models available, it can be tough to decide which style of nursing is best for your facility.

One option, the total patient care model, also known as the primary nursing model, enables healthcare staff to focus on the unique needs of each individual patient. Attractive for both patients and staff, this style of care focuses on addressing problems and providing treatment in a personalized and timely manner.

We’ll help answer some frequently asked questions regarding this model of care so you can decide whether total patient care nursing is right for you.

What Is Total Patient Care?

Total patient care involves a registered nurse providing complete, one-on-one care for each patient. This one nurse takes care of all a given patient’s needs, which could include:

• Medication administration
• Personal hygiene
• Education on treatments
• Physical activity
• Emotional support

This type of care can take place in a home or facility setting, and nurses can focus on providing care to one or a handful of patients at any given time. A nursing manager typically provides oversight to the nursing team, but only one nurse would be assigned to each patient for every shift.

Other care models, like functional nursing care, are more task-oriented and hierarchical in structure. With the functional nursing model, senior nurses are allowed more challenging, intensive tasks while keeping the newer, less-experienced nurses to more basic assignments. This model is efficient, but it lacks the close interpersonal relationships that patients desire.

The total patient care model allows nurses to maintain ownership over the care of their particular patient and take accountability for the required tasks. Giving nurses professional responsibility improves team morale and reduces staff burnout.

What Factors Should Be Considered?

While total patient care is the traditional style of nursing in facility settings, there are benefits and drawbacks to using this model of care. Hospitals can consider the following factors when deciding which style works best for them:

• Economic — Hospital budget, average patient income level, local cost of living
• Social factors — Race, gender, ethnicity, geographical location
• Functional factors — Patient acuity level, hospital level of care, size of facility or unit

Even after taking these characteristics into account, knowing which level of care is right for a particular patient can be challenging. Understanding benefits and drawbacks of total patient care nursing can help you decide if it’s the right staffing model for your facility.

Total Patient Care Model Advantages and Disadvantages

There are clear advantages of using this model in nursing, including:

• Stronger nurse-patient relationships — A strong bond is usually formed between hospital staff members and the patients they care for over the course of a long shift. When the nurse has time to get to know the patient and their unique preferences, staff and patients are more satisfied.
• Greater continuity of care — Redundancy and missed tasks are reduced by limiting the number of nurses caring for each patient. Patients are safer, and nurses often appreciate more autonomy and responsibility for direct patient care.
• Reduced treatment time — Studies show that patients in total patient care facilities have decreased lengths of stay versus those in other staffing models.
• Highly qualified staff — Each nurse caring for patients needs ample experience doing a wide variety of complex tasks. As there is no division of care, each nurse is expected to be able to provide all nursing treatments. Hospitals that have teams of high-quality registered nurses providing treatments have higher patient satisfaction.

There are also some downsides to using this model, including:

• Higher facility costs— Total patient care requires more licensed staff than other care styles like functional nursing. Increased hospital spending can limit the efficacy of this nursing model in smaller facilities like nursing homes and hospice centers.
• Less interprofessional communication— With every nurse focusing on their own patient assignment, there is less collaboration and teamwork among professionals. Ineffective communication and lack of oversight can lead to delayed treatment, miscommunication, medication errors, and even death.
• Inefficiency in smaller facilities— Smaller departments like ambulatory care and hospice centers don’t need a large staff of nurses to provide safe care. These low-acuity settings have fewer complicated tasks, and often have fewer patients requiring treatment. Other models like team-based nursing are more helpful in these settings.

Knowing the needs of your patients and employees can help you determine if total patient care is the right staffing model for your facility.

Discover More Ways to Deliver High Quality Care

Now that you better understand the total patient care model, you can help ensure that your facility is providing the best possible care for your patients. Don’t miss out on more strategies to address patient satisfaction and staff engagement; follow IntelyCare’s newsletter for fresh ideas to help your facility stand out.