Running head: OUTPATIENT SERVICES AND PRIMARY CARE 1

Outpatient Services and Primary Care

Name

Institution
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Outpatient Services and Primary Care

Five main hospital-based outpatient services

Patients who seek treatment without close attendance by the nurses and doctors within the

hospital environment receive their treatment in an outpatient setting. Such group of patients are

allowed to operate from their homes and not being admitted in the hospital. This method of

treatment is also called ambulatory care. There are about five main hospital-based outpatient

services (Williams, Taylor, Awad, Hockings and Ashworth, 2018).

i. Community health clinic

The system of health care caters for the individuals in remote areas with no or minimal

access to healthcare facilities. It also caters for the individuals with low income hence cannot

effectively and efficiently receive health care services from hospitals. Such kind of people are

then served by the community health workers recognized by the ministry of health.

ii. Urgent Care System

Urgent care systems provide an immediate health care services to patients who requires an

emergent attendance that cannot wait for the booking of the primary care physician. The system

is valid when the patient requires immediate attendance but the level does not qualify for being

taken into the emergency room (ER).

iii. Specialized outpatient clinic

These are specific departments within an hospital that attend to special medical attentions

such as dermatology, chemotherapy and nephrology among others.

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iv. Emergency Departments

Are also called the Emergency Rooms (ER). These are rooms within hospitals specifically

attending to patients who needs an urgent attention such as those involved in an accident. The

rooms are found within the hospitals though referred to as an outpatient service clinic.

v. Pharmacy

Pharmacy are those rooms in which drugs are bought after the doctor’s prescription. Some

of the pharmacies currently performs the task of reviewing the prescription given by the

doctors. This responsibility differs greatly to their initial responsibility of handing over the

medication prescribed by the doctor to the patient.

Mobile Healthcare Services

Mobile healthcare is also knowns as mHealth services. It is the provision of medical

services using the various technological equipment such as computers, phones, aeroplanes,

trains and vehicles among others mostly to less fortunate group of people. The mobile

healthcare service is vital to people who might have not acquired medical attention due to

certain epidemics such as poverty, natural calamities and others (Baig, GholamHosseini and

Connolly, 2015).

Mobile Facilities for medical services

Mobile Medical Environment – This is a mobile facility that seeks to attending sick or injured

patients at their places of residence. The facility uses the technological equipment in supplying

healthcare services to various places of need.

Mobile Facilities for diagnostic services

Mobile Pharmacy – This is a kind of mobile healthcare facility that contains the hospital

pharmacy and the retail pharmacy thereby facilitating diagnosis of patients with various drugs.
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It supplies various drugs such as those for vaccinations to remote or the affected regions

without the patients struggling to access hospitals.

Mobile Facilities for Screening

Mobile Radiology – This is one facility of mHealth that provides immediate screening services

to the affected patients. Some of the available screenings within this system includes the X-

ray, CT scan and MRI.

Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine refers to the non-biological methods of treatment such as crystal

healing and natural therapy. These methods of treatment, though some are not proved

scientifically provides cheap and accessible acquisition of treatments (Micozzi, 2018). The

methods of treatments make the healthcare services quite accessible to those who cannot afford

hospital costs.
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References

Baig, M. M., GholamHosseini, H., & Connolly, M. J. (2015). Mobile healthcare applications:

system design review, critical issues and challenges. Australasian physical &

engineering sciences in medicine, 38(1), 23-38.

Micozzi, M. S. (2018). Fundamentals of Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative

Medicine-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Williams, M., Taylor, C., Awad, A., Hockings, M., & Ashworth, M. (2018). Nurse-led follow

up replaces consultant outpatient clinic. British Journal of Healthcare

Management, 24(4), 191-197.