Governmental Organizations And Their Role In Public Health Essay Example

hope in the health sector will become greatly transformed and assist the patients to receive the right heath care in an efficient and timely manner. This act for instance will help in creation of incentives that will prevent admission of patients especially the ones that require outpatient services.

Challenges In The Health Sector

There are several major challenges that have continued to plague health sector. These challenges include: Environmental and social factors, quality patient care, and patient responsibility. These challenges are discussed below

Environmental and social factors

There are many natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, mud and landslides, tsunamis as well as tornadoes that are disastrous. These disastrous events can render humans completely overwhelmed to an extent that they are unable to provide humanitarian assistance that is quite essential to the victims of the events. An example of a natural event that has occurred in United States is the well known Hurricane Katrina that struck Houston and other urban areas within the boundaries of the country. Volunteers and humanitarian agencies collaborated to overcome this disaster. Apart from natural events, there are social events such as terrorism and war that also make humans to become vulnerable and seek medical services from aid workers (Shortell, 2000).

Quality patient care

The health care delivery system of United States has been faced by the challenge of inadequate nurses. The few available nurses have huge patient load that overwhelms them while others are forced to work for twelve hours instead of the conventional eight hours they are accustomed to. This has lead to deterioration of health care service in some health care centers. In an effort to enroll more nurses in health care institutions, there

is increased absorption of graduates whose are of specialization is nursing. Apart from that, numerous attractive packages have become introduced in an effort to attract more professional nurses. These packages include: Tuition and scholarships and also leasing luxury vehicles (Towill &Christopher, 2005).

Patient responsibility

The private sector as well as the United States regularly avail published information on sites such as internet, scientific journals and books that contain valuable information on various ways in which diseases can be prevented or controlled and also healthy practices. However, the citizens have not utilized the valuable information available at their disposal. Increased ignorance has been portrayed by several observations or occurrences. First, poor eating habits among Americans has resulted into obesity which has acted as a trigger to diseases and disorders such as dyslipidemia; stroke; type 2 diabetes; osteoarthritis; coronary thrombosis; colon, endometrial, and breast cancers; gall bladder disease; and hypertension. Another issue has been that of HIV/Aids. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that 40,000 Americans become infected with HIV/AIDS annually (CDC, 2004a). This has occurred despite the fact that there are numerous educational and awareness programs that have been utilized in order to reduce or prevent new infections. Furthermore, provision of free condoms and demonstrations on how to use them through objects that resemble sexual organs of human beings in an effort to promote safe sex practices during sexual intercourse has borne little fruits. As a matter of fact, many people need to be encouraged to join fields that deal with both immune and infectious diseases (Gilson, 2003).

Medical Settings

Patients can receive treatment at different places or settings (World Health Organization, 2000) which include: inpatients,

outpatients, home health services, and hospice care. These settings are described below:

Inpatients

This is a setting in which a patient becomes hospitalized in hospital facilities such as long term or acute health facilities. Acute care centers generally provide nursing and medical services to its patients. On the other hand, long term care facilities typically provide treatment services for chronically ill patients

Outpatients

These patients are not usually admitted for a long period of time. They receive treatments within 24 hours after admittance.

Home health services

Patients that have acute, critical and even chronic illnesses usually use these services. People who are elderly and suffering from chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and cancer use home health services. These services are provided at the residence of these elderly people. This method is not only convenient to the patients but also inexpensive compared to treatment at health facilities (Stevens & Zee, 2007).

Hospice care

Hospice care is a convenient method used to serve patients with terminal illnesses such as renal disease, HIV/AIDS, heart diseases, cancers, as well as lung diseases. This type of care is common among patients who have a short period of time to live, that is 6 months and below. Care for patients is provided at the residence or homes of the patients. The patients receive palliative treatment which is meant to reduce pain and symptoms and not curing. Apart from such treatment, patients and their families can receive both spiritual and emotional support from qualified experts (World Health Organization, 2000).

Health Organizations And Their Roles

There are many organizations in United States that have different roles as briefly described below:

American Medical Association

This organization came into existence back in 1847 with an aim

of improving education related to medical care. Its role is to promote medicine and improve public health care.

American College of Surgeons

American College of Surgeons was formed back in 1913 with an aim of improving surgical care for patients. This nongovernmental organization performs the role of setting standards for educators in the field of surgery. Provision of oncology and trauma services for patients is also provided by this organization (Wennberg, 2002).

American Hospital Association

This organization brings together different communities of hospital and health care providers. It was formed in 1898 and has been promoting advancement of health of both individuals and communities.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention and USAID

This organization deals with prevention, control and treatment of diseases such as Cancer and HIV/AIDs. These infectious diseases as well as immune diseases such as Autoimmune diseases have been destroying many lives in different parts of the world which has made this organization to engage in studies meant to come up with better cure and treatments and also provide essential information in its website. Another organization is USAID which provide humanitarian aid and medical services to those ailing especially in the developing world (Gilson, 2003).

Conclusion

Health delivery systems in United States have been faced with the problem of fragmentation of health system which has resulted into increased costs associated with health care and low access to health services. This is in spite of the fact that United States has one of the most trained and experienced health workers in the world. United States has however tried to provide Medicare and Medicaid in an effort to overcome obstacles in health sector.

Reference

1. Shortell, S. M. (Ed.). (2000). Remaking health care in America: the
   

evolution of organized delivery systems. Jossey-Bass.