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Nowadays, the field of healthcare has to face numerous issues that stem from high attrition rates, understaffing, increasing stress on healthcare workers, and other factors. Consequently, the quality of patient care tends to decrease, causing patient dissatisfaction with the services. While the government entities and medical establishments make an effort to eliminate the challenges, there are still imperfections in the system. The analysis of the local healthcare facility, more specifically a local clinic, shed light on such existing issues as the lack of insurance coverage for many patients, shortage of nursing personnel, and the issue of increasing preventable medical mistakes. As a result, these issues necessitate healthcare advocacy plans with methods that could eliminate these problems.
First, the absence of insurance coverage is a serious issue in the U.S. and has serious adverse health effects. 28.0 million individuals, or 8.6 percent of the population, lacked medical insurance at a certain period in 2020. In 2020, 91.4 percent of individuals had health insurance for all or some of the time (US Census Bureau, 2022). Uninsured people have a higher incidence of serious medical conditions, increased physical impairment, and a higher death rate than insured people. Access to treatment is more complicated for them because they are less likely to receive a consistent source of care, to seek medical attention when they are sick, and postpone seeking medical attention they need due to financial considerations.
In order to change such a situation, numerous actions will need to be undertaken by independent institutions and government entities. Among the methods are extending the reach of current programs to include low-income adult individuals along with underage patients, establishing a stream of health coverage for sole proprietors and smaller companies with premium subsidies for lower-income workers, and mandating organizations to offer medicinal benefits or make contributions to a pool of money that will provide coverage for working-class patients.
Second, the nursing field still struggles with a lack of skilled educators, excessive attrition, and unequal distribution of labor. There are various and serious reasons for the nurse shortage. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that from 2020 to 2030, there will be a demand for more than 275,000 professional nurses (Haddad et al., 2022). The National Council of State Boards of Nursing found that the typical nurse practitioner in the United States was 51 years old in 2020 (Haddad et al., 2022). This implies that there is not only a growing demand for nurses but the rapid aging of remaining professionals.
In order to deal with the shortage of nursing professionals, there will be a need for early application of technology and encouragement. The adoption of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and other technology developments may have an impact on nurses’ ability to remain in the field. Although certain disciplines, like healthcare technology, are flourishing, this exacerbates the shortage issue by diverting nurses from fields that involve direct patient care. Many experienced nurses find it difficult to use the technology and leave the field more rapidly. Furthermore, while giving the finest and safest care possible to the patients, institutions must come up with innovative ways to suit the demands of nurses. To re-energize and maintain the nursing workforce, an atmosphere that encourages and stimulates nurses is required. Reduced stress and a stronger motivation to quit the profession will result from giving employees more authority in staffing ratio judgments that take high volume and acuity degrees into account. Various institutions have embraced and pursued the Magnet Certification to ensure exceptional nursing practices and a feeling of security, efficiency, and patient satisfaction.
Lastly, the increasing rate of preventable medical mistakes tends to be an issue in healthcare as well. Annually, medical mistakes in healthcare facilities claim the lives of almost 100,000 individuals (Rodziewicz et al., 2022). Surgical, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, technology, and equipment failure, viruses, and accidents are examples of medical mistakes. In outpatient settings, incorrect diagnoses or medication-related complications are frequent.
Quality care may be increased by acknowledging unfavorable incidents when they occur, learning from them, and attempting to prevent them. Maintaining an environment that strives to identify safety concerns and put workable solutions in place as opposed to supporting an environment of blame, guilt, and the penalty is a part of the answer. Moreover, medical mistakes need to be seen as obstacles that must be solved in order for medical organizations to develop a safe workplace that prioritizes process improvement. Making healthcare delivery safer for patients and healthcare professionals requires participation from every member of the healthcare team. All healthcare professionals are aware that medical mistakes are a significant danger to patient care and a critical public health issue. Yet, the question of defining a medical mistake remains one of the most difficult topics to be resolved. This fundamental query has not yet been satisfactorily resolved. Medical mistakes are difficult to assess accurately because of ambiguous terminology. Analysis of the data, synthesis, and assessment have been hampered by the absence of uniform language and conflicting interpretations of medical mistakes.
Hence, currently, there are several healthcare issues that not only impede the growth and improvements in the field but lead to detrimental outcomes. Among these issues are the lack of insurance coverage for many patients, shortage of nursing personnel, and the issue of increasing preventable medical mistakes. In order to change the first issue, there is a necessity to extend the reach of current programs to include low-income individuals. Furthermore, to resolve the issue of nurse shortcomings, there is a need for early application of technology and encouragement. Lastly, to solve the problem of increasing preventable medical mistakes, there is a need for acknowledgment of unfavorable incidents, learning, and prevention.
References
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2022). Nursing shortage. StatPearls Publishing.
Rodziewicz, T. L., Houseman, B., & Hipskind, J. E. (2022). Medical error reduction and prevention. StatPearls Publishing.
US Census Bureau. (2022). Health insurance coverage in the United States: 2020.
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