Levels of Care (Nursing)

00:01 Welcome back, everyone.

00:02 As healthcare providers, we know that everyone experiences different situations.

00:07 A person's unique situation will dictate what level of care they require.

00:13 There are four levels of care.

00:14 First, primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.

00:23 And we're going to go through each one of these individually.

00:27 Primary care.

00:28 For most patients, a primary care clinician will be their first point of contact within the healthcare system.

00:34 Examples of primary care clinicians include a doctor or maybe a dentist, a nurse, an allied health professional, or even a pharmacist.

00:46 So primary care may be provided in several locations.

00:49 First, it could be general practice or the primary care physician's office.

00:54 Second, it could be in the community, in a clinic, or third, it could be in a health center or a healthcare organization or acute care facility.

01:04 Now primary care can also include things like health promotion or health education to patients, even preventive strategies to make sure that they don't go to the hospital with an illness or injury.

01:18 Now secondary care is different from primary care and that these services are typically provided by medical specialists and other health care professionals who do not have the first contact with patients.

01:29 Now secondary care is usually, but not always, delivered in a hospital or clinic with the initial referral being made by the primary care professional.

01:38 These are sometimes called specialists.

01:40 And examples of these could include: a cardiologist, a rheumatologist, or urologist.

01:47 Included in secondary care may be ongoing services not provided in a hospital, but rather a private office such as: psychiatrists, physiotherapists, or an occupational therapists.

02:01 When we think about tertiary care, these patients are being treated.

02:04 They require higher levels of care in a hospital.

02:08 These require highly specialized physicians and equipment.

02:13 Tertiary care services include things such as: cardiac surgery, cancer treatment and management, burn treatments, maybe even plastic surgery, neurosurgery.

02:27 They may even include other complicated treatments and procedures.

02:32 When we think about quaternary care, that is the highest level of care available.

02:36 This is definitely more complex than tertiary care.

02:39 This includes uncommon highly specialized and even experimental treatments and procedures.

02:46 These are usually offered only in a limited number of regional or national health care centers.

02:52 But in those centers, they may have virtually any procedure available.

02:57 So the thing to remember about the levels of care is that every individual will require different care and it depends on their unique health problem.

03:06 So what do we learn today? First, the majority of time, patients may typically receive primary or secondary care.

03:14 It was only when patients have a severe injury, condition, or disease, that they're going to be moved to the higher level.

03:22 And finally, it's important that patients are informed of the differences, so that they may better navigate the healthcare system and receive the care that they need.

03:31 I hope you've enjoyed this video on levels of care.

03:33 Thanks so much for watching.