Health Care System
A health care system is a combination of patients, health care providers, health facilities, insurers, the ministry of health, pharmaceutical bodies, and any other relevant group (OECD Publishing, 2010). Each of these groups has got a special role that they play to make the system a complete one. To have a system that is running smoothly, there are several aspects and elements that must be incorporated in the system. This paper is going to look at most of these factors that are part of a health care system.
One thing to note is that the WHO framework, which is comprised of six building blocks of the Health System. The six blocks which when combined form a framework that helps understand the way different aspects of the health care system are integrated to have one fully functioning unit (OECD Publishing, 2010).
The first building block of health systems is leadership and governance. This block is all about good leadership skills to see through the system. Under this block, those responsible are trained on how to harmonize various projects and activities meant for the wellbeing of the health system as a whole. The second block covers the financial issues of the health care system. Financial issues include insurance policies, ways to finance the system, reimbursing of health care providers, to list but a few.
The third building block is about medical products and technology that is applied in the issuance of health care services. Another building block is service delivery which is concerned about the quality of services being offered and how they are offered. The other building blocks are information and health communication, and health work force. Well implemented building blocks result to improved health facilities and more efficient health services, as well secure finances.
First and foremost are unions and associations that are created to protect the interests of their members. One good example is the Medicare and Medicaid services association. This association takes care of financial issues in the health care system. The association comes up with payment policies to ensure that health care providers are well reimbursed. The policies are also made to ensure that enough funds are raised to fund both operational costs as well as costs incurred to purchase the needed material and equipment, not forgetting the drugs needed for treatment (Konecci, 1974).
Other associations that are part of the health care system are research groups whose responsibility is to carry out researches and studies about existing diseases, how to control them, proper treatment for the diseases and other related issues. Such are research groups involved in conducting researches aimed at finding a definite and affordable cure for cancer, which has a deadly killer in the current days.
The group of nurses is another important element of the health care system (Konecci, 1974). The nursing department is deemed the core of the system, since most of the activities in the system revolve around it. The practice is all about providing the best care possible to a patient. There are various issues that enhance the department of nursing, making the whole system to run more effectively.
One crucial aspect of nursing in the health care system is delegation in the nursing practice. Delegation is a skill that all registered nurses must acquire. The skill is necessary since it allows for the registered nurses to assign tasks to licensed practical or vocational nurses. When duties or tasks are distributed, the services provided are more efficient (Genette, 2004, p. 102). This helps ensure that all health care consumers get the best treatment possible. However, a registered nurse needs to supervise the tasks assigned, to ensure that all goes well. When all these nurses work in unison and harmony, then the delivery of the health care system generally becomes better.
In the due course of the nursing practice, medical records are created. In any health facility, it is necessary to have policies that make necessitate the keeping of medical records. Keeping medical records of patients treated in a health facility is one practice of Health Information Management. This can be done in two ways: the traditional way which is paper –based and the electronic way where files are stored in a computer system. It is also important to note that keeping records is a requirement of the law (Roach, 2006, p. 12). However, it is up to the facility to come with ways and policies on how to do it.
This aspect is keeping and maintaining medical records is a sensitive and issue and should be treated as such (OECD Publishing, 2010). There are regulations and policies pertaining to this and each state has got its own statutes and regulations on the maintenance and keeping of medical records. The regulations keep a check on issues such as ownership of the medical records as well as integrity and confidentiality of the documents. General statutes and regulations state that medical records are owned by the health care provider who collects the information in the document. This however should not be a factor that health care providers can use to deny a patient access to their medical records. This is because accessibility and ownership rights are two separate elements of the law. On the other hand, there should be safeguards to ensure that all medical records are kept and their integrity and confidentiality maintained. If this is not done, it would compromise the general image of the health care system.
The health care system is an essential part of any society. This is because its role it to take care of health issues of everybody in the society. The system is responsible of providing treatment when needed, and giving basic education on health and practices to follow so as to ensure the society is safe and everybody is in good health. Besides taking care of health issues in a society, the health care serves as a source of employment to people of the society. People with different skills, qualifications, and abilities are needed to keep the system running.
Considering the main purpose of health care systems, which is to help reduce pain and suffering of patients by providing medical services to them, the system should be well equipped to function in all areas: high, medium, and low income areas (OECD Publishing, 2010). Unfortunately, it is a bit difficult for systems in low income areas and some middle income areas to perform as expected due to lack of proper or adequate resources. This problem can be solved by having special training programs for people working in those areas. These special training programs would help them acquire knowledge that is needed to survive and operate in such areas that are otherwise known as hardship areas. Special equipment should also be availed in such areas to ease the challenges. A good is example is having helicopters, which would ease the challenge of transport.
The health care system faces a number of problems. The most outstanding of all challenges is that medical expenses have become very high and they keep rising by the day. This makes it difficult for most people to access health care services (Wexler, 2011). This challenge is not only affecting people who are not insured, but also those who are. The extra costs of health care services are attributed to the many researches being carried out lately, which have led to more advanced technological innovations. The increased expenses have also been attributed to an aging population.
The health care system has in its own way helped improve people’s health. This improvement on the health of people has been enhanced by reforms being initiated to the system. New policies of the system state that people should be served based on their clinical needs and not their ability to pay for the services. This has helped reduce the suffering that poor people have to undergo just because they cannot pay for their medical needs.
In conclusion, the health care system is a very important element of any society. This is because the system sees to the wellbeing of everybody in the society health wise. The system also responsible for sensitizing the society on issues pertaining health such as how to avoid contracting diseases like HIV/AIDS. In addition to that, the system is a source of hope to many people especially those living in hardship areas. Besides ensuring that everybody is healthy and well, the system acts as a source of employment to many people in the society.
References
Konecci, E. B. (1974). Health care systems: proceedings of User-Developer Conference on Health Care Systems held November 21-22, 1972, at Dallas, Texas. California: American Astronautical Society : distributed by Univelt.
OECD Publishing. (2010). Health Care Systems: Efficiency and Policy Settings. OECD Publishing Canada:
Wexler Barbara. (2011). The Health Care System. New Jersey: Cengage Learning
