The healthcare system in America is faced by different challenges. These challenges affect the quality of services provided to patients and their health conditions continue to worsen. There is need to improve the health care systems to ensure that the patients get the necessary services (Guagliardo 3). Some of the challenges facing the American Health care system include:
Shortage of Workforce
The American Health care system is suffering from lack of enough workforce to be employed in the health facilities. Students undertaking courses in nursing have reduced since the salaries paid in the health care facilities are low as compared to other professions (Guagliardo 3). When there is a reduction of nurses in the health care facilities, the quality of services is compromised. The health care facilities become dirty and patients lack the necessary attention. It is important for the government to consider raising the salaries for the registered nurses (RNs) to lure more students into the profession (Kocher et al. 537).
Furthermore, the government can consider offering scholarships for those willing to undertake courses in nursing. More people with the will to learn but lack the fees will take the opportunity and the number of nurses will increase (Fanjiang et al. 65). There are doctors and nurses retiring from the health institutions yet the number of new doctors and nurses are low. Lack of enough healthcare providers leads to long queues in the facilities and people sometimes die or go back home before they get the necessary assistance (Woolhandler & Himmelstein 1254).
Cost of Health
The cost of health care in America has continued to rise over years and this issue has not been addressed effectively. The cost is very high though the services being offered are not satisfactory (Vest & Gamm 289). There are poor people in the community and with the rising costs; they are unable to afford medical care. It is important for the government to consider lowering the cost of health care services to ensure that all people get equal opportunities when they are in need of medical services (Vest & Gamm 289). Keeping the information of the patients confidential also poses to be a great challenge considering some confidential information may leak out to those not involved in the treatment. It is important to have healthcare professionals who can confidentially store the information of the patients. Revealing the information of patients is unethical and technology can also pose great risks in the sharing of information.
Disparate Global Standards
There are different health care standards, programs and policies in different countries. When countries like Mexico have poor health services, countries such as the US are affected considering that their health standards drop due to communicable pandemics. America has to spend more money to protect its people from lower medical standards. Due to this, lots of money is spent and this affects the nation’s budget (Fanjiang 49).
Changes to Health Care Systems
Technology plays a vital role in enhancing the quality of health care services provided in America. Information is shared effectively and faster and patients do not have to waste much of their time in queues. The information of the patients is processed swiftly and shared through the networks (Berg 148). It becomes easy for the information to be analyzed and decisions made as to the mode of treatment to be administered. It is important for the government to ensure that all health institutions are provided with the necessary technology to facilitate improved health care services.
Works Cited
Berg, Marc. “Implementing information systems in health care organizations: myths and challenges.” International journal of medical informatics 64.2 (2001): 143-156. Print.
Fanjiang, Gary, et al., eds. Building a Better Delivery System: A New Engineering/Health Care Partnership. National Academies Press, 2005. Print.
Guagliardo, Mark F. “Spatial accessibility of primary care: concepts, methods and challenges.” International journal of health geographics 3.1 (2004): Print.
Kocher, Robert, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, and Nancy-Ann, M, DeParle. “The Affordable Care Act and the future of clinical medicine: the opportunities and challenges.” Annals of internal medicine 153.8 (2010): 536-539. Print.
Vest, Joshua, R, and Larry D, Gamm. “Health information exchange: persistent challenges and new strategies.” Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 17.3 (2010): 288-294. Print.
Woolhandler, Steffie, and David U. Himmelstein. “The deteriorating administrative efficiency of the US health care system.” New England Journal of Medicine 324.18 (2001): 1253-1258. Print.