Premium Essay

Health Care Utilization: Challenging Yet Beneficial

In:

Submitted By hdunn1385
Words 1162
Pages 5
Health Care Utilization: Challenging yet Beneficial
Heidi Dunn
HCS/235 Version 3
May 14, 2014
Mrs. Glorinda Pastorius, RN, MSN, CCRN

Health Care Utilization: Challenging yet Beneficial
When considering different options for seeking healthcare there are several things to consider. Many people today have health problems that are classified as chronic. Often times, health insurance is un-obtainable because of how expensive it is and the income that most people make simply cannot cover the costs. In addition to this burden, other challenges must be overcome to utilize health care. So how do people find ways to take care of themselves? One option for lower income individuals is the utilization of Medicaid. Medicaid is a government funded health care program that offers coverage for people with lower incomes.
Need
John Q. is a patient that qualifies for Medicaid. This patient has a predisposing condition of chronic high blood pressure. In addition to this, there is a genetic factor present illustrating that heart problems run in his family. This enables him to receive care that may help prevent him from complications that arise from having high blood pressure. Recently, his father had a heart attack and this has John worried about his own well-being. He is afraid that he may experience the same thing. John is interested in taking preventative measures to avoid having a heart attack himself; however, there are a few obstacles that present challenges for him to utilize health care.
Challenges
John Q. has Medicaid coverage. This means that he can receive care at a substantially lower cost. He is happy about this prospect, but also has some concerns. Not only is John classified as a low-income individual, he also has no personal transportation. To add to this problem, he has spent time figuring out which doctor he can see. Medicaid is not accepted by every

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Summary: The Importance Of Partnering In Nursing Education

...case study of the week at work. More than that, when I walked outside to see the community, I can see exactly the implication of nursing courses that I take. This past year has been challenging for me. It has been full of learning experience inside and outside the class....

Words: 1389 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Curiculum Development Paper

...technology and development of hospitals as the focus of health care practice. The CDC estimated a total of 1.7 million patients in the hospital that gets a nosocomial infection and 99,000 will die from the infection. This results to one patient death in every five minutes, hospitalized patients Hospital acquired pneumonia is currently the second most common nosocomial infection in the United States and is associated with high mortality and morbidity (Seymann, 2008). Higher rates of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), functional decline, pressure ulcers, and falls are a few factors that leads to prolonged bed-rest . HAP Iis a pneumonia that begins within 48 hours after hospitalization and does not incubate at the time of admission. Because individuals with hospital-acquired pneumonia usually have underlying illnesses and are exposed to more dangerous bacteria, it tends to be more deadly than community-acquired pneumonia (Seymann, 2008). Those at risk include patients with a compromised immune system, are HIV positive, have been hospitalized for more than two days, reside in a nursing home, have COPD, diabetes, heart failure, are elderly, alcoholics or have other underlying disorders (Smeltzer, et al). A new report regarding the high death rate due to hospital acquired pneumonia was a an issue that could not be ignored by congress in light of the fact that it was published days before President Barack Obama convened a Health Care Summit in Washington last week (Zigmond, 2010). Goals/learner...

Words: 1970 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Sample

...1. Compare and contrast traditional Hmong birthing practices with those in the United States. Because the Hmong culture varies so differently from that of American practices, significant traits can be compared from each way of life. One of these differing practices is childbirth. Typically, Hmong women do not go for regular checkups, let alone see any medical professionals, for the duration of their pregnancy. Once it comes time to deliver the child, the mother gives birth in her own home, by herself, without making a sound as to not “thwart the birth” (Fadiman 1997, 3). No epidurals, medication, housewives, or nurses are utilized and the mother tends to take care of everything on her own. The only assistance the woman receives is a cup of hot water, upon request, from her husband who must avert his eyes. The woman would stand as she delivers, pushing the newborn into her arms. Her husband would then cut the umbilical cord with a pair of heated scissors. Because the spiritual side of life is so important to the Hmong, the placenta would be buried in the family’s hut so that “when the [child dies] his or her soul [can] travel back from place to place, retracing the path of its life geography, until it reaches the burial place of its placental ‘jacket’ and [puts] it on” (Faiman 1997, 5). After birth, women were to eat and drink warm liquids and follow a strict diet of steamed rice and chicken boiled in water with five special herbs (Fadiman 1997, 9). The child’s body would be...

