Abstract
health care quality and safety should be the main focus of health practitioners today. However, they seem to only be interested in putting into their own pockets as well as the facilities that they are working in. Several factors have been found that the quality of health care given to patients today has decreased severely. These factors include: inappropriate or unnecessary surgeries, over use of prescription medicine, and Nosocomial infections.
Quality of Care in America: The Best in the World?
America is believed to have the best healthcare system in the world. What people fail to realize is that there are actually several issues with the quality of care being given to patients here because it seems that all surgeons/doctors truly care about is money, not about what patients truly need or do not need. Because most surgeons/doctors are being pushed by manufacturers to use and sell expensive products/medications, needless surgeries are taking place; thus, meaning higher profits for surgeons/doctors and the hospitals that these surgeries are taking place (Is Newer Better? Not Always, 2010).
Because this is happening, the quality of healthcare given to patients in America is declining quite a bit. It does not always have to be this way, but it does take place more than one thinks it does. Over the past ten years, several investigations showed the main issues in quality of health care given to be: inappropriate surgeries, excessive or inappropriate use of prescription drugs, and Nosocomial infections (Black, 2005).
The Essay on Health Care Quality
This paper examines area of quality and patient satisfaction linked to reimbursement in the article by Nanda, Malone and Joseph (2012), where they describe strategies for changes needed in Health Care Design in response to the Affordable Care Act. The article notes that the main shift in reimbursement model will be tied into financial reward for patient experience as measured by the Hospital ...
As stated before, over the past ten years, several investigations showed the main issues in quality of health care given to be: inappropriate surgeries, excessive or inappropriate use of prescription drugs, and Nosocomial infections (Black, 2005).
The first and foremost issue in quality of health care is unnecessary surgery. Over 60 % of all surgeries done in the United States are medically unjustified. Instead of reversing the problems that they are supposed to fix, they can often lead to greater health problems and even death (Black, 2005).
Because most surgeons are being pushed by manufacturers to use and sell all of these expensive products, the needless surgeries are meaning higher profits for surgeons in hospitals (Is Newer Better? Not Always, 2010).
Although a lot of men are going through with these surgeries, women seem to be at an especially higher risk of having these surgeries. Some of the most common types of unnecessary surgeries include: hysterectomies, Cesarean Sections (C-Sections), and Coronary Artery Bypass (Black, 2005).
It has been found that prescription drugs, such as antipsychotics and antibiotics, are being excessively and inappropriately prescribed all over the country. Let’s start with the antipsychotics. These medicines are being prescribed to college students with no prior signs of mental illness solely for the purpose of treating insomnia. This goes to show that these drugs are being used recklessly to control the behavior of patients with little or no regard for the serious side effects that they can in fact have (Schierling, 2011).
As stated before, surgeons now have a financial incentive to prescribe drugs. This is widely regarded as a much quicker fix than a time-invasive evaluation and non-drug treatments such as behavior therapy, which may not be covered by a patient’s insurance company (Schierling, 2011).
Now, let’s move on to the problem with antibiotics. Just like antipsychotics, they too are being overprescribed. This is contributing to the rapid rise of drug-resistant bacteria. If doctors would just take the time to test patients’ blood to verify if they actually have any sign of infections, we would not have this problem. Another issue here is that patients are demanding the antibiotics and doctors are giving it to them. This to doctors, surgeons, etc, is easier than having to educate their patients on the true problem at hand (Schierling, 2011).
The Term Paper on Patient-centred care is a fundamental issue
There are many issues associated with the transition from graduate registered nurse into practicing registered nurse. Recent studies have found the phase to be a stressful period for many graduates the main challenges were fitting into social groups, delegation, hostility and patient-centred care (Rush et al, 2013); (Feng & Tsai 2012). However, research has shown that with appropriate ...
The final issue in the quality of care given to patients is that of Nosocomial infections. Nosocomial infections usually originate or take place in a hospital. Due to the fact that antibiotics have come into common usage, bacteria that are resistant to them have also become common, thus increasing the number of Nosocomial infections. These infections were usually not present before the patient was admitted to the hospital, and usually occur within 72 hours of being admitted to the hospital (Sultz & Young, 2011).
As one can see, these infections are on the rise. The CDC, or Center for Disease Control, says that Nosocomial infections occur in five to ten percent of patients each year, and that it continues to be a major concern for the health care industry because it is raising health care costs due to patients having to stay longer in the hospitals. This is a huge hamper on the quality of health care being given to patients. The Center for Disease Control, or CDC, estimates that over 36% of Nosocomial infections could have indeed been prevented. Three common examples of Nosocomial infections include: staphylococcus, pseudomonas, and enterococci. The most common cause of these infections is: contact, droplet, and airborne (Sultz & Young, 2011).
Health care quality and safety have always been of high importance in medicine. However, over the past ten years, several investigations have shown that there are several problems in the quality of health care these days (Liang & mackey, n.d.).
In conclusion, would one now be able to say that quality and safety are the main concern of practitioners today? It seems to be now that all they are thinking about is putting more money into their own pockets.
The Essay on Care of a Patient in Acute Pain from a Total Knee Replacement Jahaira Melendez
Nursing care after a total knee replacement is very essential in promoting a speedy and safe recovery for a patient. In an attempt to replicate the knee’s natural ability to roll and glide as it bends by cutting away damaged bone and cartilage and replacing it with an artificial joint, acute pain following the procedure can be unbearable. In assisting the patient in controlling the pain would only ...
References
Black, A. (2005, October 7).
Unnecessary surgery exposed! Why 60% of all surgeries are medically unjustified and how surgeons exploits patients to generate profits. Retrieved June 20, 2012, from Natural News. com: Real News Powered by the People, Naturally.: http://www.naturalnews.com/01229/.html
Is Newer Better? Not Always. (2010, September 11).
Retrieved June 17, 2012, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/opinion/12sun1.html?_r=1&ref=selecthealthcareeditorials
Liang, B. A., & mackey, T. (n.d.).
Quality and Safety in Medical Care: What Does the Future Hold? Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. Vol.135. Issue 11. , 1425-1431.
Schierling. (2011, November 15).
Are antibiotics really being over-prescribed? Retrieved June 24, 2012, from Schierling Chiropractic, LLC: http://www.doctorschierling.com/1/post/2011/11/are-antibiotics-really-being-over-prescribed.html
Sultz, H. A., & Young, K. M. (2011).
Health Care USA: Understanding Its Organization and Delivery. 7th Ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
