Recent orders
Medication Errors
Medication Errors
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Abstract
This paper will look at one of the many issues in medicine that has affected the effectiveness of medical care for a long time. The issue under scrutiny in this case is Medical errors, something that has been found to be extremely common in medicine. For the purposes of an understanding that is comprehensive, three articles are going to be reviewed on the issues and some of the possible lessons for medical practitioners learned in the articles will be used to come up with a recommendation on how these errors can be checked.
Introduction
A medical error is a term commonly used to describe mistakes or errors that occur during medical care of a patient. These errors are usually committed by medical practitioners and they can be as a result of numerous things such as negligence, inexperience, incompetency, using wrong equipments, among others. However, it is not always that these errors are as a result of negligence or inexperience, sometimes other factors affecting the doctor such as stress can cause errors. Errors can be dangerous to the lives of patients. As it follows, they must be checked and programs must be put in place to ensure that mistakes do not occur unnecessarily (The Leap Frog Group, 2008).
Eurobarometer. (2005). Medical Errors
This article argues that health interventions, even those meant to benefit the patient can sometimes result to harmful outcomes. Mistakes, when it comes to medical care, can result and occur anywhere in the health care system. This can be at the doctor’s office, the hospital, pharmacies, nursing homes, and even patient’s homes, and in any part or section of the process of treatment involving improper treatment, wrong medication and delayed or incorrect test results. The article perceives medical errors as an essential challenge in numerous countries. The article goes on and argues that about 78 percent of EU citizens cite medical errors as a persistent issue in their country. The study also indicates that women, more than men, in these counties perceive the problem as significant. However, no straight tendencies can be deducted when it comes to the variable related to socio- demographics of individuals who have been affected by the problem. However, the younger population seems to be in the dark about medical errors (Eurobarometer, 2005).
I have learned from this article that the level of concern and personal experiences and the perceived significance of the problem are essential in determining the individuals who have more knowledge of medical errors. The article indicates that knowledge of medical errors is essential in avoiding and preventing them in the future. This knowledge can be extremely essential in my practice. This is because I can further on knowledge about the existence and the possibility of patients suffering from or encountering medical errors. With this knowledge, patients can be in a better position to determine when they are in danger of experiencing medical errors and when they are not (Eurobarometer, 2005).
Halbach, J. L. & Sullivan, L. (2002). Medical errors and patient safety: a curriculum guide for teaching medical students and family practice residents.
The article gives examples of medical errors as missed diagnosis, incorrect dosage, premature or inappropriate discharge, waiting even when treatment has been indicated, faulty techniques, failure to review plan of treatment, and failure to convey information to the patient during sign- out. The article also provides the reader with several possible reasons why medical mistakes occur. Some of these reasons include hesitation, faulty judgment, ignorance, fatigue, system flaws, failure to carry out close monitoring, job overload, and inexperience. There are four main reasons given by doctors as to why these mistakes are common. These include physician stressors, factors in the process of care, factors related to patients, and characteristics of physicians. From this article, a number of lessons can be learned. For example I have learned that errors will always happen, systems should be created to help avoid and absorb errors, errors are not necessarily caused by negligence, and that institutions should start a supportive culture of reporting errors for the purposes of future avoidance (Halbach & Sullivan, 2002).
These lessons can be assimilated in my practice by accepting the fact that errors are common so as to design methods and systems for checking errors in advance, and for preventing and averting them. This knowledge can also be used to check for root causes of problems and errors instead of blaming or punishing the physician because some errors are not as a result of negligence. Also, this knowledge can be used to inform the concerned parties the essentiality of reporting errors as soon as they happen. This is because this can help immensely in reducing future errors (Halbach & Sullivan, 2002).
The Leap Frog Group. (2008). Computerized physician order entry.
This article argues that in US hospitals more than one million cases of medical errors occur each year. The article indicates that these errors include such things as wrong administration of drugs, overlooked interactions and allergies of drugs, wrong drugs and drug overdoses. They authors argue that these errors occur for numerous reasons such as decimal point errors, and illegible prescriptions that are handwritten. The article argues that these errors usually result to tragic consequences for the patients such adverse drug events that are preventable, 20 percent of which are life- threatening. The article also indicates that medical errors are costly and they result to financial costs that are tremendous. This article has many essential lessons for a health practitioner (The Leap Frog Group, 2008). For example, I learned that computerized physician order entry can be used to avoid and reduce medical errors. Other methods that can be used to prevent errors include such things as a CPOE standard evaluation tools. As a health practitioner, one can adapt these lessons by implementing an effective CPOE evaluation tool that can be used to effectively reduce errors in medication. Computerization of order entry can also be an essential way of reducing medical errors as it can reduce errors that result from handwritten prescriptions or details that are illegible. Decimal point errors can also be considerably condensed with the utilization of computerized systems (The Leap Frog Group, 2008).
Conclusion
As it has been seen, medical errors can result to detrimental impacts on the health of the affected patients. As a result, the task of ensuring that medical errors are kept to a minimal should be taken as first priority so as to safeguard the lives of the patients.
