Medical Group Analysis - Report Example

and and of the teacher The of the 06 October 2008 Medical group analysis The division of the body of medical practitioners into various groups is significant for an effective and efficient medical care. Each division observed from micro and macro level is important for contributing to a first class of medical care. Each group of medical practitioners: medical providers, nurses, volunteers, and pharmacists have a medical relevance in the system. Each group is sustained from the professionalism in its specific area and they are closely in relation to one other. Practice has shown that if one group fails either to work effectively or to cooperate with other groups, the entire system tends to collapse; global function is dependent from participation of each group. Different points of view of each group contribute to establish a level on which each group functions or does not function, and to see how interaction in the group and interaction of that group with the society has an influence in the efficiency of medical care. The importance of each group can be observed through close analysis of its interaction with society and itself. Therefore, two important aspects can be differentiated. The micro-level interaction in the groups explains the working conditions, while at a macro level it explains their purpose in society and the potentials and problems of globalization. Although modern nursing was created a little more than a hundred years ago, mostly by the enormous contribution of Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, the foundations of nursing were laid many centuries before the publication of the first nursing guidelines. Nursing and its formation as a science is closely related to and must be placed within a sociological perspective; the desire to help the sick and injured is a continuing sociological phenomena, dating back to the formation of the first civilizations. A fine example is the effort of nuns and other clergy during the middle ages, which essentially performed the duties of modern nurses. Society and science may have changed over the ages, but the necessity for a specific medical group that cares, both for the physical and psychological well-being, of the sick is always present. The 1.3 million registered nurses working in hospitals in the United States, and the ever growing demand is a natural results of the necessity of nurses (Steinbrook, 2002). Much research is done into the micro-level interaction of nurses and nursing groups in hospitals in order to determine the effectives of the latter. Most of the research was performed through participation observation, and according to one research, it was determined that the hours of nursing care provided by registered nurses is proportional with better care for hospitalized patients (Steinbrook, 2002). Also, the larger number of registered-nurse-hours per day or licensed-nurse-hours per day is associated with a lower rate of failure to rescue critical patients. Studies have also reported a correlation between higher levels of staffing by nurses and lower mortality and lower rates of other outcomes. According to another research, however, conducted amongst surgical patients, no evidence was found of an association between in-hospital mortality and the proportion of registered-nurse-hours, leading to the conclusion that mortality is not connected with good care of nurses but with other health care group. If we observe two different hospitals, where we can determine the symbolic interaction between different nursing groups, we are supposed to consider other unmeasured factors with higher levels of staffing by registered nurses or other unmeasured characteristics of the hospitals' nursing work force. The level of staffing by nurses is an incomplete measure of the quality of nursing care in hospitals. Other factors, such as effective communication between nurses and physicians and a positive work environment, have been found to influence patients' outcomes. The outcomes for which we found associations with the levels of staffing by nurses should be viewed as indicators of quality rather than as measures of the full effect of nurses in hospitals. If we are to observe the concept of nursing groups on a macro-level we are supposed to include globalization problems or observe the hospital as part of society. The global financial recession forced nurses to face bad working conditions and to become socially dissatisfied, causing a shortage of nursing labor. Currently, U.S. hospitals are sufferings from 126,000 empty nursing positions, while the African continent requires 620,000 nurses to successfully counter the HIV-pandemic (Chaguturu, 2005). Private-sector hospitals in Africa tend to retain their nurses longer than public-sector hospitals do. Entire public health systems are at risk of collapse because of the growing shortage of nurses in the developing world. Giving nurses key roles in making decisions about health care delivery and health policy and in leading health care research may enhance the ability to retain them. These measures could include allocating more funding to the whole health care sector so that health care professionals would have better working conditions and pay, increasing the recruitment and training of new nurses, and building the capacity for nursing education. Another segment that represents a fundamental entity of hospital care is doctors. Much like the practice of nursing, the sociological perspective of the physician dates back to ancient times, even before nursing, since the latter represented a part of the medical profession. Technological advancements allowed today's medical practice to consist of high level of professionalism, cooperation between other segments through them, making conclusions based on individual or group analyses all leads to an effective system of medical care. Each parameter behavior, working condition, good ethnics, and high level of technical advancement in medicine has important role in each step of progress of good care. That is why in order to determine the micro-level participation of the physician; one must analyze the latter as an individual, as well as a basic entity of a group. In order to establish a good diagnosis, doctors are supposed to possess skill, good corresponding, and good establishment