NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 1 Identifying a Local Health Care Economic Issue
Economic problems have become a severe aspect of the healthcare system that affects patient care, the organization and its work environment, and the community’s overall well-being. I will focus either on the healthcare financial issue of the insufficiently qualified personnel or on the implications of such a problem among the different communities, especially the deserving ones (Veenstra & Gautun, 2020). Turning to one’s own experiences, values, and evidence, the paper emphasizes how important it is to find a solution to the problem of insufficient healthcare personnel compared to the demand to ensure that all citizens have equal access to quality medical care.
Healthcare Economic Issue
Rural health access is one key issue currently facing the healthcare economy. Many rural residents need more availability of medical care. The statistics show that about 57 million Americans are rural residents, and the rural area’s health resources are less likely than the urban areas (Coughlin et al., 2019). This puts into brackets the few primary care physicians, specialists, and general healthcare services required as primary. Compared to people living in cities, residents in rural areas have difficulty accessing medical care immediately. Thus, patients could have late diagnoses, severe conditions, and poor health status. Such studies revealed that for a bulk of people living in rural areas, more cases of chronic diseases were reported, for example, heart disease and diabetes, and this is partly caused by the reduced access to preventive care and some health education programs (Coughlin et al., 2019). This issue also has economic consequences. No treated illnesses support overall healthcare costs and hamper the financial output of rural communities in the long term. The rural-urban difference in healthcare access is necessary to improve rural residents’ health and well-being.
The Rationale for Choosing the Issue
This healthcare management problem was selected because it is driven by personal experience and a strong desire for a better patient care outcome. Every single period of my professional healthcare activity, I see the adverse consequences of understaffed staffing on patients’ safe and high-quality care. Virtual healthcare internships are a window to real-world concerns, as the exposure brought to the forefront nature of this common problem of work overload persists, driving personnel to continuous exhaustion, burn, and additional burdens to their patients. We are all aware that a responsible healthcare provider upholding standards of ethics and ensuring patients’ well-being is the primary mission. However, more staff in healthcare is needed to ensure the mission at the heart of healthcare delivery.
Personal principles are central to the failure to solve this issue. The most crucial matter is the fundamental right of every person to take part in healthcare services without being affected by external factors, like the lack of personnel. Staff shortages in care delivery, patient safety, and health disparity are hampered, as well as worsening health inequalities, particularly in vulnerable populations (Flaubert et al., 2021). These imbalances contradict the ideals of justice, equal opportunity, and fairness; therefore, ethical healthcare dictates them.
The economic issues that console inside inadequate staffing should not be treated light-mindedly. Alongside patient care, staffing deficits also add up to costs of operations, inefficiencies of the organizations, and workforce attrition (Kelly et al., 2020). The financial burdens of healthcare organizations are only the tip of the iceberg, and the remaining implications of society can be observed in less productive communities and compromised public health outcomes.
Effects of Healthcare Economic Issues
The healthcare economic problem of inadequate staffing has been a prominent factor that affects the way organizations, colleagues, and communities are exposed to the higher risk of diseases or other healthcare problems, especially in low socio-economic groups. In our workload, understaffing has become the source of intensified workload, increased stress, and unfavorable attitudes, eventually prevailing among healthcare professionals. The bias disrupts our ability to meet benchmarks of healthcare delivery and makes job burnout and job dissatisfaction possible, leading to our detriment.
Dealing with staff insufficiency inside the organization affects working functions, leading to inefficiencies in patient flow. Hence, wait times are longer as patient outcomes are compromised. The economic payoff from handling understaffing is remembered as overtime pay and recruitment costs that strain organizational resources, meaning that the capital set aside for other critical healthcare delivery areas could be higher.
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NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 1 Identifying a Local Health Care Economic Issue
Some doctors, particularly those from diverse or lower-class backgrounds, are adversely affected by inadequate workforce. They could be experiencing difficulties in getting the needed assistance and support systems, which could, in turn, increase stress levels while feeling wrong about their jobs. This could result from the research (Ersoy et al., 2023). Health inequities usually appear more intensely among the lower socioeconomic groups, where they can be already limited to the disparities in access to healthcare and resources.
