Policy Manual sample

MDT Home Health Care Agency, Inc. basis during visits. Further instruction is provided and documented in the patient medical record as needed. If the home care staff witnesses an accident, incident, or injury that occurs in the patient’s home, the staff member shall document the event and use the incident reporting procedure. Incidents involving equipment malfunction, injury, or death associated with equipment are to be reported to the Durable Medical Equipment vendor and/or manufacturer immediately. The incident reporting procedure should be initiated as appropriate. (Refer to the policy on Reporting Medical Device Events). Clinical staff are responsible for following manufacturer’s guidelines for calibration and maintaining equipment used in the home. During in-home onsite visits with staff, employee knowledge and performance of safe and appropriate use of equipment related to patient care is assessed, with instruction given as needed by onsite evaluator. A safety management update is given annually for all employees (part of the OSHA annual update). Medical waste disposal and transport policies are reviewed with all staff members during new employee orientation. Compliance monitoring measures relating to the patient’s medication: There is a growing recognition that a multidisciplinary approach to medication taking behavior is necessary for patient adherence to be sustained, in which the patient and all members of the health care team work together to treat the patient’s condition, while recognizing the patient’s key role at the center of the process. Looking to the future, this approach has potential to improve adherence rates significantly by changing the interaction between patients and clinicians and by engaging all parties throughout the continuum of care. Low health literacy and limited English proficiency are major barriers to adherence and deserve special consideration, we promote and validate effective oral communication between our health care providers and patients supported by provision of adjunctive, useful information in its most useful format, use of bilingual staff, to address the patient’s individual capabilities. Patients with a complex drug regimen tend to have a lower compliance rate than patients with a less complex drug regimen. Recommendations on improving compliance are given. These recommendations include: - A good introduction from the caregiver to the patient about the medications the patient must take helps to increase compliance. - Instructions on the intake prescription of a certain medication should be available to the patient. - The patient must be warned in time, that he has to take their medications. - When the drug regimen becomes complex to the patient, the use of a pillbox is recommended and the patient should be able to receive feedback on his compliant behavior. Home Health Agency. - - Personnel/Operations Policies B-25