Over the last thirty years the United States has been faced with the problem of dependence on foreign countries for oil and the tight control that these exercise on the energy policies and economics of America. Many of these instances include: the oil embargos of the 1970s, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. Since the 1970s, one solution offered to reduce our nation's dependence on foreign countries for oil has been opening up drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proponents say that drilling in ANWR would make the United States more self-sufficient in the area of energy, while at the same time not doing excessive damage to the environment of the area. Opponents of drilling in ANWR cite the environmental problems of off-shore drilling and maintain that this land should be left alone and allowed to stand as an environmental wonder. Given that some environmental groups do not mind allowing technology to invade the environment when it profits them and given the threats of global terror and the ever-increasing dependence our nation has on foreign oil, I believe it is in the best interests of the United States to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.
Before stating both sides of the argument, I would like to make two observations that I found interesting while researching from the book, Taking Sides. The first thing that I found interesting was that in an environmental science class and in an environmental science textbook, the two articles used to present the pros and cons of opening up oil drilling in ANWR were not written by environmentalists or scientists or even oil technology experts, but rather by an economist, a physicist and a lawyer. The second thing that ran through my head as I was reading both articles was the time at which both were written. ?To Drill or Not to Drill: Let the Environmentalist Decide,? written by Dwight R. Lee, a professor of economics, and ?Fools Gold in Alaska,? written by physicist Amory B. Lovins and lawyer L. Hunter Lovins, were both written in the months prior to the September eleventh terrorist attacks in the United States and the subsequent United States invasion of both Afghanistan and Iraq. As I read both articles, especially that of the Lovins, which opposes oil drilling in ANWR, I could not help but wonder if ...
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... we may see a serious act in the near future to start the process of drilling. With a solid combination and profitability factor the U.S. could prevent the rising gasoline prices. We need to however, continue our search for other alternatives do to our limited resource of oil. For this reason, I am in favor of opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and also the exploration of alternative fuel sources, as well as ways to conserve fuel. This combination should provide the United States with an energy policy that is both financially stable and environmentally sound.
Works Cited
Cunningham, William P. Cunningham, Mary Ann and Saigo, Barbara. Environmental Science, A Global Concern. McGraw-Hill. New York, NY. 2005.
Easton, Thomas A. and Goldfarb, Theordore D. Taking Sides. McGraw-Hill/Dushkin. Guilford, Connecticut. 2004.
Hayek, F.A. Individualism and Economic Order. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago and London. 1948.
Lee, Dwight R. ?To Drill or Not to Drill: Let the Environmentalists Decide.? The Independent Review. Fall 2001.
Lovins, Amory B and Lovins, L. Hunter. ?Fool's Gold in Alaska.? Foreign Affairs. July/August 2001.
Scherer, Ron. "US to Tap Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Drive Gas Prices down." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 23 June 2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2012.
I was able to get a better understanding of the pattern of development, reaffirm aspects that I already knew about conception to birth, while learning new aspects, understand and explain hindrances of a successful conception, how sensitivity to food smells could protect the developing fetus, lastly address concerns in the movie that the mother and father had about childbirth. The Birds and Bees, the stork, and the “talk” all have great merit in presenting the idea of the conception to birth, but “Life’s Greatest Miracle” has given us the better understanding and education that we need to be able to further explain
Currently health care facilities use individual, multi-component interventions, or series of interventions to prevent pressure ulcers. Either health care staff is not implementing these strategies into their patient’s care or some changes obviously need to be made. Interventions to prevent pressure ulcers consist of using the Braden Scale for initial and repeated skin assessments to determine the patient’s risks for pressure ulcers, specialized support mattresses, heel supports, and frequent repositioning for bed bound patients, encouraging mobility, moisture management, nutrition, hydration, and reducing friction or shear forces on parts of the body at increased risk for pressure ulcers (Sullivan & Schoelles, 2013).
With noticeable increase in chronic diseases, trauma, and increasing number of aging population, nurses are required to be in the position of providing pressure ulcer care and prevention. Immobility, advanced age, incontinence, prolonged pressure or friction, inadequate nutrition, dehydration, anemia, hypoxemia, multiple comorbidities, sensory deficiency, thin skin, prominent bony prominences, circulatory abnormalities, pain, and smoking are important risk factors. The barriers in the implementation of preventive measures are staff shortage, shortage of pressure relieving devices (e.g., foam or air mattresses), excessive workload, and uncooperative patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has classified the pressure ulcers as a preventable Hospital Acquired Conditions and stopped reimbursing for such hospital acquired conditions. In the United States, the cost of an individual patient care per pressure ulcer includes skin cleanser, moisturizer, dressings, wound debridgement, antibiotics, analgesics, turning sheet and support surfaces, nursing time for risk assessment, monitoring, and repositioning. It is the second most common claim after wrongful death and greater than falls or emotional distress. No matter what causes the pressure ulcers, the presence or absence of pressure ulcers is generally regarded as a performance measure of quality nursing care and overall patient health. Pressure ulcers can be avoided by applying simple interventions like factor assessment scales and regular turning of the patient. Proper hydration, a balanced diet, activity, wound care, and keeping patient’s skin and body dry are treatment, as well as, preventive measures of this problem. A thorough physical assessment, risk assessment (using a risk assessment tool like Barden scale), repositioning, patient and caretaker education, effective communication, and
The field of nursing is one that requires much passion, hard work and critical thinking. It is a nurses job to promote the well being of their patients and help the return to normal function. However unfortunate events occur, resulting in patients receiving adverse health conditions as a result of being in a medical facility One of the most prevalent of these nosocomial conditions are pressure ulcers. Not only do the patients suffer from the pain of pressure ulcers but the hospitals and medical facilities are effected as well. A randomized controlled trial conducted by Pickham et al. reported that “ Pressure ulcers are insidious complications that affect approximately 2.5 million patients and account for approximately US$$ 11 billion in annual health care spending each year” (2016). Pressure ulcers not only cause the patient pain but “even contribute to disability and
The aim of the Healthcare Quality Strategy (HQS) is to deliver excellent healthcare to the citizens of Scotland and brand NHS Scotland as a world leading care provider (Scottish Government, 2010). An improvement intervention examined in the HQS is the prevention of pressure ulcers (PUs). Using the Gibbs (1988) framework, this essay will demonstrate how I was involved in this intervention by applying my skills of compassion, person-centred care and teamwork. I have chosen PU prevention as the subject for this reflection; since, the majority of PUs are preventable (Watret and Middler, 2012) and the cost of treating them ranges from £1,214 to £14,108 (Dealey, Posnett and Walker, 2012). Supporting the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2011) confidentiality guidelines, the pseudonym “Ruby” has been used.
