1.4 Health Care Settings & Team
Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN)
Health Care Settings
There are several levels of health care including primary, secondary, and tertiary care. Each of these levels focuses on different aspects of health care and is typically provided in different settings.
Primary Care
Primary care promotes wellness and prevents disease. This care includes health promotion, education, protection (such as immunizations), early disease screening, and environmental considerations. Settings providing this type of health care include physician offices, public health clinics, school nursing, and community health nursing.
Secondary care
Secondary care occurs when a person has contracted an illness or injury and requires medical care. Secondary care is often referred to as acute care. Secondary care can range from uncomplicated care to repair a small laceration or treat a strep throat infection to more complicated emergent care such as treating a head injury sustained in an automobile accident. Whatever the problem, the client needs medical and nursing attention to return to a state of health and wellness. Secondary care is provided in settings such as physician offices, clinics, urgent care facilities, or hospitals. Specialized units include areas such as critical care, burn units, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, and transplant services.
Tertiary Care
Tertiary care addresses the long-term effects from chronic illnesses or conditions with the purpose to restore a client’s maximum physical and mental function. The goal of tertiary care is to achieve the highest level of functioning possible while managing the chronic illness. For example, a client who falls and fractures their hip will need secondary care to set the broken bones, but may need tertiary care to regain their strength and ability to walk even after the bones have healed. Clients with incurable diseases, such as dementia, may need specialized tertiary care to provide support they need for daily functioning. Tertiary care settings include rehabilitation units, assisted living facilities, adult day care, skilled nursing units, home care, and hospice centers.
Health Care Team
No matter the setting, quality health care requires a team of health care professionals collaboratively working together to deliver holistic, individualized care. Nursing students must be aware of the roles and contributions of various health care team members. The health care team consists of health care providers, nurses (licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and advanced practice registered nurses), unlicensed assistive personnel, and a variety of interprofessional team members.
Health Care Providers
The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act defines a health care provider as, “A physician, podiatrist, dentist, optometrist, or advanced practice nurse.”[1] Providers are responsible for ordering diagnostic tests such as blood work and X-rays, diagnosing a client’s medical condition, developing a medical trea