Taking Care of Patients with Chronic or Terminal Illnesses - Essay Example

Community Health Community Health In the daily work of a healthcare professional, it is common for nurses to deal with people with chronic and even terminal illnesses. Dealing with a patient is always a big issue because it has an impact on the nurse, the patient and the family of the patient. In the U.S, almost every family in every hundred families has a close member of the family dealing with chronic and or terminal illness, and this affects the whole family. As a healthcare practitioner, one would need to be very careful as to how to make sure that these patients are given the best care which includes not only medicine, but also psychological support. Studies have also indicated that families with such patients are also affected psychologically (Kronenfeld, 2002). The healthcare personnel which take care of these patients are also not spared in terms of their psychological welfare and it is necessary to ensure that they have solved this issue. The only solution is making sure that there is universal healthcare insurance that covers everyone so that everyone can be covered at all times and for all types of health needs. This would help in dealing with some of the issues that the healthcare sector faces. It also makes sure that patients with chronic illnesses are able to access quality healthcare as and when they need it (Healthy People, 2014). Patients with chronic illnesses provide the biggest challenge to healthcare providers, not only because these illnesses are hard to treat, but also because they create a financial burden to the patient, and this makes it easy for these patients to be stressed. It is imperative to ensure that such patients are given the right care. This is because as Andersen (2010) identifies, healthcare is a universal right and must its accessibility to an individual should not depend on ones financial ability. Taking care of such patients with chronic and or terminal illnesses should include the family who should be able to receive as much support as possible. A family with a person with chronic illnesses may also have to go through financial difficulties if the patient has no medical cover. Over, over fifty percent of such patients in American and especially in New York don’t have medical cover that means they have to take care of the medical bills. This extra financial burden may be too much for the patient. to help the patient to bear the burden, a well planned insurance scheme for everyone must be initiated through government policy. This would aid in making sure that everyone is able to access good healthcare and that everyone will not have to bear a big financial burden if they, or their family members are sick. The county of Bronx is a state that has a dynamic culture and full of people of all races and classes. The population is made of generally African American people but also people from all races and ethnicity. The number females have always generally been more than the males and at the current time, females are more than males in the area. Most of the people here have healthcare insurance with private insurance companies. However a relatively big number of people don’t have healthcare cover and this is a challenge in the delivery of healthcare of the people of the Bronx County. Most of the residents here are working class people. This means that most of them can afford healthcare insurance. However, most of the residents may not be able to afford health care coverage for chronic diseases because these usually require higher amounts of insurance premiums. The issue of healthcare coverage According to Kronenfeld (2002) one of the biggest barriers, to the delivery of healthcare, albeit not the only one, is the lack of healthcare insurance coverage. Patients who are not covered are always in most cases not able to access healthcare. Ironically, in most cases, those who are not covered are the ones who are also likely to afford healthcare on their own. In the case of healthcare insurance coverage, one thing begets the other. For instance, a poor person is unlikely to be able to afford insurance. The same person when sick cannot to afford healthcare even in cases where the cost of medical attention he or she needs is not so high. Lack of coverage has become an issue because it puts healthcare providers at a crossroads. This is because these providers have the main intention of providing healthcare to people. As, as Andersen (2010) says, because they are in business, they have to make money in order to meet their costs and also make a reasonable profit from their practice. The lack of healthcare insurance is a major issue that modern healthcare providers have to deal with. This is an issue which the government faces and which needs solutions (Goodman, Musgrave, & Herrick, 2004). Accessibly of healthcare is one of the major goals of the Healthy People 2020 program (Healthy People, 2014). Accessibility is considered in three main ways which include the healthcare insurance coverage. The program intends to make sure that everyone is well covered, regardless of their age, ethnicity, economic ability or even class. This is because healthcare insurance coverage is the most important and the first step to making sure that healthcare is able to access healthcare. Universal health care access is intended to make sure that the patients are able to get healthcare services even for the most expensive diseases to treat. This would make is possible for the people to access healthcare for the chronic diseases. The issue of healthcare insurance is important in the delivery of healthcare and is one issue which has solved in order to help everyone access quality healthcare. Although healthcare insurance is not the only barrier to accessibility of healthcare, it is a major barrier which must be taken care of is everyone is to be able to get quality healthcare when they need. This will be even more important for people with chronic illnesses. References Andersen, M. (2010). Changing the U.S. Health Care System: Key Issues in Health Services Policy and Management. Hobokne, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Goodman, J.C., Musgrave, G.L., & Herrick, D.M. (2004). Lives at Risk: Single-payer National Health Insurance Around the World. Lanham, ML: Rowman & Littlefield. Healthy People. (2014, January). Access to Health Services. Retrieved February 01, 2014, from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=1 Kronenfeld, J. (2002). Health Care Policy: Issues and Trends, Volume 759. 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