Words: 4069 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Professional Presence

...thought was that health and illness are only physical in nature and consciousness is equated to functioning of the brain. Era I thinking in displayed in review of psychiatric care in the early 1900 with the use of frontal lobotomies to cure hysteria. The thought was that performing a surgical procedure on the brain will remove the area that is causing the Hysteria. Era I focuses on performing a procedure or providing a medication to fix the body physically, while Era III takes into account the patients perception of health, their stats of mind and their support structures around them. It focuses on the realization that your mental state of mind can affect the physical state of your body. In addition, Era III considers the influence of other humans through the use of prayer and the influence that can have on the body even without the patient being aware that they were being prayed for. Era III is referred to as the “Boundless Mind Era”. It takes the belief from Era II that diseases are influenced by a person’s feelings and emotions and goes a bit further to say that disease can be influenced by the mind of another person at a distance through the use of prayer. (Dossey, “A Conversation about the Future of Medicine”: Larry Dossey’s 3 Era’s in Healthcare). Research has been done on the influence of prayer on disease processes and patients receiving prayer had fewer side effects than those that were not prayed for. 2. I have been an Emergency Room and Critical Care nurse for...

Words: 3325 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

General Motors

...RESEARCH PAPER ON GM Introduction "General Motors has no bad years, only good years and better years" (Sloan, 1972). This mantra established in 1950 by former GM president Harlow H. Curtice may have been true at one point, but is called into question today by many, including Wall Street. General Motors Corporation, also known, as GM or GMC is the world’s 2nd largest auto company in sales revenue behind Toyota which took the lead in 2006. General Motors reigned as the global leader in the automobile industry for the last 76 years, which was longer than any other automaker. Today, Richard Wagoner, Jr., GM Chairman and CEO currently runs GM, which was founded in 1908. GM today employs approximately 324,000 people around the world, with their global headquarters in Detroit Michigan. Their European headquarters is based in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2006, 9.1 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM, Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, and Vauxhall. General Motors has a superb relationship with international connection. GM takes pride in fostering global partnerships and consumer relationships. GM is majority shareholder in GM Daewoo auto & Technology Co. of South Korea and has had collaborative ventures in technology and manufacturing with several other automakers. It also has ventures with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation of China. GM’s largest national market is the United...

Words: 6125 - Pages: 25

Premium Essay

What Can Be Done to Improve Access to Healthcare

...improving Quality and Value in the U.S. Health Care System August 2009 Preamble The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is a public policy advocacy organization founded by former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell. Its mission is to develop and promote solutions that can attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress. The BPC acts as an incubator for policy efforts that engage top political figures, advocates, academics, and business leaders in the art of principled compromise. This report is part of a series commissioned by the BPC to advance the substantive work of the Leaders’ Project on the State of American Health Care. It is intended to explore policy trade-offs and analyze the major decisions involved in improving health care delivery, and discuss them in the broader context of health reform. It does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Senators Baker, Daschle, and Dole or the BPC’s Board of Directors. The Leaders’ Project was launched in March 2008. Co-Directed by Mark B. McClellan and Chris Jennings, its mission is (1) to create a bipartisan plan for health reform that can be used to transform the U.S. health care system, and (2) to demonstrate that health reform is an achievable political reality. Over the course of the project, Senators Baker, Daschle, and Dole hosted public policy forums across the country, and orchestrated a targeted outreach campaign to...

Words: 35073 - Pages: 141

Premium Essay

Public Health

...#1…Public health IN THE United States, primary care remains a medical model. This is in contrast to much of the world, where the 1978 Declaration of Alma-At a which recognized that attaining health for all also requires interaction from social and economic sectors - is considered standard. Today, there is much buzz about patient-centered medical homes, a concept that promises to transform the practice of American medicine. There is much to praise about this most recent iteration of the medical home. But the missing ingrethent in all these definitions and models remains public health. A population focus that addresses the social determinants of health is an essential component of primary health care. In the United States, such a comprehensive approach has been labeled community-oriented primary care. This model is built firmly on the Alma-Ata principles and incorporates a public health approach to health services. Community-oriented primary care organizes the delivery of health services, around a population, not simply a collection of individuals. It identifies a population - most frequently a geographically defined community - and uses epidemiology and interventions to improve community and individual health and well-being. In this model, both individual patients and the community are the foci of the delivery of health services. Primary health care stands at the intersection of personal and population health services. It requires integrating medical models of primary care that...

