Progress In Health Care Coursework Example

Progress in healthcare
Institutional affiliation
Course
Date
Overview of the U.S. Department of human services organization
In this article, I am going to be focusing on progress in Health Care in the United States Department of the Human Services organization. This is an American organization which was founded on 11 April 1953. It is a cabinet-level department of the U.S. federal government with the aim of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is “Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America.” Before 1979, it was called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., the U.S. It provides social service programs, disaster preparedness programs, civil rights and healthcare privacy programs and health-related research. Some social service programs are for people with disabilities, low income, military families and senior citizens. Some of the challenges facing this organization regarding quality are overuse of services like over issuing of antibiotics in cases where they are not necessary like the treatment of bronchitis, misuse of services where for example in laboratory test results.
Many smear results are incorrectly classified as normal and end up being very costly in the end.

Such quality problems slow down the progress in health care. But with them are opportunities to improve the services and reduce future complications and cut down on costs as well. The other challenges are health care costs. For anyone to access health services, they must have insurance, which is very costly, and many Americans cannot afford it (Fixsen et al. 2005). An opportunity to provide free clinics periodically or medical incentives to the low-income earners exist to ensure the health care improves. Accessibility to the organizations is a challenge to some too. Some are not very accessible or are located far making it costly to reach them. Providence of hospital buses or transport networks and the addition of ambulances at affordable rates will counter this. In due to mental health or substance use condition would you get it? The results were that 40% of adults and youths had mental health conditions while less than 7% of adults with mental health conditions and substance use get treatment for both. The limiting factors are finances, distance related challenges and quality of healthcare provided.
Training
A training program will be provided for the medical staff in the organization starting from doctors, nurses, administrators, psychologists, pharmacists, lab attendants, and psychiatrists. During the training, some of the issues that are addressed are good relations with patients thus increase transparency (Ellis et al. 2008). Training personnel is also discussed, as training is essential to ensuring quality care with desirable outcomes. The importance of all persons to get quality training from accredited institutions is stressed on. Quality eye care is addressed too as there are concerns about eye surgical procedures and their outcomes. This is to ensure quality assurance.
Hospital equipment and their proper use are discussed. Maintenance activities and careful handling is taught to the medical personnel. The instruments are used for diagnosis of diseases which will lead to treatment of the proper illnesses. Equipment is expensive too and has to be handled with care. Proper instruments are addressed as technology has made cheaper instruments available thus reducing costs and improving quality of services and the same case applies to use of lower-cost medication (Dawson et al. 2000). Employment of the latest technologies in the treatment of diseases will improve quality of services and reduce cost hence, in the end, improving quality of health care. Teamwork is taught to the medics thus ensuring a good working environment and therefore improving quality of services.
The expected outcomes are medical practitioners who are competent, who acknowledge diversity and individual differences, skilled to handle equipment and are united towards one goal which is providing proper health care to the Americans. The medics will become good administrators and supervisors as well. This training will lead to a reduction of costs of medical care and improve quality of services provided hence addressing the majority of the issues in the organization.
Administrator challenges
Administrators face challenges during recruiting of employees like finding a qualified employee when the time is the limiting factor, asserting that resumes handed in are real, being able to recruit personnel that is well qualified for the job and conducting proper interviews. The challenges associated with retention of health care professionals are the following. Most health practitioners are old and so have problems keeping up with the levels of work at the health organizations (El-Jardali, 2009). The issue of salaries also is a significant cause of poor retention of health workers. In the hospital, they are paid small amounts as compared to other institutions where they are paid much more for even the lesser work. Health institutions should make a point to remunerate them adequately. Medical personnel is fewer in numbers, and hence very tight schedules are created that do not allow them to have time for family and friends, which pushes them to quit their jobs.
Trends in the nursing workforce
Today, most nurses are older and are approaching retirement. Nevertheless, they are few in numbers, and this translates to heavier workloads for them pushing them to seek early retirement (Buerhaus et al. 2009). The nursing career does not allow people to maintain good social lives with family and friends which are discouraging many young people from enrolling in the course. Acute shortage of nurses will arise in the nearby future following these trends not unless something is done about it fast.
Staff turnover
The staffing patterns are sometimes used to determine remuneration for employees. This method cannot be considered fair, as not all patients require similar care, some are more demanding than others. Different benchmarks have been used to develop staffing patterns, but there has not been any valid pattern to cater for all health sides.
Shortage of primary care physicians
This is a significant challenge. There is a lower tendency of young scholars to apply for primary care courses because of the stress associated with it. There is the need for students to be mobilized and encouraged to apply for these courses. When the older nurses retire, the field will be very understaffed. It has also been determined that rural health care organizations are unable to pay the workers adequately, so they tend to hire under-qualified personnel. This puts patients at risk due to being handled by unqualified practitioners.
References
Buerhaus, Staiger, & Auerbach, D. (2009). The future of the nursing workforce in the United States: Data, trends, and implications. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Dawson, Cotin, Meglan, Shaffer & Ferrell, M. A. (2000). Equipment and Technology-Designing a Computer-Based Simulator for Interventional Cardiology Training. Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, 51(4), 522-527.
Ellis, Crofts, Hunt, Read, & James, M. (2008). Hospital, simulation center, and teamwork training for eclampsia management: a randomized controlled trial. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 111(3), 723-731.
El‐Jardali, Merhi, Jamal, Dumit, & Mouro, G. (2009). Assessment of nurse retention challenges and strategies in Lebanese hospitals: the perspective of nursing directors. Journal of Nursing Management, 17(4), 453-462
Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, & Friedman, (2005). Implementation research: a synthesis of the literature.