Understanding Social Change On The Health Care World

The readings this week solidified many long standing questions that I’ve had about the healthcare system, and further proved to me just how flawed it is. The introduction and chapter four from The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr established a framework and common language surrounding how the current healthcare system came to be. The introduction specifically heavily focused on the concept of authority and how cultural and societal authority differ and work to strengthen an individual's power. Following this intro, the fourth chapter serves to provide the reader with baseline historical context on how hospitals and physicians have evolved from voluntary institutions into for-profit corporations. Using these chapters as foundational knowledge Gambles chapter gains new nuances to the need for Black hospitals to be established, and the competing forces that were at work to ensure their failure.

Culture is the shared beliefs, customs, practices, way of life and languages of a group or community of people. Cultural diversity refers to the differences between these. Australia is made up of many interconnected, culturally diverse societies and as our country grows, so does our cultural diversity. Our primary health care system is riddled with conflict based upon religion, ethnicity, culture and beliefs. All people from all cultures have the same potential for health and disease but it is the social determinants of health that shape the inequities within the Australian health care system.

Making big choices in life can be difficult, especially if that big choice is having children. There are many men and women who are infertile that still want to have children. Most decide to adopt other children who do not have families or their families do not want them. But when adoption is not an option, there is now a way where those men and women can have their own children together through fertility treatments. Fertility treatments could be a good thing:being able to freeze egg and sperm, they can help infertile couples, and avoiding transmitted diseases would be easier.

Health care is continuously changing. In the past several years there has been a large shift in the focus in hospitals. The focus has changed from the staff to patients, patient satisfaction, and cutting costs in order to budget more tightly (Tarrant & Sabo, 2010). Because of this, along with the extreme increase in a number of patients seen and the acuity of the patients, nurses are being overworked. As a result, role conflict and ambiguity is becoming an issue. The purpose of this paper is to discuss role conflict and ambiguity, its significance, and its application to nursing.

In my workplace things change on daily basis, problems occur. That means that systems in place might need changing. It is mine responsibility that policies, procedures and systems of communicating are kept up to date and those in place are correct. Care Plans, documents are checked on regular basis, reviewed and up dated when required. Residents’ needs change from day to day therefore we have formal or informal chats to discuss what has changed and how to meet these needs. Handovers also keep staff informed about new happenings. Policies that are changed through companies are out into practise and old files archived. Information that is no longer in use is stored away and archived. We have in place procedures that we follow and hand them over

Keeping a person alive by excessive treatment might devastate the family and make the dying suffer tremendously in the end. “Advance medical technology that seems to one person a godsend, extending life, may seem to another a curse that only prolong dying. Dignity can be devalued amid technology focused solely on the biological organism.”

As a country Canada prides itself on Universal health care for everyone equally (Macqueen, 2011). However, there are many discrepancies seen in the health care that Aboriginals and non-aboriginal Canadians receive (Weeks, 2013). As a result, Aboriginals health is deteriorating in nearly every aspect on a much larger scale than the rest of the Canadian population (Weeks, 2013). As reported in the article Aboriginal seniors face more challenges staying healthy, accessing care: report from “The Globe and Mail” aboriginal seniors are struggling accessing health care and staying healthy (Ubelaker, 2013). Aboriginals are much more susceptible to health issues such as chronic diseases, disabilities and infections and are having to travel unethical distances in order to access health centres (Weeks, 2013).

Rapid and dramatic developments in medicine and technology have given us the power to save more lives than ever possible in the past. Medicine has put at our disposal the means to cure or to reduce the suffering of people afflicted with diseases that were once fatal or painful. At the same time, however, medical technology has given us the power to sustain the lives (or some would say, prolong the deaths) of patients whose physical and mental capabilities cannot be restored, whose degenerating conditions cannot be

