Identification of a Relevant Public Health Issue

Hospital emergency room wait times are the talk of the United States right now. Long wait times can contribute to the problems that decrease the quality of our health care system. Emergency room wait times depend on how busy the day is going, how long it takes for each patient to be seen, and how much staff is on duty. Wait times are also based on your injury as well. If you are there for a broken toe versus a head injury, you are going to be seen after the patient with the head injury despite the fact that you were there first. A case study researched and and written by Kevin Tuttle explains a challenge with a mission to decrease the wait times in the emergency room department.

Changes to the health care system throughout the United States will greatly influence health care utilization. Trends in health care utilization can be used to project future health care needs, predict expenditures, or for training personnel in new medical procedures and policies (Berstein, Hing, Moss, Allen, Siller & Tiggle, 2003). For example, the increase in ambulatory surgery was changed by improvements in anesthesia and improved techniques in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (Berstein, Hing, Moss, Allen, Siller & Tiggle, 2003). Advanced medical procedures that used to require a few weeks of bed rest now only need a few days in the hospital. Shorter hospital stay makes the patient happier and it

William Beveridge was a man whom was asked by government to write a report on the best and most effective ways to help those on low incomes. This was after the Second World War when people felt they needed rewarding, which the government responded to by promising to create a more equal society. In Beveridge’s report in December 1942, he proposed that all people of a working age should contribute, which would benefit people who were sick, unemployed, retired, or widowed.

Baby boomer aging is one of the large causative factors of this increase in demand (Glicken & Miller, 2013, p.1883-1889). According to Glicken & Miller (2013), the elderly population will nearly double in the next fifteen years putting a strain on the healthcare workforce. Also, more than half of physicians have intentions on limiting care access with regards to Medicare patients. Many medical doctors are refusing to care for Medicaid patients. This is a result of the growing number of individuals now with the means to afford healthcare due to the

The baby boomer generation is expected to grow to 18.2 percent in 2025 (Strunk, Ginsburg, & Banker, 2006). This has been compared to 12.4 percent in 2005, which is a significant difference and will dramatically impact hospital services in the years to come. As this generation ages they will continue to experience more than one chronic illness in which will require more managed care and eventually require inpatient services. Research varies with this topic and some state that life longevity along with new technology continuously expanding and being more advanced will make a difference on how this will impact inpatient services. However, most agree that this generation will start to develop multiple chronic illnesses and the need for knee replacements and hip replacements will continue to increase. In the development of these conditions will increase the need for hospital inpatient

To add to the dilemma, the rising cost of healthcare will not adequately be addressed by any new healthcare system. The costs of healthcare in America are staggering and currently represent over 17% of our national GDP with the expectation of that number rising to 20% in less than 5 years. These costs are direct hits on the revenues received by hospital which affect their ability to remain operational. As the hospital’s revenues and profit margin decrease, so does the expected longevity of the hospital.

The Affordable Care Act will provide health insurance coverage to an expected 32 million people.1 Health care organizations must try to use their current resources competently and capitalize on inpatient bed capacity. Dealing with capacity and high census in hospitals and emergency departments (ED) is a universal problem.1 Hospitals need to enhance their capacity to meet the goal of keeping their doors open at all the times for their patients and community. However, high cost approaches like expanding capacity with more space, staffing, technology and care givers impend the expected bottom line benefits of giving more health services to patients.3

(CITE) Despite its success the Canadian health care system has some concerns associated with it and It is important for policy makers, and the health management sector to address these issues and provide solutions for them. Health management is a complex social goal, and a major initiative in Canada, which is heavily relied on the public sector. One of the major issues the health care system is currently facing the over crowded emergency departments and extremely long waiting times. . In this paper I will discuss the issue of overcrowded hospitals as a results of the rising population of the elderly. Many of our hospitals are over crowned, there are long waiting time, and the elderly are not provided with sufficient care. Overcrowding will place an increasing amount of burden on the hospital by delaying testing and diagnosis times, creating a shortage of nurses and doctors, and it may also have a negative impact on the financial state of the hospital.

Briefly explain your public health message and justify why you believe it would promote change within your target audience

In recent years, the healthcare industry has seen a significant decline in the quality of patient care it provides. This has been the result of reduced staffing levels, overworked nurses, and an extremely high nurse to patient ratio. The importance of nurse staffing in hospital settings is an issue of great controversy. Too much staff results in costs that are too great for the facility to bear, but too little staffing results in patient care that is greatly hindered. Moreover, the shaky economy has led to widespread budget cuts; this, combined with the financial pressures associated with Medicare and private insurance companies have forced facilities to make due with fewer

Time is obviously a critical factor when seeking medical attention. Emergency room nurses triage incoming patients based on the severity of their illness or injury. While an ER is required to attend to all patients, many find themselves waiting a very long time as other individuals

America has expanded so much over the last decades. People are living longer due to advancements in technology. However, the down side to this circumstance is over populated areas in the U.S. The impact is tremendously felt in the health care settings of hospitals. Hospitals are having a difficult time accommodating patients. Hospital department leaders, are responsible for management performance in their hospital, there are several reasons why emergency department crowding should be at the head of the hospital improvement efforts. The purpose of this paper is to address those issue.

When injured or ill patients come into the emergency room, they expect their conditions - or "emergencies" - to be treated quickly. However, because it is such a busy place, not every patient can be treated immediately. As a result, patients can end up waiting a long time without even being acknowledged. Emergency room wait times should be decreased because longer wait times result in the worsening of patients' conditions which could result in loss of lives.

Through a creative scenarios-based process, workshop participants developed a set of recommendations aimed at guiding public health stakeholders toward an aspirational vision of expanded and multi-institutional analytic collaboration on near- and long-term determinants of health using informatics-based approaches. Six recommendations were identified and targeted toward state and local PHAs, federal public health partners, other government agencies, health care delivery organizations, health plans, private industry, and nonprofit organizations.

If the movement of people, food, and manufactured goods can have such a negative impact on public health, should steps be taken to reduce these flows? What other options are there for lowering the spread of global diseases?