Health Services Administration - Essay Example

Palliative care Introduction The core aim of health care is to achieve a quality life and wellbeing. During the course of life and illness trajectory, there are instances when an individual is diagnosed with a life-limiting ailment thus can only be managed through palliative care (O’Neill, 2005). Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of the patient and the families facing the life limiting problem and the treatment of pain and other physical problems. In an attempt to intrinsically understand health care service administration, this paper will focus on palliative care with categorical inference on an organization, supply and distribution of palliative care services. Additionally, the paper will focus on the organizational, administrative structure in the acute and long-term palliative care facility, changing role of the health department and hospitals with the focus on prevention of life-limiting conditions as well as health education. The study will also give a summary of the potential capacitation of the life limiting conditions, the federal government's role and the characteristic of the care delivery system. Palliative care program As a member of an executive committee of local planning organization, it is important to understand that palliative care is a multi-disciplinary approach to specialized medical care. This approach must be targeted towards people with serious life-limiting conditions. The palliative care program should thus be designed in a manner that it can sufficiently provide the patients with an opportunity of relief from pain symptoms, physical stress as well as mental stress. The overall aim of palliative care would be to reduce suffering and improve the quality of life for the patients with advanced disease (Hanna & Thipphawong, 2008). Working as a local planning committee member in relation to health care, understanding of palliative care administration would result in the recommendation of the use of a variety of hospital resources and personal care across a range of settings. In palliative care, care of the terminally ill patients is provided by an interdisciplinary team and offered in conjunction with other appropriate forms of health care treatment for an ultimate benefit to the patient and the community (Quill & Abernethy, 2013). An appropriately designed palliative care system that targets the group in an effective manner will be important to reduce the disease burden in the society. The society will thus be able to care for the terminally ill individuals in a quality manner thus offer an opportunity for a dignified death. A team charged with the review of palliative care in the society must be able to understand that palliative care operates under the principles of patient and the family being a unit of care. In this regard, the services of care should be directed both to the patient and the family. This is because despite the family members not suffering from the life limiting condition, they are faced with psychological suffering that needs the intervention of health care professionals. Additionally, palliative care operates on the principle of attention to the physical, cultural, psychological, spiritual and ethical needs of both the patient and the family members. In this regard, a palliative care program should in cooperate a holistic approach of care to the patient thus providing an environment for total comfort and mental well-being. With interdisciplinary approach in cooperated into the palliative care system, as a principle, the patient, and the family can benefit from a range of experts who will be able to provide for the various needs of the patient. Ultimately, education and support to the patient is a crucial principle that a local team charged with the review of palliative care services must recommend as a way of keeping the patient and the family well informed of the condition and the anticipated prognosis of the condition (Kelley & Meier, 2010). Organization, supply and distribution of palliative care services Palliative care relies on a multidisciplinary approach to patient care, thus it is organized in a manner that the services are acquired from the nurses, pharmacists, chaplains, psychologists, social workers and other allied health care professionals. The purpose of an interdisciplinary team is to ensure that all the physical, emotional, spiritual and social concerns of the patient are met. Effective achievement of the intended purposes of palliative care services must rely on a dedicated and qualified manpower for an effective flow of the services. Nurses and social workers are some of the team players who are crucial to the effectiveness of palliative care services. The distribution of palliative care manpower must thus ensure there is an availability of a social worker in the palliative care setting. A well-qualified social worker in the palliative care setting has a range of functions including: providing counselling and support both to the patient and the family; a social worker as a critical human resource in palliative care focuses on supporting the patients and the family with respect, honesty and without judgment. This is to ensure all the patients who need the palliative care services get the necessary social worker services irrespective of the age, gender or creed (Liebert, Chang, Janjan, Jain, & Chau, 2006). The social workers are a crucial part of the interdisciplinary team in the palliative care organization as they have an elaborate understanding of the patients’ situation and the social set up. These people are important in advising the patient and the family based on the financial support of the palliative care services. This will help in alleviating the stress the family