Analysis of Current Infant Mortality Rate - Assignment Example

Assignment, Biology

Locate the current infant mortality rate in the state you will reside in, in 10 years. Compare to NY-determine a cause, average age group, what is your opinion on why this is occurring-any thoughts on what can be done.

Infant mortality rate- The number of deaths during the first year of life per 1,000 successful births in a population group.

Current infant mortality rate in Wisconsin.

In 2010,393 children born in Wisconsin died before the age of 1. African Americans were 95 and 247 were whites. In 2008-2010,the disparity ration of African American to white infant mortality rate was 2.7,meaning that an African American infant was 2.7 times more likely to die than a white infant.

African Americans

American Indian

Hispanic

/Latino

Laotian and Hmong

White

Other/

unknown

All races

Infant deaths

95(24%)

6(2%)

29(7%)

8(2%)

247(64%)

8(2%)

393(100%)

Births

6845

(10%)

1,129(2%)

6,560(10%)

1,264

(2%)

50,893

(74%)

68,367

(100%)

New York infant mortality rate-in 2012, the New York City infant mortality rate was 4.7 per 1000 births.

Despite the declining mortality rates among all racial groups, disparities exist. The infant mortality rate among non-Hispanic blacks was 2.8 higher than among non-Hispanic whites.

Causes of early infant deaths

• Prematurity (short gestation and low birth weight)
• Birth defects (congenital deformations)
• Cardiovascular diseases

Willow brook Documentary 1972 Geraldo Rivera-Please YouTube this documentary-many nurses and doctors were exposed. Your opinion, thoughts as a health care professional. What would you have done if you walked in to this facility and witnessed this?

Investigative reporter Geraldo Rivera did a shocking expose of Willow brook State School. The documentary revealed inhumane conditions experienced by the mentally challenged children.

Willowbrook State School is designed for less than 4,000 residents. At the time of expose, it was overpopulated by more than 6,000 residents. This means less attendance per resident, which strains the effectiveness of delivering quality services to patients. The resident-to-attendant ratios was approximately fifty-to-one.

Geraldo was alerted by one of the sacked doctors and he managed to gain access to the facility and filmed the conditions.

There was a lot of mistreatment inform of-

• Being beaten with sticks and belt buckles.
• Most of the residents stayed naked in the day room.
• Sexual harassment from staff to student.
• Psychological torture –no parents allowed to visit, lack of hygiene, isolation and negligence.

The filthy environment at Willowbrook State School warrants closure by the government. As a health care professional and a witness, I would advocate for permanent closure of this facility for the following reasons;

• Sexual harassment-a heavy violation of medical code of ethics.
• Negligence by the staff- heavily fined by the federal law.
• Inhumane treatment of the mentally handicapped children.
• Hazardous environment unsuitable for the residents.

YouTube the Tuskegee Airmen-their own words (2 min video), and Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Summarize your perception. What are the outcomes and changes implemented due to this. Also give your opinion on further changes required in the current medical system.

The Tuskegee Airmen were fighter pilots and the first black servicemen in the US armed forces, during the World War II. They succeeded and became heroic at the time when racial segregation was a heralded ideology and lifestyle. The African Americans were despised.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was a controversial clinical study conducted by the US Public Health Service between 1932 and 1972.It aimed at studying the effects of untreated syphilis in rural Blacks in Alabama, but it was officially disguised as free health care.

The history of the Tuskegee Airmen and the Tuskegee syphilis experiment demonstrates that;

• There was a lot of prejudice towards the African-Americans in the U.S. They were treated as lesser mortals.
• The US government was willing to go as far as withholding treatment and using the blacks as medical experiments, hence they were less considerate of the blacks.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment led to

• Establishment of National Human Investigation Board, which settled lawsuits and the subjects were compensated each approximately $40,000.
• Repercussions in the African American community, in lieu of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
• General distrust for the US public health programs and vaccination.

The current medical system needs to;

• Disregard social/racial affiliation when providing health care.
• Observe the code of ethics and federal laws regarding health care and treatment.
• Bridge the gap between public health and community trust so as to be able to provide health care measures such as vaccination to the majority of the population.

Define, summarize and give your opinion on the Joint Commission Standard, Press Ganey and the Magnet Status Nursing.

