Term Paper on "Health Care Issues"

Term Paper 3 pages (1047 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

healthcare concerns, they most normally first consider chronic illnesses that will cause a much lower quality of life if not an earlier death than normal. However, there a number of other healthcare issues that people should be aware of that need to be addressed in the United States.

One of these areas is the quality of hospital care. Technically, of course, healthcare is making significant advances. There is equipment today that can miraculously help people get better or prolong their lives. However, there is another side of hospitals, which due to their budgetary concerns is increasingly becoming a major issue.

For example, adverse drug events (ADE) in hospitals, or injuries or harm due to the wrong medicine or quantity of medicine are a very high numbers. According to a 2006 brief by the Institute of Medicine (p.2), one study estimated 380,000 preventable ADEs in hospitals each year, another estimated 450,000, which may be underestimates. In other settings, the problem is equally troubling. Another study calculates, for instance, that 800,000 preventable ADEs occur each year in long-term care facilities. Still other research finds that among outpatient Medicare patients there occur 530,000 preventable ADEs each year. Furthermore, none of these studies includes errors of omission -- failures to prescribe medication in cases where it should be. Taking all of these numbers into account, there could be at least 1.5 million preventable ADEs that occur in the U.S. each year.

There are also certain illnesses that people can get when they go to the hospital for other purposes, even for routine reasons. For instance, MRSA, meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a subject of considerable scientific and public concern. First recognized in the early 1960s, MRSA proved to be uncommon reason for infection for several decades. However, it quickly grew in significance in the 1980s, some strains then becoming of an epidemic nature in the 1990s. Today, the prevalence of MRSA infections is of major concern, especially within some particular clinical settings such as intensive-care units (ICU) where patients are especially susceptible and where transmission of bacteria is facilitated by the procedures and techniques used. A recent study of 249 patients staying in an ICU for more than 48 hours showed that 8.4% developed MRSA infections, primarily with bloodstream infection, but also pneumonia and surgical-site infection. (Williams, 2006, p.8).

As the cost of health insurance continues to increase, the numbers of individuals who are not covered also grows. Some people choose not to pay for insurance. Many others can't afford to. According to a new U.S. Census Bureau report, 46.6 million Americans are uninsured. More than 8 million of them are children. There are also many who are underinsured, or who have policies that include very high deductibles from more than $1,000 to as high as $5,000 per family member. This insurance leaves all primary healthcare uncovered, beyond a meager ability to pay for out-of-pocket expenses (Hawkins, 2007). In addition, scores of individuals do not have a regular source of care and use costly emergency rooms for routine care, driving up hospital costs. Per-person healthcare costs can be as much as 250% higher in the… READ MORE

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