Quality of Healthcare, Wait Times and Pressures to Increase Numbers - Essay Example

Quality of Healthcare, Wait Times and Pressures to Increase Numbers Introduction Quality healthcare is a wide concept whose aim is to improve health and wellness in the society. It is not quantifiable but some parameters clearly display it. Among them are an individual’s needs and preferences in regards to healthcare services. Others include relevant medication illnesses and unnecessary delays in the provision of healthcare. A fair healthcare does not promote discrimination based on race, gender, colour, religious affiliation, income and others.

It should also be noted that healthcare does not end with mere diagnosis and treatment but also includes healthy interaction and interpersonal attachment between the patients and the service providers. Waiting time refers to the length of time that the client seeking healthcare attention takes between the arrival time and service delivery. Due to ever increasing population and the subsequent demand for medical attention, pressure keeps piling against the few healthcare facilities with acute understaffing and shortage of equipment.

This is particularly risky in the emergency related sections where the patients may require immediate attention at the same time. Problem Statement The world has recently been facing rapid growth in the demand for healthcare against limited resources. In that respect, the field of nursing and the general healthcare fraternity has been facing challenges on how to manage this exponential expansion of patients (Berkowitz, 2011, p.107).This paper therefore seeks to discuss some of the proposals that have been born out of investigative research to establish remedial measures for this problem.

The matters of central focus in this paper will be the quality of healthcare as it relates to emergency room wait time, fast pace care, possible pressures placed on health care to increase numbers, possible risks and misdiagnosis. This research paper will make deductions on the readings as to whether there are risks, misdiagnosis, possible negative consequences to patients, and to healthcare workers (doctors, nurses).This will majorly be presented in literature review so that the areas of information gaps can be established for further studies.

Significance of study The research study will provide the basis for argument in establishment of the resolutions to this menace in the health sector. The information gap involved in this topic will further become very helpful in finding the neutral ground for reconciling the limited resources and the quality of healthcare. Literature review A lot of research has been done to discuss the way forward about the upsurge of patient’s dissatisfaction resulting from the above mentioned matters. When formulating policies to guide the implementation of efficiency related matters, other factors need to be considered to avert possibility of counterproductively (Belson & Hall, 2006, p.112).This may come in the form of misdiagnosis from haste and wrong prescription which end up cancelling the reason for which the measures were created.

The pressure from many patients has hidden social stress on either side and this is retrogressive in interaction within the healthcare sector. Statistics from the international bodies like World Health Organization (W.H.O) under UN shows that many people have lost their life under conditions of overcrowding. This is highly experienced in sub-Sahara Africa and parts of Asia. Parts of Europe and South America are not exceptional in the list. On top of the list is lack of political will to prioritize healthcare provision for people.

Funds have always been diverted to other issues of personal interest and this goes into undermining the significance of life (Legido-Quigley, World Health Organization & European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. 2008,p.20). Healthcare provision demands lot of resources for research and development. This is the recipe for in depth training and extensive practice by the healthcare professionals. Nursing is a field way people learn everyday and this extent of dynamism requisite continuous training and research (McLaughlin & Kaluzny, 2006, p. 53-7). Coping with the current infections and the large number of clients calls for application of technology to improve the quality of service provision and save time and life.

It should also be noted that communication skills and interpersonal relations is great use in raising the standards in this field. The physical wellness is the essence of life and it forms the basis of performance of any person. This means that the nurses, doctors and other health workers need to develop good communication ability for a smooth conveyance of ideas between the health workers and the patients. To capture this, most government in collaboration with healthcare stakeholders have worked around the clock to formulate syllabi that would facilitate proper training in the field of constructive interactive skills (Patel & Rushefsky, 2006, p.46).Risks related to the pressure of patients number have been under a raging debate with contradicting views over who between the government and the healthcare provider should be held accountable.

In the spirit of International Corporation, all the stakeholders have been working towards establishing syllabus for communication skills in the field of healthcare. Some of the other factors that have been found to cause overcrowding are the lengthy engagement of the health workers in these emergency sections. To eliminate this effect, the healthcare management has always employed flexi-time in the form of shifts. It should therefore be noted that even the health of the health provider also need to considered in the line of duty (Bisgaard, 2009, p.76).Waste management in the emergency department has equally contributed to the backlog of patients Conclusion Quality healthcare is directly related to waiting time in the emergency department and precise diagnosis.

It is therefore imperative that some modality is established to reconcile this high demand against limited resources to attain this goal. The rules and regulations put up to guide the health professionals has ethical loopholes that has equally lead to negligence in the part of the healthcare service providers (Croskerry, 2009, p.130).It is therefore in order that for efficient management of the overcrowding and the pressure from longer waiting time, the healthcare sector needs reforms as a whole.

References Bisgaard, S. 2009,pg 76-9. Solutions to the healthcare quality crisis: Cases and examples of lean six sigma in healthcare. Milwaukee, Wis: ASQ Quality Press. McLaughlin, C. P., & Kaluzny, A. D. 2006,pg 53-7. Continuous quality improvement in health care. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett. Belson, D., & Hall, R. W. 2006,pg112-5. Patient flow: Reducing delay in healthcare delivery. New York, NY: Springer. Berkowitz, E. N. 2011,pg 107-9. Essentials of health care marketing. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Patel, K., & Rushefsky, M. E. 2006,pg 46-9.

Health care politics and policy in America. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. Croskerry, P. 2009,pg130-8. Patient safety in emergency medicine. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Legido-Quigley, H., World Health Organization., & European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. 2008,pg 20-27. Assuring the quality of health care in the European Union: A case for action. Copenhagen: World Health Organization on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.