The Healthcare System in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

Trends of Nursing Introduction The trends of nursing in the present times is a function of ever-evolving health care systems and services, the patterns of nursing education, and development of nursing as a profession. Moreover, what determines these trends in all the societies is the structure and expanse of the healthcare system and its various functions. Also, the supply side of nursing is determined by the perceptions of and the expectations from the nursing profession that people have. The issues related with nursing are complex in the light of much complicated and dynamic systems of health care across the globe. Health care system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The healthcare system in Saudi Arabia is a national health care system. Although the government represented by the Ministry of Health (MoH), provides health care services through its agencies, there is significant participation of private sector n the health care system also. The Ministry provides primary health care as well as general and specialist healthcare through its agencies and hospitals. It also undertakes the supervision of private institutions. It is deemed as the national health service (NHS) for the nation. Moreover, three mini-NHS viz. the Ministry of Defence and Aviation (MODA), the Ministry of Interior (MOI) and the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) also finance and deliver the health care to security and armed forces personnel. Further, the Ministry of Education provides primary health care to students, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to the mentally retarded and orphans, the General Organization for Social Insurance and General Presidency of Youth Welfare to population in connection with its management of sport facilities, the Saudi Arabian Airlines to its employees, and the Kingdom’s universities to their students and teachers. The Saudi Red Crescent Society provides the much needed emergency services at the pre-hospital stage, for example at accident spots, and also to pilgrims who come for Hajj and Umrah at Mecca and Medina. The public spending on health, which accounts for 80 percent spending on health care, is financed from the government budget for which 11 percent is set aside. The financing for private sector requires the employers to cover medical expenses for their employees. Nurses play an integral role in this system at all levels and across all sectors. However, the effects of shortage of nurses the world over is felt in this system as well. Moreover, the standards of nursing also need to be maintained in such an extensive and integrated system. Role of nurses Nursing does not refer to just a single role of working in the hospitals. As health care system is evolving and changing, many new dimensions are added to the role of a nurse. Over and above being carers, nurses function as health care educators, industrial health nurses and even consultants. They have such diverse role as working in hospitals to working on movie sets providing medical assistance, to working on flights providing care to patients who are transported. Armed forces need them in great numbers everywhere. Also, they work as research nurses assisting in clinical trials if drugs and new treatment methods. Their role as educators encompasses training new nurses and healthcare workers, educating the physicians and pharmacists on new drugs on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, and educating other nurses about new medical products on behalf of medical supply companies. Sometimes they also work with insurance companies, on whose behalf they educate patients to manage illnesses and their treatments (Kathy Quan). Challenges faced by healthcare systems The responsibilities that nurses shoulder in any healthcare system are tremendous. Still the falling numbers of nursing practitioners and the effect of the same on healthcare is a major concern in any healthcare system. In many developing countries, majority of the population is elderly, which implies that that there is an increased need of nurses in such societies. Moreover, special attention needs to be paid to women and children. With increasing levels of domestic violence and child abuse prevailing in various societies, it is increasingly important that adequate medical assistance, along with emotional support and counselling is provided to the patients. This is one function that can be most appropriately performed by nurses only who have the opportunity to interact with patients on one-on-one basis. Healthcare system has undergone a sea change on account of ever-deteriorating environmental conditions leading to various new air-borne, water-borne, and contagious diseases. The systems need to further expand their operations and also modify the role of nurses to cope up with the challenges of area-specific and culture-related diseases. Challenges faced by nursing practitioners Nurses across the world go through experiences in their work life that either extremely rewarding or disappointing. The conditions under which the nursing professionals are required to perform and deliver are not always comfortable. For instance, while some of them are working in the remote corners of the country, others are taking care of the injured on the war fronts. Also, taking care of the old, and patients suffering from serious diseases like cancer, aids, etc requires much patience and dedication, which is not always so easy to come by for most of the people under trying circumstances. The need to establish a connection with the patients ailing from life threatening diseases along with caring for them is a lot of emotional drain for the nurses too. Such challenges deter a number of people