Joint Commission Standard are the blueprint of an objective evaluation process that enable the health care organizations to measure, assess and improve performance.

They are developed with assistance from the health care professionals, government agencies, consumers and employers.

Press Ganey is a patient satisfactory survey. They send surveys to patients who have visited a hospital and gathers data concerning the patients’ experience, the facility and the overall quality of service.

The survey is forwarded to the participating hospitals. This data enables hospitals to compare their service delivery with other hospitals.

Magnet status is an award given by the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center (ANCC) to hospitals that meet the criteria designed to measure the quality of their nursing.

Magnet facilities have the following requirements;

• Create health care environments using empirical designs to promote better patient outcomes.
• Provide uniforms for staff who have contact with patients.
• Proper hygiene.
• Latex-free, mercury-free facilities.

The Press Ganey survey may be heavily misleading due to the facts that patients may use the threat of low satisfaction scores to obtain inappropriate care. This fact is asserted by several health care professionals and proves that satisfaction surveys affects physician/patient relationship and may increase the costs of health care.

The Magnet Status nursing is influenced by satisfaction surveys, which may be biased and inaccurate. Unreliable data surveys which leads to undeserved awards will definitely demoralized most health care professionals.

Define, summarize and give one example of Emergency Medical Treatment and Leave Act (EMTALA) and Diagnosis Related Group reimbursement (DRG).

EMTALA is a federal law that stipulates that anyone coming to an emergency department should be stabilized and treated irrespective of their insurance or ability to pay. The hospital has an obligation to treat the sick person until his condition is stable or to transfer him to another hospital with regard to the statute’s directives.

EMTALA was enacted as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986.It is applicable to hospitals under Medicare.

Hospitals under Medicare receive payment from the Department of Health and Human Sciences, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This is applicable to almost all hospitals in the US except military hospitals and some few special ones.

DRG is a statistical system of classifying inpatients into groups for the purpose of payment. The classification divides possible diagnoses into 20 major body systems and the systems are subdivided into 500 groups for purpose of Medicare reimbursement.

Medicare payment is made through the Prospective Payment System (PPS) in fixed amounts. The amount is based on the classification system.

PPS was established in 1983 by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a measure to alleviate the expensive hospital care. This system was developed to encourage health care institutions to avert the ever-rising health care expenses.

Payments by the DRGs encourage more access to health care and rewards efficiency.

Promotes fairness and transparency across health care institutions.

Locate your local- Rite Aide, CVS, Walgreens, and Duane Read. Assess the pharmacy/medical area, describe your findings. Do they have nurse practitioner or physician’s Assistant? What is their function?

Rite Aide, CVS, Walgreens, and Duane Read in New York City.

The pharmaceutical store chain is ubiquitous. Duane Reade is located between West 102nd and West 103rd street. Another Duane Reade is located at West 106th street. On West 111th Street and Broadway, there is a Duane Reade store. West 108th Street and Amsterdam Avenue has another Duane Reade store.

Rite Aid is located on West 110th Street and Broadway. New York City has numerous drug stores in every street and there is a sense of competition.

In Manhattan, Duane Read is the dominant player with 91 stores. The rest of the stores are less with CVS having 44 stores, Walgreens having 12 stores and Rite Aide having 29 stores.

Duane Reade is the most successful store due to their strategy-they use multi-level stores which are of minimal sizes and cheapest ground floor spaces.

Manhattan has 2 million residents and are spoilt for choice on these drug stores. They provide a variety of needs to consumers, from prescription drugs to healthy food options and ready products.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistant are available in CVS stores. Their role is to provide quick and easy assistance to consumers.

They are more convenient due to time-saving (require no appointments) and readily available round the clock.

Most of the stores act as a medical clinics providing access to healthcare fast and at cheaper cost than mainstream health institutions.

Work cited

Rothman, David J., and Sheila M. Rothman. The Willowbrook Wars: Bringing the Mentally Disabled into the Community. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2005. Prin

Smith, Tuskegee. "Tuskegee Airmen - World War II - HISTORY.Com". HISTORY.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 May 2016.

"Willowbrook The Last Great Disgrace Full Documentary". YouTube. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 May 2016.

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