Words: 12713 - Pages: 51

Premium Essay

Robotic Surgery

...LAS 432 Course Capstone Project Robotic Surgery (LAS 432 - 08) Robert Clark April 19, 2015 Team F Team Leader: Dylan Zinkiewicz - D# 03342318 Team Members: Alisha Young - D# 01615918 Antonice Thomas - D# 01487783 Brooke White - D# 01489597 Katherine Vega - D# 01487783 Contents Alisha Young Intro to Robotic Surgery 2 Antonice Thomas Timeline 10 Overview 15 The Future 17 Dylan Zinkiewicz Economic Talk 19 Marketing & Media Influence 24 Katherine Vega Psychological considerations and Sociological effects 29 Environmental Implications 33 Brooke White Ethics and Legal Issues 37 Conclusion 45 References 46 Intro to Robotic Surgery Robotic surgery is defined in the medical dictionary as "the performance of operative procedures with the assistance of robotic technology" ("Robotic," n.d.). Robotic surgery is an emerging technology that began its experimental phase in 1985 with the introduction of the PUMA 560 robotic arm. The first use of a robot for a surgical procedure was a neurosurgical biopsy, recorded in 1985. Following this successful surgery was the first laparoscopic surgery using the same kind of robot; the robotic arm. In 1987, a successful cholecystectomy was performed. In 1988, doctors decided to use the PUMA 560 robotic arm for a transurethral resection procedure. Finally, in 1990, the Automated Endoscopic System for Optimal Positioning (AESOP) became known as the first system to be approved by the Food and...

Words: 14576 - Pages: 59

Premium Essay

Tourism

...* The word TOURISM refers tour which is derived from the Latin word "TORNUS" . It means a tool for describing a circle of turner's wheel (Bhatia, 2002). It is very important pleasure activity where tourists travel from one to another countries and one region to another region as well.And Tourism also involves money for getting services and time.So, it basically result for temporary visit or move from their place to other places.Therefore facilities provided to visitors to satisfy their wants and needs come in tourism activity. Tourism is increasing expanding activity in national or international level.So nowdays it has become serious concerns for any national.   Nepal is a very small and natural beautiful country where almost 82 percent people are engaged in agriculture even though the agriculture sectors contribute only 55 percent on the gross domestic product and 50% of the total export. It is always put in the major or first priority in every periodic plan. And there is always huge budget amount for agriculture. But the productivity is going always downwards because of structure  problem raising in Nepal. For example Topographical conditions,  lack of irrigation facility, lack of modern technical use and lack of commercialization.  Like agriculture, manufacturing sector is also not very good in Nepal it has provided only 10 percent employment and it has only 20 percent contribution on gross domestic product. There has a lots of investment and efforts to developed industrial...

Words: 4113 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Data Warehousing and Data Mining

...Table of Contents Introduction 2 Assumptions 3 Data Availability 3 Overnight processing window 3 Business sponsor 4 Source system knowledge 4 Significance 5 Data warehouse 6 ETL: (Extract, Transform, Load) 6 Data Mining 6 Data Mining Techniques 7 Data Warehousing 8 Data Mining 8 Technology in Health Care 9 Diseases Analysis 9 Treatment strategies 9 Healthcare Resource Management 10 Customer Relationship Management 10 Recommended Solution 11 Corporate Solution 11 Technological Solution 11 Justification and Conclusion 12 References 14 Health Authority Data (Appendix A) 16 Data Warehousing Implementation (Appendix B) 19 Data Mining Implementation (Appendix B) 22 Technological Scenarios in Health Authorities (Appendix C) 26 Technology Tools 27 Data Management Technology Introduction The amount of information offered to us is literally astonishing, and the worthiness of data as an organizational asset is widely acknowledged. Nonetheless the failure to manage this enormous amount of data, and to swiftly acquire the information that is relevant to any particular question, as the volume of information rises, demonstrates to be a distraction and a liability, rather than an asset. This paradox energies the need for increasingly powerful and flexible data management systems. To achieve efficiency and a great level of productivity out of large and complex datasets, operators need have tools that streamline the tasks of managing...

Words: 8284 - Pages: 34

Premium Essay

The Underserved

...affordable high-quality healthcare depends upon where you live. Throughout rural America, nearly 50 million people face challenges in accessing health care. The past several decades have consistently shown higher rates of poverty, mortality, and limited access to a primary health care provider in rural areas. With the recent economic downturn, there is potential for an increase in many of the healthcare disparities and access concerns that are already elevated in rural communities. High poverty rates and job loss in the current economic recession highlight the challenges of accessing health care and rising health care costs in rural areas. Rates of poverty are higher, with fifteen percent of people in rural areas living below the poverty level compared to twelve percent of people in urban areas. The rural economy is dominated by small businesses, which are struggling as the cost of healthcare continues to skyrocket. In the current recession, the rural economy is losing jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the nation, and loss of jobs can lead to loss of healthcare coverage. In particular, rural communities dependent on manufacturing have lost nearly five percent of their jobs since the recession began. Many rural residents work part-time, seasonally, or for themselves, making them less likely to have private, employer-sponsored health care benefits. Research shows that ninety percent of farmers have insurance coverage; one-third purchased it directly through an insurance...

