Clothing, housing and availability of food are perceived to be the basic needs of a human being, but without good health human beings cannot device ways of provision of these basic needs. A human being should be physically fit, mentally stable and socially comfortable to be able to go about his daily chores. Managing the factors that affect the well being of a person should therefore be the core objective of a community and the government of that country.
Strategies of developing, implementing and maintaining high quality standards of the health care delivery system of the country should be devised with the highest integrity. These strategies should provide an environment that favors consumer driven health care, where the government, third party payers, hospitals, physicians, consumers and the nursing practice at large will benefit (Herzlinger, 2004). The nursing practice in America is adversely affected by the escalating cost of health care which is indirectly contributed by the wealthy state of the country.
America is grouped as the richest country in the world, therefore it can afford to get in touch with the latest technology, the technological know how of implementing the up-to-date technology and keeping pace with the advancement of technology. Use of the recent technology in health care is expensive and thus the high cost of health care is implicated in the medical bills that the consumers have to find means and ways of paying them. Insurance companies that provide health insurance cover to their clients use this window of opportunity to hike their quotation on the premium rates of their charges (William, 2005).
The quality of services in reference to health care provided by hospitals, physicians and the government has greatly deteriorated as the physicians, hospitals and the government tries to devise ways that will curb the effects brought about by the escalating cost of health care. Competition for running the health care delivery system so as to benefit from it is depicted by the war that America is facing caused by the physicians as they try to fight for their rights and those of the consumers.
The physicians have ganged up together with the consumers to air their grievances demanding for a health care delivery system that will also be geared towards their goals (Ellis & Hartely, 2004). Providers of the nursing practice and those that implement the nursing practices instilled in them are also lamenting since the escalating cost of health care is highly affecting them. This has greatly reduced the competence that should go hand in hand with nursing practice and quacks that engage in the practice have come up as a way of benefiting from this predicament.
This has adversely deteriorated the efficiency of health care especially to the youth who are deciding on which career paths to pick. A negative impact of the practice is contextualized in the environment of the youths causing many of them to disregard a very important career path (Jonas, Kovner & Knickman, 2005). Although nursing practice raise a lot of money from the expensive medical bills that patients are charged, nurses are not compensated accordingly.
The pay they get is not sufficient to cover for all the dedication, effort and denial of personal time to provide health care to the community. This is because most of the money collected is used to finance for the advanced technology and to pay health insurance premium rates. This has also contributed to the decrease in the overall benefits that are availed to health care providers, for instance the retirement benefits that the health providers are entitled to has drastically reduced.
The sum of money that the practitioners get after serving and ensuring the welfare of their community is protected and is in good condition for almost their entire life cannot be compared with the retirement benefits an accountant gets. This portrays an opportunity for the employers of the practitioners to disregard their employees’ effort and not engage in programs that will help to promote a long term relationship between them. Incentives that encourage employees to work for their employers for long are not provide in nursing practice.
The health care providers prolong their stay working for their employers out of sheer will, need and passion (Jonas, Kovner & Knickman, 2005). Health insurance has also followed suit increasing the cost of acquiring medical cover. This has discouraged the community, especially the low income earners from seeking medical intervention to take care of their health problems. Most prefer to treat themselves at homes or visit quack health providers who offer the practice at a lower price and do not demand health insurance cover from patients as hospitals do.
Mortality rate in America has gone up due to this fact indirectly affecting the economy of the country as productive people who would have brought positive change to the country lose their lives (William, 2005). The government should encourage and provide resources for development of more community health centers and walk-in clinics that are operated by qualified and competent practitioners. The US government should also aim at introducing bureaucracy in the nursing practice thus provide health care to the community at an affordable price.
They should also ensure health insurance rates can be afforded by a majority of the community. Their focus on health care should mainly be directed on improving the quality and competence of the health providers and to divert some of the resources used to bring advanced technology to the country into the nursing practice. This will overly improve the quality of health care provided in America. Researchers should try to base their scope of study on reforms that comprises the needs of the community and guards the health care delivery system.
Degrees and course work pertaining to nursing practice should contain elements of interpersonal skills and strategies to help the students fully understand and implement the ethical codes of the nursing practice. Also the community should be highly motivated to undertake nursing as their career path by introducing incentives, increasing the pay rise and benefits given to health care providers.
Reference List
Ellis, R. J. & Hartely, L. C. (2004). Nursing in Today’s World: Trends, Issues & Management. 9th Ed. Hagerstown, Maryland: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Herzlinger, E. R. (2004). Consumer-driven Health Care: Implications for Providers, Payers, and Policymakers. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Jonas, S. , Kovner, R. A. & Knickman, J. (2005). Health Care Delivery in the United States. 8th Ed. Warren, MI: Springer Publishing Company. William, S. S. (2005). Health Insurance: Current Issues and Background. 2nd Ed. Hauppauge, New York: Nova publishers.