HCA Case Study: Addressing Communication and Safety in Patient Care

The HCA Case Study centers around a scenario involving David, a trainee health care attendant, and his trainer Barbara in a residential care setting. The case highlights several critical issues including the miscommunication between trainees and senior staff, incorrect patient identification for discharge, and concerns over patient safety due to inexperienced decision-making by junior HCAs. It is imperative that Barbara provides clear instructions and guidance on communication practices, emphasizing the significance of these skills in healthcare settings. Furthermore, proper protocols must be followed when identifying patients for discharge, ensuring compliance with health service organization guidelines. Trainees are encouraged to make decisions under supervision to prevent negative outcomes for patients. Additionally, team members should engage in inter-professional collaboration to enhance patient care quality and safety. This case study underscores the necessity of effective communication, accurate procedures, and teamwork within healthcare environments to safeguard patient welfare and streamline discharge processes.

Running head: HCA CASE STUDY
HCA Case Study
Name of Student
Name of University:
Name of Course:
Name of Instructor:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction:
Summary of the case study:
The case study provided is related to that of a trainee to join as a health care attendant
who had been working as an attendant in the residential care. Therefore it is understood that he
possessed some sort of experience regarding healthcare. The new attendant named David had
some sort of experience in residential care. However according to the case study provided it was
the first day of David’s joining under his trainer Barbara, who had worked as a HCA for the last
one year.
Concerns according to the case study:
The case study puts forward concerns such as the safety of the patient, the problems of
miscommunication. It also puts to the fore the issues regarding the identification of the patient
awaiting discharge. These issues have been addressed.
Answer 1:
In light of all these issues it needs to be mentioned that Barbara should maintain a
particular decorum while approaching David (3). He needs to be given a brief regarding the war
in which he should understand instructions and communicate them.
It is advisable that Barbara at first ask David about his decision to move a particular
patient from his bed before clarifying whether it is required or not. The explanation of the way to
approach a particular brief or a command needs to be clearly explained by Barbara to David. It
also needs to be checked whether the command is related to the patient on which David is
performing the operation or not. The importance of communication in healthcare needs to be
clarified (2).
Finally after proper explanation of the scenario, it is to be stated to David that there are
several implications of a particular decision taken by David on the lives of the patients.

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Answer 2:
It is necessary that David gets a brief regarding the decision making techniques in future.
It also needs to be understood that there needs to be certain guidelines which need to be
maintained related to the decisions in connection to the patient care (4). It needs to be understood
that the trainees need to perform any severe or impactful tasks in the presence of a senior. It
always needs to be kept in mind that a doctor or a senior health care attendant is to be informed
at all times regarding a patient’s condition. In case any mismatches or anomalies are found
related to the patient’s health or it is found that the patient is not responding to the care, the
trainee should stop at once from deploying any sort of attention or duties which might harm the
condition of the patient in any way (7).
Proper identification of the patient is a crucial task and its utility needs to be clearly
explained to David by Barbara. Barbara should clearly state that, the clinical leaders and senior
managers of a health service organization establish systems in order to ensure the proper
identification of patients and correct matching of the patients with the intended treatment and
proper methods of discharge. The clinicians, healthcare assistants and all the members of the
workforce should make proper identification and procedural matching systems (6).
Barbara should clearly mention to David that he abide by all the existing rules and
regulations of the healthcare industry in order to maintain the patient’s health at all costs (5).
Answer 3:
The other team members need to be informed as the healthcare industry involves a lot of
team work where the attendants help each other in providing the best quality of healthcare to the
patients. One’s the attendants, assistants and trainees are aware similar situations can be avoided
in the future. The new trainees specifically need to be briefed that they should learn from
situations like David’s so that they do not repeat these issues or problems in future so that they
maintain the quality and reputation of the organization they work for. The hands-on experience is
always better than the theoretical knowledge and therefore this example is significant for all the
trainees and attendants (6).

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In case the situations are informed to the attendants or other members of the team or even
the helpers, then these people can prevent the occurrences of miscommunication and wrong
identification and ultimately save the patients from being harmed in any way.
The members of the team who can contribute to an improved transition of care includes
the hospital nursing staff, the trainees the case managers, pharmacists, nurse practitioners
physical assistants, in hospital and outpatient physicians (7).
Answer 4:
The inter-professional communication needs to be maintained at all times in any health
care association. A proper network of communication needs to be maintained at all times so that
all the members of the team are aware of all the situations which the patients are in and what
needs to be done in each of the cases. A helper should be posted in the room at all times to
ensure that the patient is well attended to (3).
The communication procedures should be established among the patient’s care sites,
including the hospital, specialist’s office and also the primary care office. Other members of the
healthcare team can also stops mishaps from happening (2).
Telephonic connectivity should also be ensured at all times so that the patient’s condition
is taken care of at all times. The families of the patients should also be informed at all times in
case of any emergency so that they can come at any time. Every member of the team should put
forward his or her skills and challenges faced and discuss his or her experiences so that proper
knowledge can be learned from them (6). The inter-professional collaboration is an essential
part of improving the accessibility, quality and the value of the health care (7).
Conclusion:
In the case study mentioned the inter-professional communication needs to be improved.
The case managers need to be informed about all the cases. In this case, Mr. Roberts suffering
from pneumonia who is awaiting his discharge needs to be mentioned to all the members of the

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team so that they can inform David when he comes to the wrong patient and tries to remove him
from the bed. Such situations need to be avoided in future at any cost.

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