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Welcome back, everyone.
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As healthcare providers,
we know that everyone experiences
different situations.
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A person's unique situation will dictate
what level of care they require.
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There are four levels of care.
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First, primary,
secondary,
tertiary,
and quaternary.
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And we're going to go through
each one of these individually.
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Primary care.
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For most patients, a primary care clinician
will be their first point of contact
within the healthcare system.
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Examples of primary care clinicians
include a doctor or maybe a dentist,
a nurse, an allied health professional,
or even a pharmacist.
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So primary care may be provided
in several locations.
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First, it could be general practice
or the primary care physician's office.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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These are sometimes called specialists.
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And examples of these could include:
a cardiologist, a rheumatologist,
or urologist.
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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.
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When we think about tertiary care,
these patients are being treated.
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They require higher levels of care
in a hospital.
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These require highly specialized
physicians and equipment.
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Tertiary care services
include things such as:
cardiac surgery,
cancer treatment and management,
burn treatments,
maybe even plastic surgery,
neurosurgery.
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They may even include other
complicated treatments and procedures.
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When we think about quaternary care,
that is the highest level
of care available.
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This is definitely more complex
than tertiary care.
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This includes uncommon
highly specialized
and even experimental treatments
and procedures.
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These are usually offered
only in a limited number of regional
or national health care centers.
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But in those centers, they may have
virtually any procedure available.
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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.
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So what do we learn today?
First, the majority of time,
patients may typically receive
primary or secondary care.
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It was only when patients have
a severe injury, condition, or disease,
that they're going to be moved
to the higher level.
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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.
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I hope you've enjoyed this video
on levels of care.
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Thanks so much for watching.