When it comes to the topic of healthcare in the United States, most American’s readily agree that our country is in crisis. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether or not we can find a solution that works considering our limited resources. Whereas some are convinced the answer lies within government legislation such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, others maintain that the only way to repair our nation’s broken medical system is by taking a deeper look at the problem itself and focusing on the prevention of chronic disease (Winkfield, 2013). My own view is that while I strongly believe everyone should have equal access to quality healthcare, I also believe we need a system that works before the government can successfully make healthcare feasible for the millions of people still without insurance. In addition, though I concede that prevention is key, it’s not enough to just consider the health of the general population. Prevention must include measures to ensure the well-being of our healthcare providers in the workplace as well.
With that being said, according to the American Nursing Association (2011) there are over 3.1 million registered nurses nationwide, making nurses the largest segment of the healthcare workplace. Common sense seems to dictate that policy makers would be wise to address any issues that threaten the health or safety of those responsible for the delivery of care to our loved ones. As Cynthia Haney, J.D., senior policy fellow for the American Nursing Association’s Department of Nursing Practice and Policy explains, “Registered nurses are fundamental to the success of patient-centered care….nurses’ education, skills and professional scope make them ...
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Roche, M., Diers, D., Duffield, C., & Catling-Paull, C. (2010). Violence Toward Nurses, the Work Environment, and Patient Outcomes. Journal Of Nursing Scholarship, 42(1), 13-22. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.2009.01321.x
Vessey, J., Demarco, R., & DiFazio, R. (2010). Bullying, harassment, and horizontal violence in the nursing workforce: the state of the science.
Weinand, M. R. (2010). Horizontal violence in nursing: history, impact, and solution. JOCEPS: The Journal Of Chi Eta Phi Sorority, 54(1), 23-26.
Winkfield, E. L. (2013). America’s Healthcare Crisis is There a Solution? The Real Truth. Retrieved from http://realtruth.org/articles/090203-005-health.html
World Health Organization (2002). World report on violence and health. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/violenceprevention/approach/definition/en/
The facts bear out the conclusion that the way healthcare in this country is distributed is flawed. It causes us to lose money, productivity, and unjustly leaves too many people struggling for what Thomas Jefferson realized was fundamental. Among industrialized countries, America holds the unique position of not having any form of universal health care. This should lead Americans to ask why the health of its citizens is “less equal” than the health of a European.
Lateral Violence in Nursing Lateral violence is an act of aggression that occurs among nurses (Becher & Visovsky, 2012), many nurses are exposed to incidents of lateral violence two or more times weekly (Ceravolo, Schwartz, Foltz-Ramos, & Castner, 2012) (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, 2014). Lateral violence which is also called bullying, incivility, disruptive behaviors and horizontal violence may be covert or overt acts of verbal or nonverbal aggressions (American Nurses Association, 2011). Lateral violence may be verbal, physical or psychological in nature (Blair, 2013). Victims of lateral violence may have profound psychological effects including fatigue, insomnia, stress, depression, shame, guilt, isolations, substance abuse,
For the last five years of my life I have worked in the healthcare industry. One of the biggest issues plaguing our nation today has been the ever rising cost of health care. If we don't get costs under control, we risk losing the entire system, as well as potentially crippling our economy. For the sake of our future, we must find a way to lower the cost of health care in this nation.
Park, Han. Broken system: The U.S. has failed at health care. 27 Oct. 2007. 16 November
According to (Abdollahzadeh, 2016), the issue of incivility in nursing can be defined as “low intensity” deviant behavior with the intent to harm the target. Nurses are subjected to incivility at a higher rate than other job fields, and this concern is one that has an impact on the mental health and well-being of nurses and can lead to a reduction in job satisfaction and employee recruitment and retention
On April 17th 2013, Senator Barbara Boxer (California) introduced a federal bill that is aimed to reduce nursing shortages by establishing a minimum nurse-to-patient ration in hospitals. She is also ordering whistleblowing protection for nurses who report quality-of-care violations. The law requires that every hospital implement a written hospital-wide staffing plan that will guide the assignments to...