At the community level, unbalanced staffing is a channel that leads to disparities in health care distribution and results, where people from various or low social backgrounds pay the highest price. The availability of healthcare professionals and types of healthcare services becomes the determinant that leads to delayed diagnosis, untreated conditions, and they experience poorer health outcomes in low-income populations (Ratnapradipa et al., 2023). Such disparities in healthcare become deeper, fostering poverty and inequality.
One dimension of the healthcare workforce that may contribute to the current issue of unbalanced and inadequate healthcare staffing is the endowment of the healthcare workforce. This gap is further worsened by many underlying mechanics, such as the lack of workers, the shortage of educational programs, and the movement of individuals out of this occupation due to burnout. According to a recently published research based on a systematic review and meta-analysis (Dall’Ora et al., 2022), registered nurse (RN) staffing levels and patient outcomes are shown to be significantly related. The reasons were understood based on the triangulation of explanatory measures to unveil a massive gap between desired and attained staffing levels in healthcare settings.
Regulatory hurdles affect workforce mobility; healthcare supply and distribution disparity is another factor. This can have a negative impact, especially on communities and communities who are underserved and in rural areas. The public health data reports from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) show that rural populations have disparities in healthcare access and outcomes that are the most striking. Resource shortages are particularly severe in workforce issues (Coombs et al.,2022). It rushes out that more practical steps must be taken to bridge the gulf of workers’ unavailability and supply to alleviate the disparity in health care and put patients at the center position.
Conclusion
The economic issues of healthcare workers must be fixed by a joint effort to fill the staff shortage by enlarging the workforce supply. Through workforce training, policy reforming, and the allocation of resources to facilitate equity in healthcare, healthcare institutions in their environment can attain high-quality care, optimum organizational performance, and minimize unequal access and healthcare outcomes. Through cooperation solutions and actual interventions, we can build an easily accessible healthcare system that pays more attention to equity, efficiency, and patient-centered care.
References
Coombs, N. C., Campbell, D. G., & Caringi, J. (2022). A qualitative study of rural healthcare providers’ views of social, cultural, and programmatic barriers to healthcare access. BMC(BioMed Central ) Health Services Research, 22(1), 67–98.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07829-2
Coughlin, S. S., Clary, C., Johnson, J. A., Berman, A., Heboyan, V., Benevides, T., Moore, J., & George, V. (2019). Continuing challenges in rural health in the United States. Journal of Environment and Health Sciences, 5(2), 90–92.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7043306/
Dall’Ora, C., Ball, J., Reinius, M., & Griffiths, P. (2020). Burnout in nursing: A theoretical review. Human Resources for Health, 18(1), 1–17.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-020-00469-9
Dall’Ora, C., Saville, C., Rubbo, B., Turner, L., Jones, J., & Griffiths, P. (2022). Nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes: A systematic review of longitudinal studies. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 134(3).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2022.104311
Ersoy, A., Mahmood, Z., Sharif, S., Ersoy, N., & Ehtiyar, R. (2023). Exploring the associations between social support, perceived uncertainty, job stress, and emotional exhaustion during the COVID-19 crisis. Sustainability, 15(3), 2150.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032150
Flaubert, J. L., Menestrel, S. L., Williams, D. R., & Wakefield, M. K. (2021). Supporting the health and professional well-being of nurses. In www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. National Academies Press.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK573902/
Kelly, L. A., Gee, P. M., & Butler, R. J. (2020). Impact of nurse burnout on organizational and position turnover. Nursing Outlook, 69(1), 96–102.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2020.06.008
Pourat, N., Chen, X., Lu, C., Zhou, W., Hoang, H., & Sripipatana, A. (2020). Assessing clinical quality performance and staffing capacity differences between urban and rural health resources and services administration-funded health centers in the United States: A cross-sectional study. PLOS ONE, 15(12), e0242844.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242844
Ratnapradipa, K. L., Jadhav, S., Kabayundo, J., Wang, H., & Smith, L. C. (2023). Factors associated with delaying medical care: Cross-sectional study of Nebraska adults. BMC (BioMed Central ) Health Services Research, 23(1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09140-0
Veenstra, M., & Gautun, H. (2020). Nurses’ assessments of staffing adequacy in care services for older patients following hospital discharge. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(2), 805–818.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14636
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