In The Crossfire

Chapter 2 focuses on problems in health care such as access, cost, quality, and what some believe to lead to health issues. “The World Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being” (p27). Many argue that “the study of social problems is, essentially, the study of health problems, as each social problem affects the physical, mental, and social well-being of humans and the social groups of which they are a part” (p27).

I assume that in today’s world, there is a lot of information and scholarly research available that shows factors such as economic status, income, social situations, education, ethnicity, employment, availability of affordable housing and geographical (place where one was born and lives) conditions have a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of individuals, countries and communities (Amaro, 2014). Inequalities in health and well-being are created by social determinants and economic conditions for many in our community (Brannigan &Boss). The people that are affected the most are people with low income and minority groups here in the United States. This creates health disparities and unequal care (Brannigan &Boss). In many developing and under-developed countries, the situation is dire: lack of modern health services, illiteracy, poor economic conditions has created a cultural situation of desperation and unhealthy behaviors. Corruption by African governments is rampant. To improve the health and wellbeing of communities, we need to start thinking of how we can create a culture of health.

It is important to understand determinants such as poverty, lack in health care access, exposure to disease early in life, social positions, gender, race/ethnicity will all effect communities who receive health inequalities. Organizations such as WHO, National Institute of Health (NIH), and Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been working to provide the best quality of care for urban/rural populations. An adjustment in policies is needed to protect access to health, education, and employment for disadvantaged populations. Even though governments have made policies to provide health to all, we can see urban/rural populations are in a lack of quality of care. Health needs to be a right for all, and not based on whether in urban area or socioeconomic status they are in. Individuals’ irrespective of socioeconomic class or race should have the same rights and

Also, many of the case studies conducted in the Three City Study show that the poor will only seek medical care for their children or themselves only when inoculations are required or need of care is visibly apparent (Angel 28). This results in very little preventive care and education, two key components for an efficient health care system. The United States currently spends nearly $100 billion per year to provide uninsured residents with health services, often for preventable diseases or diseases that physicians could treat more efficiently with earlier diagnosis (NCHC). The lack of preventative care will most likely be a larger financial burden on the poor later in life and further exhaust healthcare resources. Thus, the current health care safety net provides discontinuous care that essentially allows poor adults no health care, complicates the lives of poor with stringent requirements and protocol, and forces difficult choices upon adults regarding who in the family has the priority of care.

As a high-income society, the United States when comparing the health care statistics to others world-wide is one of the most blessed nations in the world, but many people who struggle to pay for their health care find that our health care system has many weaknesses that effect the overall quality of care and their personal well-being. Health is defined by the World Health Organization as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being” (Macionis 236). There are many degrees of both physical and mental health and most people fall short of complete health and find themselves in need of medical care. One indicator that is used to measure a society’s overall health is the infant mortality rate, which is “the number of babies who die before their first birthday out of every thousand babies born” (Macionis 236). As expected, America’s infant mortality rates are low especially when coming comparing the rates to countries that are known to have economic hardships. Another means to measure the overall health well-being of a society is by determining the life expectancy at birth or the number of years that a person is expected to live in a given society. High-income nation’s life-expectancy rates are higher and most people can live long lives without serious health conditions until later in life. Low-income nations unfortunately can have much lower life expectancies. The economy and livelihood of a

Sharps injuries (mainly needlestick), carry the risk of serious infections. Healthcare providers are exposed to these dangerous and prospectively life-threatening infections. Ideally, most needlestick injuries together with other sharps injuries remain preventable. Sharps injuries remain an important area of study since it affects a large number of healthcare providers. For instance, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 385,000 needlesticks injuries take place yearly and hospital-based

Compared to other members of the community of health care nurses are at a significant risk of needle stick injury because of their frequent performance with vein punctures and taking care of patients suffering from different infectious diseases. Needles may cause injury to you or to someone else if they were not properly discarded after use and can also cause an injury if you do not use gloves to protect your hands while you work with needles. If a medical professional gets stuck by a needle, then they need to wash the area thoroughly with soap and contact their healthcare provider as soon as