Nurse horizontal violence towards new nurses and nursing students includes methodical, unwelcome or unprovoked behaviors with the intent to upset, control, humiliate, harm, or segregate (Hutchinson, Vickers, Jackson, & Wilkes, 2006). Horizontal violence can be furtive and shrewd (such as withholding information or spreading gossip) as well as obvious and direct, such as reproaching in front of other staff, false complaints, or threatening body language (Hutchinson et al., 2006). Other forms of the experience, described both in nursing and non-nursing literature, include bullying, mobbing, intimidation, and aggression (Farrell, 2001). Bullies form cliques and engage in repetit...
In recent years, the number of Americans who are uninsured has reached over 45 million citizens, with millions more who only have the very basic of insurance, effectively under insured. With the growing budget cuts to medicaid and the decreasing amount of employers cutting back on their health insurance options, more and more americans are put into positions with poor health care or no access to it at all. At the heart of the issue stems two roots, one concerning the morality of universal health care and the other concerning the economic effects. Many believe that health care reform at a national level is impossible or impractical, and so for too long now our citizens have stood by as our flawed health-care system has transformed into an unfixable mess. The good that universal healthcare would bring to our nation far outweighs the bad, however, so, sooner rather than later, it is important for us to strive towards a society where all people have access to healthcare.
Despite the established health care facilities in the United States, most citizens do not have access to proper medical care. We must appreciate from the very onset that a healthy and strong nation must have a proper health care system. Such a health system should be available and affordable to all. The cost of health services is high. In fact, the ...
There is a shortage of all health care professions throughout the United States. One shortage in particular that society should be very concerned about is the shortage of Registered Nurses. Registered Nurses make up the single largest healthcare profession in the United States. A registered nurse is a vital healthcare professional that has earned a two or four year degree and has the upper-most responsibility in providing direct patient care and staff management in a hospital or other treatment facilities (Registered Nurse (RN) Degree and Career Overview., 2009). This shortage issue is imperative because RN's affect everyone sometime in their lifetime. Nurses serve groups, families and individuals to foster health and prevent disease.
Within the previous four years, the number of uninsured Americans has jumped to forty five million people. Beginning in the 1980’s, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has been trying to fix this problem of health insurance coverage for everyone with a basic reform. The AAFP’s plan imagined every American with insured coverage for necessary improved services that fall between the crucial health benefits and the surprising costs. (Sweeney) They expect by fostering prevention, and early prevention, with early diagnosis with treatment, the program would result in decreased health system costs and increased productivity through healthier lives. The way to achieve health care coverage for all is pretty simple. This country needs the United States congress to act out legislation assuring essential health care coverage for all.
It has various negative effects which are persistent in nature, and the individual victim realizes the behaviour as bullying (Wilson, 2016). Bullying is associated with physical and psychological problems among nurses leading to absenteeism, poor performance, low job satisfaction, and increased turnover (Ganz, et al., 2015). The issue of bullying among nurses further affects the entire health care team including patient outcomes and health care costs due to the declining level of nurses’ performance (Becher & Visovsky, 2012). Although bullying exists in the nursing work place, they are silent in nature, and goes undetected (Becher & Visovsky,2012). Hence, identifying and managing workplace bullying needs efforts of individual facing bullying and support of the
When examining the circumstances under which incivility thrives in nursing education, it is imperative that the issue is looked at from not only the perspective of the faculty, but from the nursing student
The issue of workplace violence in nursing was brought into the light after several studies were performed focused on this topic. A chart shown in the United States Department of Labor, 2004, showed the increasing rates of ...
Reforming the health care delivery system to progress the quality and value of care is indispensable to addressing the ever-increasing costs, poor quality, and increasing numbers of Americans without health insurance coverage. What is more, reforms should improve access to the right care at the right time in the right setting. They should keep people healthy and prevent common, preventable impediments of illnesses to the greatest extent possible. Thoughtfully assembled reforms would support greater access to health-improving care, in contrast to the current system, which encourages more tests, procedures, and treatments that are either