and the patient will have in relation to the financial support of the services. With appropriate clinical understanding of the disease process, and the treatment module, social workers are an integral part of a palliative care organization as they bridge the gap between the patients, the family with the health care team. They thus provide information and education about the health care system making a social worker a necessary manpower in the palliative care organization. Nurses are significant players in the health care organization in the palliative care services. A nurse is a crucial player in the offer of both primary, secondary and tertiary health care services. A nurse acts as a psychologist who is considered as an important emotional supporter. The nurses guide the patient through means of effective and therapeutic communication process. As a guidance counselor, a nurse assumes the position of being a confidant of the dying patient thus leading a patient to a peaceful death. In the offer of primary health care, a nurse offers health education to the patient and the family on the conditions that may worsen the cases of a life-limiting condition. Through health education targeting the family, a nurse can offer information pertaining to lifestyle changes that are significant to the prevention of the reoccurrence of a life-limiting condition in the family (Murray, Kendall, Boyd, & Sheikh, 2005). Since palliative care involves care both to the patient and the family, health information targeting ailments such as cancer are crucial as primary health care services targeting the prevention of the infection in the family. Cancer, for example, is a condition that is genetically predisposed, thus an articulate health information targeting the prevention of cancer of other family members is an important function of the nurse in offering primary health care in palliative care set up. A chaplain is another critical member of the palliative care organization workforce, which is essential for the provision of support and comfort to the patient and the family. As a spiritual link to the patient, a chaplain can give spiritual advice that is important for the comfort of the patient. This is a tertiary approach in health care provision in a bid to give a holistic support to the suffering patients and the family members. Administrative structure in acute and long-term palliative care facility The arrangement of palliative care varies according to where the dying person is being cared for. The practicality in the administrative structure of the palliative care services in acute and long-term care facility differs in relation to the rural and urban setup. Nevertheless, it is important that the clinicians should be able to adapt to the realities of care that can be provided. Additionally, the clinicians should be skilled in offering care to the palliative care patients regardless of the care facility (Hauser et al., 2011). The administrative structure of palliative care could in cooperate caring for the patients at home, in the nursing home or an acute setting. Within the health care system, care for the patients in acute setup could have a different perception in administrative modalities in comparison to the care of the patient in the long-term care facility. For instance, health care team caring for a patient in need of palliative care in an intensive care unit may have a different perception of comfort as opposed to those caring for the same caliber of the patient in the long-term care facilities like the nursing homes. In acute setting, preservation of life is of greater significance in an emergency as in compare to a long-term care facility. Additionally, the administrative structure of palliative care in acute setting differs from those of the long-term care facility in the relation to the perception of the role of the family members in the care of the patient. In the long-term care facilities such as the nursing homes as well as the home care setups, the family members have a crucial role in the care of the patient. The family members are part of the care team charged with the responsibility of giving physical and emotional support to the patient in a long-term care facility. However, in acute care setting, family members are not members of the team and the care offered to the terminally ill patient is not extended to the family members (Hauser et al., 2011). The administrative structure of the palliative care can take a different trajectory in relation to the availability of support team. In certain cases, it could be efficient to offer care to the patient in a home setup. Nevertheless, lack of family support as well as social workers who can conclusively offer support to the patient could be a limiting factor in the provision of care in such a long-term care facility. In accordance to the administrative structure, decision making especially in acute setup is the preserve of the health care team offering services for the patient while in the long-term care facilities, decision making in cooperates patients and the family members in determining the course of the patient treatment and care. Changing role of the health care department in relation to palliative care Not until the late 19th century, the terminally ill patients were left at homes to die when their conditions had exceeded the limits of hospital capacity to offer treatment for the patients. During these times, the patients used to die painful deaths full of depression and lack of support thus leading to lack of dignity in death. However, with the invent of palliative care, a collaborative approach that in cooperates the social workers, family and the health care team, the role of the health care departments have revolutionized in relation to