from taking up nursing profession. Many practicing nurses get so burned-out with the day-to-day complexities that they simply quit. Consequently, there is a major shortage of nurses in most of the healthcare systems. (Kathy Quan) Measures adopted to overcome the shortage of nurses and improving the efficiency of healthcare systems The problem of shortage intensifies with the growing population and the widening gap between demand and supply of nurses. The public and private sector health leaders in the Saudi Arabia are devising solutions to bridge this gap and also create a provision for the demand that might arise in future due to increase in population and the expanding role of nurses in healthcare. Many short and long term measures are taken to recruit nurses. One of the measures is recruitment of nurses from abroad. Further, financial incentives in the form of good pay packets and various benefits are endowed to attract more and more people into this profession and to keep the existing professionals from quitting it. Change in work-environment to make it more conducive for the nurses to work in the form of better space, use of software, assistance for nurses at the time of increased workload is facilitated. Flexible scheduling, which allows the nurses to work in short shift in peak periods to provide assistance to deployed staff has made life easier for them; and has stopped many professionals from quitting the ‘taxing’ job. Also, many hospitals have created ‘per diem pools’ of nurses who are trained in policies and procedures of the institution, and function for specific facilities. (Barbara L. Brush, Julie Sochalski and Anne M. Berger) Education incentives and assistance provided by many hospitals is yet another way to attract nurses. Such incentives include tuition reimbursement and training programs for nurses including orientation programs and preceptorships for freshers in the field. Many hospitals also provide incentives to the faculty at nursing schools and clinics so that more and more classes and training can be conducted at various locations; and also there is an increase in the number of nursing instructors (Jessica H. May, Gloria J. Bazzoli, and Anneliese M. Gerland). Also, the methods of teaching are being improved upon in the nursing schools. The emphasis is on real-time learning that is problem-based and lays emphasis on developing as many real scenarios as possible and adopting a reflective practice as a learning strategy. Beyond the knowledge of nursing and healthcare system, the nurses should also be given an insight into the career structure and progression in the this profession as well as familiarized with the ways to hone their knowledge and skills at various stages of their career by way of formal, advanced and continuing education and various refresher courses. Further, the healthcare systems should be made very efficient in order to avail the benefits of good nursing facilities. This can be made possible by adopting measures such as providing need-based care to the patients instead of standard nursing provisions, reducing medical errors by improving knowledge and skills of the medical practitioners, controlling the sky-rocketing cost of drugs so that they are available to more and more people, making provisions for home-based care, reducing healthcare administration cost, etc. Barriers to proposed strategies Improvements in the healthcare systems by way of above-mentioned measures does not happen on a very large scale due to shortage of funds and the political red-tapism involved which further slows down the development process. Also, with the cropping up of new diseases everyday and the complexity of the factors involved in causing them (environmental, social, cultural), does not help define a periphery within which improvements can be implemented. This leaves the authorities clueless about the extent and nature of efficiency programs that they have to undertake. Also, the problems of shortage of nurses cannot be completely solved by recruiting nurses from abroad because such a shortage is prevailing on a global scale. Further, filling the gap between demand and supply of nurses by providing education facilities and better work environment calls for major structural changes in the education systems and hospital administration systems which is a time-consuming process and does not help meet the immediate need of nurses. Conclusion The problems faced by the healthcare systems and by nursing profession are manifold, and are interwoven. Since both the entities function complementary to each other, it is essential that the issues and problems concerned with the two be resolved symmetrically. To initiate positive trends of nursing, investments in terms of time and money on part of the governments, hospital authorities, private bodies, medical and nursing schools, and training centres. Moreover, a good co-ordination between all these units is required to check if the measures and policies to improve health care are implemented properly. References: Barbara L. Brush, Julie Sochalski and Anne M. Berger, “Imported Care: Recruiting Foreign Nurses” Jessica H. May, Gloria J. Bazzoli, and Anneliese M. Gerland, “Hospitals’ Responses to Nurse Staffing Shortages” Kathy Quan, “Many Diverse Roles Open to Nurses” Your Guide to Nursing Nursing Issues: Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioners, Office of Nursing Policy, Health Canada, November 2006, ISBN: 978-0-662-44713-9 Senior HealthCare.org http://www.seniorhealthcare.org/Srhealth.nsf/allPublic/267A586B420EB20086256C19003247D4/$FILE/geriatrician+shortage2.htm The Policy Journal of Health Care < http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/23/3/78> Wikipedia.org < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_system> Read More