Essay on Challenges in the U.S. Healthcare System: Staff Shortages, Patient Needs, and IT Implementation

Introduction

Healthcare in the United States has remained one of the crucial sectors in guaranteeing the citizens with more significant healthcare services. The advancement in technology, and the implementation of numerous technological concepts, have guaranteed quality services in numerous healthcare organizations, which has improved and reshaped the image of the healthcare sector. Nevertheless, numerous healthcare organizations have been widely scolded of their neglected and poor services, which have affected the entire system. Some of the commonly experienced problems in the healthcare sector include low staff members to meet the demands of the patients, poor accommodation of patients’ needs, slow adoption of IT platforms, as well as failure to address the growing patients’ consummation. Therefore, the essay seeks to outline specific areas in healthcare that need to be resolved as a means of improving the health of the patients and workers in the profession.

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Background Issues

The current healthcare system challenge in the United States is growing, as more patients continue to flock seeking the services. According to Lesho, et al., (2016), numerous researches in the past have concluded that burdens in all the healthcare quality problems are staggering despite the Use being one of the nations with the best healthcare programs. Nevertheless, patients and healthcare officials continue to suffer under the yoke of poor services. The President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry outlined that there is no guarantee in the American healthcare systems for any particular health problem on the highly inflated quality care.

Healthcare Staff Shortage

With the increasing number of medical graduates, the healthcare system has not fully consumed the talents of the new muscle in the job industry but instead relied upon its limited employed staff members due to higher operating costs. According to Ruggles et al., (2019), the employment of healthcare staff members is moving at a foot-dragging pace, which has affected how healthcare services are offered. Physicians are assigned an array of patients, which reduces the chances of offering personalized or customized healthcare services. As a result, most patients are provided with a generalized treatment plan.

Poor Accommodation of Patients’ Needs

The national health care system is organizing to help treat the majority of chronic diseases as a means of providing quality services. However, despite the increasing number of chronic cases, the National Health System is not meeting the needs of the patients.

Slow Implementation of Information Technology (IT)

It has brought about significant change in the healthcare system. Despite the automation being adopted in numerous Healthcare systems within healthcare, numerous areas have not yet received changes. Some of the areas include administrative transactions, clinical, and financial departments. Lack of full automation has resulted in critical errors that have not only affected the healthcare system but led to the loss of lives.

Failure in Addressing Increasing Patients’ Consummation

With the advancement in technology, patients are becoming more educated and aware of their condition. They are exposed to a vast set of data, which can be essential during a diagnostic. However, the healthcare system has not fully addressed this matter by backing up credible information, which can improve diagnostics.

Recommendation

One of the ways through which the healthcare system should utilize to reduce the shortage of staff members is through employing the required staff members. The shortage of staff members results in employee burnout, leading to poor services. Secondly, patients’ needs are not addressed as a result of overcrowding and poor services. The healthcare system should only accommodate enough patients designed for the facility to ensure that patients receive optimum services.

Lastly, healthcare facilities should adopt full automation of IT services, such as in finance, and research, to provide accurate treatment plans for the patients. Lastly, healthcare facilities should take advantage of the learned population by publishing and supporting healthcare-related articles that provide relevant information to the patients. This can be implemented by developing websites, or Apps, that provide symptoms that help patients to diagnose and assess their condition before it is too late.

References

Lesho, E., Clifford, R., Onmus-Leone, F., Appalla, L., Snesrud, E., Kwak, Y., ... & Julius, M. (2016). The challenges of implementing next-generation sequencing across a large healthcare system, and the molecular epidemiology and antibiotic susceptibilities of carbapenemase-producing bacteria in the healthcare system of the US Department of Defense. PLoS One, 11(5), e0155770. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155770

Ruggles, B. M., Xiong, A., & Kyle, B. (2019). Healthcare coverage in the US and Japan: A comparison. Nursing2020, 49(4), 56-60.doi: 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000553277.03472.d8