Words: 6464 - Pages: 26

Premium Essay

Heart Failure

...Clinical presentations of heart failure depends on which ventricles have failed to pump blood adequately; left ventricular failure, also known as congestive heart failure (CHF) is more common than right ventricular failure (McCance & Huether, 2014). The most common symptoms of heart failure are shortness of breath, fatigue, and peripheral edema. HF is not a disease, but rather a manifestation of a diseased heart. Large number of disorders can lead to heart failure, and with the aging population and many surviving primary cardiac events, it is no surprise that the most common reason for hospitalization in patients older than 65 years old is heart failure (McClintock, Mose, & Smith, 2014). Heart failure has become a major public health problem because it is the only cardiac condition that continues to increase in prevalence (McClintock, Mose, & Smith, 2014). Organizations such as American Heart Association (AHA), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) are helping raise awareness and are invaluable resources to the increasing heart failure population. Because heart failure affects so many Americans, it is important to discuss heart failure in its complexity and analyze the pathology...

Words: 16787 - Pages: 68

Free Essay

Analyst

...number is on the increase. Prisoners have complex health needs and it is the role of the correctional health nurse to care for prisoner-patients and their health needs. Yet there is a paucity of research surrounding this topic. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the lived experience of nurses caring for prisoner-patients. Five registered nurses, employed in correctional centres in Southeast Queensland were interviewed to illuminate the experience of caring for prisoner-patients. Data was analyzed using Colaizzi’s (1978) method of phenomenology. Textual analysis revealed two themes with five corresponding sub-themes that depicted the meaning of nurses’ caring for prisonerpatients. The experience of nurses caring for prisoner-patients was described by nurse participants as ‘obstructive practices’ from the custodial officers, ‘decreased standards of care’ by nursing staff, ‘prejudice’ towards to prisoners, ‘increased level of mentally ill prisoners’ and a ‘lack of recognition’ for nurses working in the prisons. Amidst all these difficulties, nurses who cared for prisoner-patients demonstrated courage in the work they did and persevered for the sake of the their prisoner-patients and the specialty that is correctional health nursing. Communication must continue between prison and health care administrators in order to identify conflicting issues that impact on the autonomy of nurses delivering health care to prisoner-patients. Further research must also...

Words: 26973 - Pages: 108

Premium Essay

Wl Balances

...This chapter was excerpted from Dayle M. Smith (2000). Women At Work: Leadership for the Next Century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Cynthia A. Thompson and Laura L. Beauvais I love my life! My husband and I have arranged our work lives so that we can spend as much time as possible with our kids, and still feel like we’re making a difference at work. —JESSICA DEGROOT, FOUNDER. THE THIRD PATH INSTITUTE It just got to be too much. Monday through Friday I caught the 6:30 train for the city, and didn’t return until 6 P.M. . I loved my job, the money was good, but there was no flexibility, no possibility for part-time work. And I really missed my kids. My husband was making more than I did and we finally decided we could live on his salary. So I quit. —LISA CELONA. FORMER NASDAQ EQUITY TRADER. CURRENT AT-HOME MOM I spent four years working for an insurance company as director of media services. Because my wife was a performer in New York City and had to work evenings; I was the primary caregiver for our two children. That meant I had to leave work earlier than any of the other managers, and that caused a lot of friction and resentment... The tension it created for me at work was instrumental in my eventually having to leave the company. —MICHAEL KERLEY, PRESIDENT, CREATIVE DIALOGUES Chapter Overview This chapter focuses on how women (and, increasingly, men) attempt to balance the multiple competing...

Words: 14404 - Pages: 58

Premium Essay

Healthcare

...Evolution of Health Services in the United States Learning Objectives To discover historical developments that have shaped the nature of the US health care delivery system To evaluate why the system has been resistant to national health insurance reforms To explore developments associated with the corporatization of health care To speculate on whether the era of socialized medicine has dawned in the United States “Where’s the market?” 81 26501_CH03_FINAL.indd 81 7/27/11 10:31:29 AM 82 CHAPTER 3 The Evolution of Health Services in the United States Introduction The health care delivery system of the United States evolved quite differently from the systems in Europe. American values and the social, political, and economic antecedents on which the US system is based have led to the formation of a unique system of health care delivery, as described in Chapter 1. This chapter discusses how these forces have been instrumental in shaping the current structure of medical services and how they are likely to shape its future. The evolutionary changes discussed here illustrate the American beliefs and values (discussed in Chapter 2) in action, within the context of broad social, political, and economic changes. Because social, political, and economic contexts are not static, their shifting influences lend a certain dynamism to the health care delivery system. Conversely, beliefs and values remain relatively stable over time. Consequently, in the American health care delivery experience...

Words: 18336 - Pages: 74