Based on current evidence based practice and nursing standards, the patient who has increased risk for pressure ulcer formation should be turned at the minimum of one time in a given two hour period. This will dramatically decrease the possibility of skin breakdown that could become a pressure ulcer by quite a bit. Some ideas that have come up recently include trying to find special mattresses that help shi...
Wound healing is very prevalent for a variety of wounds, many of those being pressure ulcers in geriatric patients. The baby boomer generation is very large and within the next 30 years, the aging population will grow enormously, increasing the need for wound care. All nurses must be educated on the most up to date and best practice for healing wounds.
Richard Wright's novel Black Boy is not only a story about one man's struggle to find freedom and intellectual happiness, it is a story about his discovery of language's inherent strengths and weaknesses. And the ways in which its power can separate one soul from another and one class from another. Throughout the novel, he moves from fear to respect, to abuse, to fear of language in a cycle of education which might be likened to a tumultuous love affair.
As an ICU nurse I constantly watch how patients develop pressure ulcers, a pressure ulcer is an area of skin that breaks down due to having constant friction and pressure, also from having limited movement and being in the same position over a prolonged period of time. Pressure Ulcers commonly occur in the buttocks, elbows, knees, back, shoulders, hips, heels, back of head, ankles and any other area with bony prominences. According to Cox, J. (2011) “Pressure ulcers are one of the most underrated conditions in critically ill patients. Despite the introduction of clinical practice guidelines and advances in medical technology, the prevalence of pressure ulcers in hospitalized patients continues to escalate” (p. 364). Patients with critical conditions have many factors that affect their mobility and therefore predispose them to developing pressure ulcers. This issue is significant to the nursing practice because nurses are the main care givers of these patients and are the ones responsible for the prevention of pressure ulcers in patients. Nurses should be aware of the tools and resources available and know the different techniques in providing care for the prevention of such. The purpose of this paper is to identify possible research questions that relate to the development of pressure ulcers in ICU patients and in the end generate a research question using the PICO model. “The PICO framework and its variations were developed to answer health related questions” (Davies, K., 2011).
Quality improvement issues in healthcare focus on the care that patients receive and the outcomes that patients experience. Nurses play a major advocacy role for ensuring safe and quality care to all patients. Also, nurses share the responsibility in leading the efforts in improving patient care in all settings (Berwick, 2002). One of the ongoing problems plaguing hospitals and nursing homes is the development of new pressure ulcers in patients after admission. A pressure ulcer can be defined as a localized area of necrotic tissue that is likely to occur after soft tissue is compressed between a bony prominence and a surface for prolonged periods of time (Andrychuk, 1998). According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, patients should never develop pressure ulcers while under the supervision of any medical institution because they are totally preventable (Berwick, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problems associated with pressure ulcers, examine the progress on improving this specific issue, and explain the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle that I would use to improve patient care in this area.
Withgott, J., & Brennan, S. (2011). Environment: the science behind the stories (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.
The Arctic Circle is a snowy paradise that harbors diverse species and beautiful landscapes. It also happens to be home to an estimated thirteen to twenty-five percent of the world’s undiscovered crude oil, averaging out to about 90 billion barrels of oil (Gerkens, 2014). Alaska in particular is home to one of the largest sources of oil in the United States. Underneath the barren land and icy waters is thought to be over 412 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. A majority of these fossil fuels are located in North Slope, Alaska and in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the coast of Alaska. However, reaching this fuel can be quite difficult and perilous. Drilling on land is strongly protested and drilling in the ocean can be treacherous. There are pros and cons to drilling for oil in the Arctic and the effects of drilling could be positive or negative. (Dlouhy, 2014)
Due to the high risk that pressure ulcers impose on the health of patients, nurses play a vital role in the prevention and treatment. “A pressure ulcer is a localized injury to the skin and/or underlying tissue usually over a bony prominence, as a result of pressure or pressure in combination with shear and/or friction”, (Gulanick & Myers, 2014). All patients, no matter what age, ...
Chasek, P. S., Downie, D. L., & Brown, J. W. (2014). The Development of Environmental Regimes: Chemicals, Wastes, and Climate Change. In P. S. Chasek, D. L. Downie, & J. W. Brown, Global Environmental Politics (6th ed., pp. 101-173). Boulder: Westview Press.