offering of the palliative care services. Virtually in most countries in the world today, the ministry of health recognizes the significance of palliative care in the health care system (Aslakson & Pronovost, 2011). The core reason for establishment of health care services is to offer care and support to the patients, thus the role of the health care departments have changed to in cooperate the position of palliative care in the system. Hospitals as part of the health care system have equally in cooperated palliative care in their system with special department set up to care for the terminally ill patients. In the current health care system, hospitals have oncology departments well equipped with oncology wards for offering treatment and care for the patient diagnosed with cancer cases. Cancer being one of the life limiting condition has for instance increased the disease burden in the society thus the change in the role of the health care structure to include conditions such as cancer is important to help in managing the diseases through in cooperation with both primary, secondary and tertiary measures in control of the condition. Among the different changes that have been adopted by the health care departments in the control and management of the life, limiting conditions is the use of health education. The department of public health, in particular, has been charged with the responsibility of sensitizing the society of the causes, the risk factors and the preventive measures of terminally ill conditions like cancer. Inferring to cancer as a life limiting condition, it has been observed that personal lifestyle has a significant role to play in relation to the acquisition of the disease. Eating habit and the kind of foods eaten in collaboration with an occupation like exposure to radiation hazards are key causes of cancer. Thus, health education that targets the causes of the conditions and their prevention modalities are crucial in the management of the conditions (Ahmedzai et al., 2004). Potential impact of capacitation and role of the federal government in palliative care Terminally ill conditions have become on the rise especially in the United stated thus implying more people are in demand for palliative care services than they did ten years ago. The changing trend in the care and treatment of the terminally ill patients ensures that the patients diagnosed with terminal illnesses can live much longer and achieve a quality and dignified life. Capacitation of the palliative care services is an important aspect in the improvement of the health care services to ensure that necessary labor force and resources are available for offering care and support to the terminally ill patients (Hanratty et al., 2006). The federal government has a critical role to play in regard to the question of palliative care. The government has ensures that all citizens of the United States receive the compassionate care they need in an event they are diagnosed with terminal conditions. This is through the development of legislations that regulate the health care provision and financing to avoid discrimination of persons in relation to the disease an individual is diagnosed with. Additionally, the government has stepped up funding meant to support community integrated palliative care models. This is to ensure that the palliative care services are available to all members of the community irrespective of being in rural or in urban setting. The government offers support for the establishment of these palliative care facilities in accordance with the universal coverage in health care policy with the aim of ensuring everyone has access to the health care services needed (Morrison et al., 2008). Characteristics of the health care delivery system in relation to palliative care The current structure of palliative care services in the United States is organized in a manner that it ensures the quality of services provided to the patient and the family. An elaborate and intricate network of the health care personnel in collaboration with the family members, as well as the social workers, ensures that there is a holistic care accorded to the terminally ill patient, thus; guaranteeing the quality of services offered to the patient. Nevertheless, execution of palliative care services has faced several setbacks in relation to funding. The treatment and management of terminal illnesses are quite expensive; thus, lack of sufficient resources in the form of funds is one of the major constraints in offering palliative care services (Morrison et al., 2008). Additionally, poor public awareness of the palliative care services and its significance form one of the greatest constraints to the delivery of the services. Cultural taboos around death and disclosure of the diagnosis status especially for the people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS have been some of the setbacks in effective liaison with the patients and family members in offering of palliative care services. Fear of stigmatization by the community and peers could thus prevent a family from seeking palliative care services for their members that are equally a constraint in offering effective palliative care services in the United States (Liebert et al., 2006). References Ahmedzai, S. H., Costa, A., Blengini, C., Bosch, A., Sanz-Ortiz, J., Ventafridda, V., & Verhagen, S. C. (2004). A new international framework for palliative care. European Journal of Cancer.  Aslakson, R., & Pronovost, P. J. (2011). Health Care Quality in End-of-Life Care: Promoting Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit. Anesthesiology Clinics. Hanna, M., & Thipphawong, J. (2008). BMC Palliative Care. BMC Palliative Care, 14, 1–14. 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