When taking a closer look at the American healthcare system, one will notice that it is, in fact, quite efficient. No matter what one may say about the lack of its consistency, the system still offers legitimate help. However, specifying the flaws of U.S. healthcare, one must mention that it has weirdly little elements of the vital disaster culture. Even though the United States is as much predisposed to cataclysms as any other state, especially seeing how the phenomenon of tornadoes is frequent in the United States.
The reasons for the healthcare authorities of the United States to neglect such an important issue may vary from negligence to the plain lack of money for funding the introduction of safety measures instructions, upgrading the skills of the healthcare staff to address a case in point. Indeed, according to what McGlown says, there has been a plethora of opportunities for the U.S. government to recognize the necessity of developing a vital disaster culture, seeing how the number of disaster victims “has been steadily increasing since the 1950s” (McGlown 3).
Also, as McGlown stresses, it is extremely hard to maintain the state of national preparedness. No matter how well people may be informed, they tend to get tired of unceasing tension and, therefore, tend to rely on the national security services rather than on their caution. The unwillingness to raise calamity among the U.S. citizens can also be considered as an important factor defining the strategy.
Discuss the key element of effective risk management
When it comes to healthcare, the risk management process becomes extremely complicated because of the necessity to not only provide the environment for training highly qualified staff but also enhance awareness regarding disasters and the means to prevent them, fight them and survive in them among average American citizens. At some point, one might even consider the idea of effective risk management practically impossible because of the notorious human factor and people’s attitude to panic in a seemingly desperate situation. However, by analyzing and evaluating the key risk management elements, one may redefine the existing risk management strategies to help people fight their fear and struggle for survival in case of a disaster.
As McGlown explains, there are four key stages to risk management, particularly, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery (— 28). At first, some of the stages may seem to conflict with each other; for instance, “mitigation” followed by “response” presupposes that the disaster did occur despite the preventive measures used. However, when taking a closer look at the issue, one must admit that both the ability to fight the issue and the skill of dealing with its consequences are crucial for people to be prepared for disasters of any kind. The remaining two stages have been picked just as reasonably, with a clear understanding of disaster management as the ability to handle the consequences of natural or human-induced catastrophes. A decent overview of disasters of the XXI century, McGlown’s book is a thought-provoking work.
Works Cited
McGlown, Joanne K. “Preparing Young HealthCare Facility for Disaster.” Terrorism and Disaster Management: Preparing Healthcare Leaders for the New Reality. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press. 2004. 3–26. Print.
—. “Preparing Young HealthCare Facility for Disaster.” Terrorism and Disaster Management: Preparing Healthcare Leaders for the New Reality. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press. 2004. 27–48. Print.