Complete Health Care System - Essay Example

Unit Individual Project: Complete Health Care System The healthcare system is the collective healthcare services and activities organized and offered, say in one particular country. Simply put, it refers to the health sector or those organizations involved in the treatment of illnesses and disease. A healthcare system maybe composed of specific government organization or a combination of public and private efforts, as usually is the case. In the United States, for instance, there is only the existence of public and private organizations catering to the delivery of health services.

There are variations on the number of the basic healthcare service components in several literatures but we will turn to Williams et al. who comprehensively stated four service components that complete a healthcare system. According to him, these four basic service components include: 1) the predominant health problems that were the focus of the existing health system at the time; 2) the technology available to the healthcare system in each time periods; 3) the social organization of health care; and 4) the involvement of the public in their healthcare and the system.

Health problems and targets, which attract the healthcare system, always change from period to period. This relies on the current social, political and environmental factors. For instance, in the past the US health services were focused on combating epidemics, while at present, attention finally focused on the discovery of new medicines and the development of more accurate and rapid process of diagnoses. (Williams, 2001) Setting targets and identifying health problems is crucial in order to establish a systematic response to possible health problems.

Hence, preparedness as well as cure is achieved, or at least, health risks are minimized.The integration of technology, meanwhile, creates a more conducive environment in healthcare services delivery. To illustrate, physicians would be able to make effective and well-informed decisions and there would be improvements on the patient’s access to information as well as the business side of healthcare service delivery. (Using Technology… 2005, p. 28) The advances in technology reduce the duplication of work and, thus, streamline processes.

Experts set so much store on how this particular element revolutionizes healthcare service delivery today and those of the future’s. The significance of a healthcare system as a social organization is underscored by the fact that it is consisted of a collection of encounters among people. Allan Gillies (2005, p. 17) tells us that each stakeholder in those encounters has its own perspective and that the success of the care system relies on them – individual decisions made, or planning and policymaking, whether in groups or individually, make their impact.

Finally, the involvement of the public in their healthcare is very important. This is especially true in terms of financing. We see this in the amount of a government’s healthcare expenditures: In most countries, for example, public share in the healthcare system is about 70%. (Wall, 2005, p. 187) The public’s involvement in the healthcare system is bred from the need to maintain the health of the people. It also ensures the delivery of health services to be accessible and efficient.ReferencesGillies, Allan. (2003). What Makes a Good Healthcare System?. Radcliffe Publishing.

Joint Commission Resources. (2005). Using Technology to Improve Medication Safety: Author.Wall, Ann. 1996. Health Care Systems in Liberal Democracies. UK: Routledge.Williams, S.J., & Torrens, P. (2001). Introduction to Health Services. Thomson Delmar Learning.