Healthcare System of China
The health status within the framework of the healthcare system of China can be summarized as follows:
- Life expectancy at birth m/f – 75/78;
- Probability of dying under 5 (per 1000 live birth) – non-available;
- Probability of dying between 15 and 60, m/f (per 1000 population) – 98/71;
- Total expenditure on health care per capita (lntl $) – 731;
- Total expenditure on health (% of GDP) – 5.5 (Wu et al., 2013).
According to surveys aimed to identify the perceived healthcare status of the population, males have a higher level of well-being. Moreover, women are more likely to indicate the presence of various diseases (including chronic ones) and complain about the poorer quality of life. At the same time, it has also been found out that men report more frequent smoking and alcohol consumption (Wu et al., 2013). As far as the social status is concerned, the wealthier urban population does not show any signs of being healthier (in terms of suffering from health conditions) than people living in the rural areas (Yip & Hsiao, 2015).
In general, the health status of the Chinese indicates that, despite the rapid economic development of the country during the last two decades, the healthcare sector is still lagging behind. Although there is some achievement in decreasing mortality rates, the number and incidence of infectious diseases have increased in recent years. Healthcare expenditures remain rather low, even compared to developing countries of the African region. Besides inadequate spending, the population also suffers from the lack of access to various health services as well as a considerable shortage of resources and very high costs (Yip & Hsiao, 2015). As a result, medical treatment remains out of reach of more than one-third of the Chinese.
Primary Healthcare Nurse in Switzerland
The role of primary healthcare nurses in Switzerland is not clearly identified since there is no current scope of practice prescribed for the position. It is not infrequent that professionals educated as nurses do not function in clinical settings but rather become specialists in quality management, safety improvement, or leadership. Although it widens the variety of job options for graduates, such vague limits do not allow the profession to develop following its own course (Bryant‐Lukosius et al., 2016). The country is presently more focused on elaborating on new nursing models than defining the scope of each medical profession.
As far as community health nursing is concerned, the situation is rather standard and resembles the role models accepted in other countries. A community health nurse may work in a wide range of clinical settings and therefore assume a number of different roles according to the situation and status. There are seven major ones that can be identified in Switzerland:
- clinician;
- educator;
- researcher;
- manager;
- advocate;
- collaborator;
- leader (Bryant‐Lukosius et al., 2016).
Despite the fact that each of these professionals performs a specific set of tasks, they are still united by the common goals since all of them promote healthy living, prevent infectious diseases, control chronic conditions, provide medical assistance and rehabilitation services to the population, evaluate the health status of the Swiss community, assess the quality of health care delivery and disease prevention, drive healthcare innovations, and conduct research to resolve the existing problems (Bryant‐Lukosius et al., 2016).
A community nurse in Switzerland may not only provide direct care but also educate the population, risk groups, or separate individuals. He/she may also cooperate with other healthcare professionals in order to advocate for improvements and initiate new policies. It is legal to belong to various organizations (including political ones) to promote the health of the population (Bryant‐Lukosius et al., 2016).
References
Bryant‐Lukosius, D., Spichiger, E., Martin, J., Stoll, H., Kellerhals, S. D., Fliedner, M.,… Schwendimann, R. (2016). Framework for evaluating the impact of advanced practice nursing roles. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 48(2), 201-209.
Wu, S., Wang, R., Zhao, Y., Ma, X., Wu, M., Yan, X., & He, J. (2013). The relationship between self-rated health and objective health status: A population-based study. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 320-345.
Yip, W., & Hsiao, W. C. (2015). What drove the cycles of Chinese health system reforms? Health Systems & Reform, 1(1), 52-61.