Maintaining a secure surrounding is a reflection of the organizational culture and an indicator of the level of compassion and vigilance that the organization has for the workers and the welfare of the patients. The management needs to improve safety and assess the causes of error during the handling of patients. As a matter of fact, the stakeholders and the policymakers need to intense their efforts to establish and structure conditions and process that will promote healthy working conditions and improve the patient safety. Health care staff need to be trained in the proper skills of handling patients with terminal and highly infectious diseases. The workers and the management should ensure that the workers are provided with the relevant protective gears while handling a patient. The cases of nonlethal activity injuries are the main reasons for sickness among the staff. Purchase and use of patient transfer and lifting facilities are the key elements of an efficient program to manage the danger of injury to patients and employees related to lifting, moving, locating or movement of patients. It will also show the level of management commitment to implement a secure patient handling program and to supply the health workers with applicable measures to avoid manual handling. The education and coaching of aid staff ought to be in gear towards assessment of hazards within the assistance work setting, choice and use of the acceptable patient lifting instrumentation and devices, and review of research-based practices of safe patient

The different types of risks applicable to health care settings include clients/patients and HCW’s who may become infected with communicable diseases or have wounds that carry infection. HCW’s handle equipment, materials and waste products that carry infection, and can therefore be infected during the course of their duties, and potentially infect other people who also frequent the same environment.

Indeed, “Social determinants are relevant to communicable and non-communicable disease alike”¹. The healthcare system work and is different among the countries and some parameters that help to maintain these inequalities are the poor control of major diseases which influenced directly on the life of expectancy. Second poverty which is linked to infectious diseases and third the poor conditions where people live and work which contribute to the mental, physical and violent deaths¹.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are always advised to get the Influenza Vaccine, and therefore, many policies have been created to boost staff compliance. According to Stewart (2012), getting vaccinated with the Influenza vaccine has stirred many debates and prompted many arguments about the right approach to health policy and development. According to the Center for Disease Control (2017), it is critical that all HCWs receive the Influenza vaccine when not contraindicated because they continually interact with high-risk patients and thus are at increased risk of transmitting the virus if they should become infected.

Henslin states, “[p]eople with good incomes or with good medical insurance are able to choose their doctors and pay for whatever treatments and medications are prescribed. The poor, in contrast, don’t have the money or insurance to afford this type of medical care” (Henslin, 2017, p. 276). Medical care is a service for profit, and those who cannot afford it, get little service or none (Henslin, 2017). The services many in poverty are all too familiar with are well documented in The Waiting Room. Many people awaiting health services for long periods of time. The patients also experienced depersonalization as often the people working treated them as another case (as can be seen with the young shooting victim). Yet, one thing seemed to stand out among all the patients, they were either lower class or victims of poverty triggers. The father of the young girl with the throat issue had been laid off and couldn’t get back into the job market. The older woman who seemed to be among a higher class, said she had just gotten laid off and would not be there otherwise. The carpet layer had been not making enough money to provide for himself (let alone his daughter and grandchild), as he had been a victim of internal colonialism (Davis & Nicks, 2012). It is for no other reason but their class, they cannot gain the medical care they need at an affordable price, making class a greater influence than education.

The United States of America has been considered by many to be the richest and most blessed country to exist. Many of its people are wealthy and powerful. Many US citizens are happy people, living in their homes with their families. However, some US citizens are living in extreme conditions that affect their lives drastically. Many face homelessness, some face extreme hunger, and most experience more stress than happiness throughout their lives. Undoubtedly, poverty causes a large array of issues in one’s life, but one of the most harmful components of being poor is the extreme health hazards that those who live in poverty face every day. A substantial number of Americans can afford Medicare and medical assistance to combat these illnesses, but many poor people cannot. This lack of medical support leads to various health issues that not only subtract from an individual’s already low quality of life, but can also impact others by spreading disease in the home or in public places. Furthermore, some may contract severe illnesses and even die from a curable disease because they could not afford the cure. The University of California San Francisco tells its readers in an article about a doctor who lost an important document in the trash and searched behind the clinic for the paper in the trash bins, “What he found instead in the mountain of rubbish were crumpled prescription slips that patients had tossed in hospital trash

Access to health care refers to the individual’s ability to obtain and use needed services (Ellis & Hartley, 2008). Access to health care affects a multitude of people. Uninsured, underinsured, elderly, lower socioeconomic class, minorities, and people that live in remote areas are at the highest risk for lack of access to health care. There are also economical and political roles that complicate access to health care. Access to health care is a multi-faceted concept involving geographic, economics, or sociocultural issues. With my extensive research on access to health care, I hope to provide influences regarding; who is affected by lack of access, geographic, economic, sociocultural access, and

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, incorporating the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000, is designed to protect at-risk employees from exposure to blood and other potentially infectious materials. Employees and healthcare workers covered by this standard include those who: