About HealthLink
About HealthLink
The Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) Inc. of New Orleans has developed a free comprehensive service that provides health monitoring for people who because of age and/or disease need some in-home assistance but do not qualify for Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance-paid home care services.
1. Mission:
The HealthLink program assists clients to promote good health, control their disease, and minimize the impact of their disease. It also helps clients develop, maintain, and use their family and community support systems.
2. Goals:
The HealthLink program helps nursing students facilitate and support the patient’s own efforts to maximize health and minimize illness. It also empowers students to use their own judgment, collaboration, and problem-solving skills during the care planning process. The program also will increase the student’s assessment skills of the patient’s environment, physical, financial, social, and spiritual needs, and it provides them with professional growth opportunities and participation in outcome measurement.
3. Procedures:
• The RN coordinator reviews the record after a referral has been made to HealthLink, and the coordinator sees if the referral meets the criteria.
• Within 10 days, if the client meets the criteria, the RN coordinator schedules an initial evaluation visit, and after this profile visit the patient’s plan of care is established.
• Telephone visits begin and continue every two weeks, using a special questionnaire along with any other important questions specified by the RN coordinator or the student nurses.
• Students assess and evaluate the patient’s needs and adjust the plan of care for maintenance visits.
• If the patient is found to need some skilled nursing or therapy treatment, then a referral is made to the home care department.
• Students are given space in a VNA conference room where they can make telephone calls and hold conferences with faculty members.
• If a patient’s condition has changed, the student reports this to the university faculty member and the RN coordinator at the end of the visit.
• The university faculty member prepares the student’s assignment sheet and the student’s daily activity log with the RN coordinator a week in advance.
• Students call patients the evening before the visit to confirm the appointment.
• Students complete additional records and documentation, including a client demographics record, a visit record, a Lawton-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale, a Folsteins Examination, and a HealthLink log.
• Students report on the patient’s condition and medications to the university faculty member and the RN coordinator and they may report any changes in the patient’s condition, medication, and care needs.
• At the end of the day, the student submits documentation to the university faculty member for review.
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