Case Study Directing Operating Room Affairs

Opioid addiction is so prevalent in the healthcare system because of the countless number of hospital patients being treated for chronic pain. While opioid analgesics have beneficial painkilling properties, they also yield detrimental dependence and addiction. There is a legitimate need for the health care system to provide powerful medications because prolonged pain limits activities of daily living, work productivity, quality of life, etc. (Taylor, 2015). Patients need to receive appropriate pain treatment, however, opioids need to be prescribed after careful consideration of the benefits and risks.

For this essay I will be reflecting on the influences on, how the role of the operating department practitioner (ODP) has developed within the multi-professional healthcare team. I will also be discussing in this text some of the historical, political, legal, social, and cultural influences of the ODP. And I will be reflecting on my personal experience working within the operating department for the first time as a student, using the Gibbs cycle (1988.).

People are poor and not all can afford the fees for care or have insurance.

Living in the United States, there is one essential thing you need to have, which is health insurance. Health insurance is a type of insurance that can covers cost of medical and surgical expenses when you need them. Without health insurance, the cost of one single surgery would be a enormous number. But in the United States, there are about 46 million americans are uninsured. To them, the cost of health insurance is too high. In America, the average cost of health insurance per month is about $328 and the minimum wage per hour in here is $7.25(where cite from?). From here, we can conclude that it is too expensive for those people to get sick. So, is the health insurance cost unjustifiably high? The answer is the highly developed technology, waste of health care budget and the free competitor in the health insurance market, caused health insurance’s price to remain so high.

Patients with long-term, chronic illnesses like Mr. Davis’s, care can be very costly, especially when the patient is unable to maintain routine medical care or visits and medications. Without routine medical care and maintenance medications, patients like Mr. Davis tend to have more frequent emergency room visits and hospitalizations; increasing costs for state and local government as well as tax payers. Though Mr. Davis is able to receive care during an emergency room visit, the providers are not fully aware of his health history and are only able to provide a temporary fix of his symptoms and not address his health care needs.

Medical costs are getting too expensive. Ever fought with your insurance providers because they refused to pay for care, or struggle to find an “in-network” provider? I know a woman whose name I will change for her privacy and the struggles she is going through are a perfect example of an issue many people face when dealing with insurance; Nancy’s (name changed for privacy) story is a perfect example of how our healthcare system is no longer working for the people. Nancy is this woman whose husband recently passed away. Nancy used to work for county and county workers cannot receive social security; and Nancy is too

There are many problems with healthcare in America today. One of them including the astronomical cost. According to CDC.ORG in 2007 the average person spends seven thousand four hundred dollars per year on health care alone. This rise in healthcare is extremely detrimental for families, seniors, and people of all ages. With such a high cost of insurance people are forced to make hard choices in

The medical office waiting room: What is a reasonable period of time to keep a patient waiting?

The financial liability for the patient is daunting and may keep some from coming to the hospital for treatment and others leaving against medical advice (AMA).

With the current healthcare system in the United States there are many people who do not have health insurance due to cost.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary; “Substance abuse is the excessive use of a substance without medical justification”. Addiction is not a lack of will power or moral weakness, but is a progressive, chronic, and fatal brain disease that not only destroys a person mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but also disrupts families, businesses, and society at large. Substance abuse is reported to be the most severe occupational safety issue associated with the practice of anesthesiology, with an incidence as high as 1% per year of training (Tetzlaff , Collins , Brown, Leak, Pollock & Popa, 2008). Anesthesiologists are reported to be more susceptible to substance abuse than other medical professionals (Garcia-Guasch. Roige, & Padro, 2012).´ Since it is not plausible to identify them before they become addicted, it is necessary to learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of addiction when they eventually become manifest so as to preserve the safety of not only co-workers or colleagues, but the patients they care for. Early identification of substance-abusing anesthesia providers is very crucial. Depending on the half-life of the abused agent, tolerance and dependence can develop and can rapidly escalate out of control to the point of discovery (Bryson & Silverstein, 2008). According to the AANA 2012 Peer Assistance and Wellness Committee, the typical time frame for discovery is 1

$300,000 a year is too much money to pay for a medication because some people don’t have enough money to afford $300,000 of medication. A drug called Kalydeco helps people who suffer from cystic fibrosis, a lung disease by attacking symptoms such as pain in the abdomen. According to “The $300,000 drug” it states, “It’s more than $300,000 a year. Because patients will likely be taking the drug for the rest of their lives, it could cost millions of dollars to keep one patient on Kalydeco.” This reveals that the disease can cost millions because those affected by the disease will most likely be using it their whole life. Not everyone is fortunate enough to afford not only Kalydeco as well as basic necessities like food and clothes. There are also people who have more than one disease and need medication for that disease too.

“The Process Improvement in Stanford Hospital’s Operating Room” case has many issues when it comes to regards to its existing instrument provisioning process taking place within the Operating Room (OR) of Stanford’s Hospital. This process entails getting instruments ready for a surgery in the OR and the cleansing of these instruments afterwards; however, there are many problems that arise in this process.

“Most of the poor people use these cheaper, generic drugs and the disease comes back more intense,” he said. “Because it is quite intense they are ready to pay any amount and they pay the highest” when they go to the public hospital for treatment. Those who are willing to pay cash are taken care of first.

So one is going about your business, doing your normal routine and it’s time for a doctor’s visit. You go in there, the doctor performs his regular examine and sends you home. The next phone call you get from your doctor is a tragic one. They have just diagnosed you with a disease that has a low survival rate. And so begins the medical treatments. These treatments could last weeks, months, or years, during which you will face some of the most difficult choices. Some of our family members or friends have heard these words before and unfortunately doctors can only do so much to help, and the cost of treatments are on the rise. According to the NY Times, you could be paying up to a million dollars in one year just to pay for treatments,