of education. Each doctor as a part of a group is a basis for improving himself as well as the system of medical care. Also, behavior and attitudes are contributing factors in making of an effective doctor. Each doctor is supposed not make any kind of mistake because the price paid is too high-the death of a patient. Working too much is one of the main reasons why some doctors make the most basic mistakes. Participant observation has shown that the issue can easily be overcome by working in groups, as sometimes the work done is more effective and more conclusive, because it is sustained by different opinions and different points of view. Also through groups, a doctor can learn more and establish more different perspective of witch each one couldn't even think. Years and practice made doctors the core of medical groups, through which they established more influence in governing medical care, showing, if not practically, the symbolic interaction with other medical groups. Deriving quality criteria of prescribing by discussing guideline recommendations gave the doctors a basis for judging their treatment of individual patients as acceptable or unacceptable. Presented with feedback on their own prescribing, they learned what they did right and wrong. This provided a foundation for improvement and the process thus instigated resulted in the doctors providing better quality patient care. According to" Quality in Health Care 2000", a conclusion was made that combining prescription feedback of individual treatments with quality criteria of prescriptions based on guideline recommendations in peer review groups of doctors improved the quality of care of patients with asthma and urinary tract infection. This educational activity was valued by the doctors and judged suitable for improving the quality of care in other treatment area. Viewed globally and from a macro-level perspective, doctors in certain countries are not paid well and the bad working conditions forced many to emigrate. This caused a global disproportion of the number of working physicians, since many have found themselves working in Western countries, while there are too few in third world countries to fight even the most basic infection diseases, causing a serious social conflict between developed and developing countries. Some counties need doctors but they don't have proper medical facilities and schools to train them. The problem of globalization, private capital, which has an important influence and adequately paid work force, has proven to be very hard to balance, so the problem of improper allocation of the global body of physicians remains to be a serious problem. Volunteers in essence represent "individuals who reach out beyond the confines of their paid employment and of their normal responsibilities to contribute time and service to a not-for-profit cause in the belief that their activity is beneficial to others as well as satisfying to themselves" (American Red Cross). They are also part of a body segment that is helping or getting some benefits. Every country has different opinion about them. Some think that they are important, some countries do not, but if we can see all the facts, the reality is that they have an important roll in research, either as volunteers to test medications, or as assistants to medical and research teams. The problem is that they work in bad conditions, and are generally disregarded as easily replaceable by the other medical groups. However observation has shown that, despite the fact that they are easy replaceable, if volunteers are removed, the bulk of the work will fall on the shoulders of the doctors and nurses, which will lead to an enormous stress of the health care system. From another point of view, it is socially relevant because volunteers make new friendships, face new cultures in new environments and learn new skills, which contributes to the better diffusion of skills between different groups in the health care system. Respondents value three dimensions of volunteering: engaging in relationships; accomplishing tasks; and experiencing the power to make decisions. However, the economic restriction for volunteers and the estimate of benefits in education significantly reduces the probability of volunteering and the supply of volunteer hours, so volunteering may not be an external benefit of education. Pharmaceutical groups represent a separate, but still an essential part of the health care system. Their functionality is based on a great market consisting of trade of pills, medicament or supplies of any kind in order to help people. Policy influences how the pharmacist as a segment will develop and how he will work. The main functional guidelines however are consisted of optimization of drug therapy, fundamental drug researches, formulation and drug delivery and clinical pharmacy, each representing a vital part in the operation of the pharmaceutical machinery. The medical group analyzed: providers, nurses, volunteers, and pharmacists are medically relevant in the system of health care. We observed interaction with society and interactions in the same groups and come to a concussion that each group has his preference and deficiency but interactions between them can overcome those deficiencies and provide high quality medical care. Each individual in each group is important it is the core for the whole system, and so his habits, attitudes, staff all are equally relevant. Society can influence people and the environment also and those are the external factors that influence the stability and the ability of person. Good internal and external correspondence and good interaction, communication leads to do effective health care system. References: 1. American Red Cross 2008. American Red Cross. 04 October 2008. [http://www.redcross.org/] 2. Blair, Keagy and Marcy Thomas. Essentials of physician practice management. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2004 3. Chaguturu, Sreekanth and Snigdha Vallabhaneni. "Aiding and Abetting - Nursing Crises at Home and Abroad" New England journal of Medicine 27 October, 2005: 1761-1763 4. Marcum, A. James. Humanizing Modern Medicine. Texas, USA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2008. 5. Steinbrook, Robert. "Nursing in the crossfire" New England Medical Journal 30 May, 2002: 1756-1766 Read More