One of the greatest changes in healthcare in the past ten years has been the rise of managed care, much to the displeasure of many patients and physicians alike. Managed care arose out of concern about spiraling healthcare costs and was designed to encourage physicians to give patients treatments that were cost-effective out of their own financial interests. "The consumer strategy was directed at imposing some barriers to use by levying various forms of co-insurance. The most common approaches used either deductibles (where the consumer paid the first portion of the bill a technique familiar in other types of insurance) or co-payments (where the consumer paid a portion of the bill and the insurance company the rest) or a combination of both' (Kane et al 1994). Managed care has given health insurance companies an increasingly significant voice in how treatment is administered and allocated. Managed care has proliferated in the past decade despite considerable criticism of the practice of 'nickel and diming' patients as well as the considerable bureaucratic red tape it is has generated. Also, research indicates that healthy, well-insured patients tend to over-consume care without meaningful co-pays but poorer, sicker patients can be deterred even by moderate co-payments and suffer negative health consequences (Kane et al 1994). However, managed care has not gone away and is a reality that all healthcare

Philosophers throughout history often have a pessimistic outlook on life. Socrates, Lucretius and Epicurus are just some of a number of philosophers that argue against the liberal view of life. Daniel Callahan is a contemporary philosopher that explores the role of medicine in modern society. Callahan argues against the liberal view of life by saying that people should focus on living full and fitting lives. In the first section, titled The Fallacies of Callahan’s Arguments, I explore the problems with his ideas and show that his argument does not justify setting a limit to human lives. In The Argument for the Continuation of Life, I argue for the liberal view of life and support it with Christine Overall’s views. Human beings should be able to extend their lives as they see fit and setting limits based on anti-life extension ideas would go against the individual’s right to choose.

As a scientist and medical professional, I try to make decisions based on logic and evidence. However, many people make decisions, especially important ones about things like healthcare, based upon religious or cultural beliefs and practices. While I have always respected different cultures, it can be difficult to witness such critical conclusions being reached based more upon these tenets than upon scientific evidence.

Throughout the millennia since the origin of man, technology has continuously evolved contributing to a longer life expectancy among humans. Now, even terminally ill patients can be kept alive by medications and machines. These life saving devices also carry the potential to kill a human with little effort or time. The debate has arisen as to whether people have the “right to die” or often referred to dying with their dignity. The modern dictionary defines the right to die as, “a person 's right to refuse extraordinary life-sustaining measures intended to prolong life artificially when the person is deemed by his or her physicians to be terminally or incurably ill”(right-to-die). As the questions circling these methods of killing grow, religious groups are beginning to take stances on the issue. Two of the largest religions in the world, Buddhism and Hinduism, have denounced the idea of death with dignity but for different reasons. While neither religion is a supporter of the right to die, the rejections are not unanimous for either group.

Infertility can be extremely challenging for couples to overcome. It can be not only physically draining, but emotionally and mentally as well. Infertility can be easily compared to a roller coaster, with emotions going up and down from hope and optimism plummeting down to frustration and even grief after many the couple has tried for a long period of time. While for me personally, I first think of women when I think of infertility, the men play a large role as well. They are also hoping for children and the biological reason for the infertility can be from either sex. Research has also shown that infertility can make physically difficult and cause anxiety in couples, which could led to increased difficulty in conceiving (Domar & Gordon,

I returned to full time education to College after having a gap in my education for over ten years. I was a mature student and I was a little apprehensive at first about starting because I didn’t know what to expect. There were several groups on the course I thought I was in a very nice group at first but after a few weeks things changed and the bitchiness and back stabbing started. I was in control of my anxiety at first but the singling me out and bulling got too me. Making it hard for me to be in class I would go and see the Colleges Councillor to help me calm down and to keep me on track with my work. My grades got worse with missing classes as the bulling got more and more then I eventually had a panic attack in class and reluctantly told the tutor I didn’t want to get them in trouble. My grades suffered from this I worked my hardest to pass the course, but I did not for fill my potential. I later found out that I could apply for the Foundation course for Community Health and Wellbeing at USW something I did not think I could ever do with my grades. I had applied for the Adult Nursing Course previous, but I did not meet their criteria with my grades. Now starting Community Health and wellbeing, it has now given me a chance to make something of myself and to be proud of something.

To begin with, I will provide the basic medical facts involving IVF to give a solid understanding of what goes into the whole process and what facts involving this process cause the questioning of the ethical and moral issues. Infertility affects about 4.9 million couples in the United States, or one in every twelve. Approximately one-third of infertility cases can be traced to causes in the female (Encarta). However, a small proportion of infertile