References
Eurobarometer. (2005). Medical Errors. Special Eurobarometer 241/ Wave 64. 1 & 64. 3- TNS Opinion and Social. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_241_en.pdf
Halbach, J. L. & Sullivan, L. (2002). Medical errors and patient safety: a curriculum guide for teaching medical students and family practice residents. New York Medical College Department of Family Medicine. http://www.nymc.edu/fammed/medicalerrors.pdf
The Leap Frog Group. (2008). Computerized physician order entry. The Leap Frog Group. Retrieved from http://www.leapfroggroup.org/media/file/Leapfrog-Computer_Physician_Order_Entry_Fact_Sheet.pdf
Medicare for All
Medicare for All
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Medicare for All
Medicare is a public program that is run by the government, and it was first initiated in 1965. The costs used to run the program come from the taxpayers, and this is done through the funds that are paid through paychecks for the purpose of social security. As such, these costs are known to cover the various hospital and doctors’ expenses. The best way of revamping the Affordable Care Act is through the expansion of Medicare for all. As such, this article will look at the strategy as well as the general summary of the benefits and drawbacks of moving this initiative for future use (Liu, & Eibner, 2019).
Medicare for All
This program that is still in use currently is used to cover all those Americans who have attained the age of 65 years and above. It has seen the quality of health in America improve, and the various bodies, as well as individuals, provide positive feedback about how the quality of care has enhanced since the enrolment of the program. Those policymakers are working hard day and night to expand on this concept of Medicare for All in the future to accommodate and cover all the citizens through the future plans and ensuring that the plans are incorporated in the law to make sure that it covers permanent residents. Other activists are for the fact that the law should lower the minimum age of those who can use the policy to access medication. The suggestions made by these groups are in line with the government’s plans to have universal health coverage for American citizens. For instance, in 2016, during the presidential bid of Bernie Sanders, the matter was revived even though it was not something new as the idea of universal healthcare had long been introduced. Bernie Sanders introduced the bill in 2017.
The current state of our nation is that healthcare accessibility consists of those people who have ensured themselves and others are privately insured by the private entities, who are their employers. The public sector mainly consists of Medicare and Medicaid as the insurers of the public members as there is a law that requires every member of the society to be insured. It is an implication that if the plan is improved and amended as required by the majority of the activists in the future, then the members who have been in the private form of insurance would also join the public system of Medicare and Medicaid. Of course, the plan would manage to provide a comprehensive cover to the people without copays that do not have deductibles. Also, the option of having copays and no elective as well as cosmetic procedures. Other care that needs to be included in the services includes care of emergency care, inpatient, vision, and dental services to help the healthcare sector provide quality services at affordable prices (Song, 2019).
Strategy and Concept of Medicare for All
The Socialist Party was the first group that coined the concept of universal healthcare services to America in 1904. This was strengthened in 1912 when Theodore Roosevelt, who was the candidate of the party, emphasized the idea of single national health services. Even though he did not win, his idea of universal healthcare formed the major part of the facet discussion in American politics by then. He attempted to pass and advocate for single-payer advocacy that had been intended to be part of the Social Security Act. The concept was continued by Franklin Roosevelt, who tried to pass the effort of introducing the idea of single-national health care for the people in the community. However, in 2003, the concept of Medicare for All was again reintroduced in the form of a single-payer plan.
Nonetheless, currently, the concept of Medicare is viewed to form the umbrella of the Americans to ensure that the people have healthcare coverage, and this will allow the various plans that are meant to improve the healthcare facilities to fall under this concept of Medicare umbrella. These other supplements are considered to be the public option, and they are not meant to replace any private insurance as these will still provide a guaranteed universal coverage as a single-payer system. Bernie Sanders ensured that Medicare for All covered the people universally, and about 40% of the republicans were supporting the concept, as shown by the Kaiser Family Foundation poll. According to the proposals of Sanders, it was possible for all Americans to have a comprehensive health cover without taking the responsibility of the copays, premiums, and deductibles on behalf of the people who are insured. Therefore, it would be the responsibility of the government to ensure these people. The additional services offered would include hospital care and preventative services, dental, and vision.
The Positives of Medicare for All
The greatest benefit of Medicare for All is that it has given everyone a good opportunity to access medical care. Nonetheless, the introduction of the Affordable Care Act that was introduced was meant for every individual and to enable them to have access to healthcare facilities; the system is not realistic because many people cannot afford it despite the intentions of providing an affordable act. Therefore, the benefits of Medicare are that it has eliminated deductibles, copays, insurances, and the premiums of healthcare (Johnson, Kishore, & Berwick, 2020). It gave the opportunity to people to seek medication whenever they needed it, and therefore, people can easily prevent chronic ailments due to the accessibility of these healthcare facilities. It is not only the people but also the businesses that benefited from the introduction of Medicare. It is because it has created more jobs and ensured that many people are employed, and it is also evident that it has reduced the burden of employers who have been paying for their workers. It is a possible reason as to why they need to increase the wages of their workers and creates room for more opportunities for a job. In favor of the employers, it is possible that they now have a range of opportunities from which they can select jobs. It is because an employee cannot stay with one employer if they feel that they are unhappy with them due to the benefits that they get as health benefits. It is possible for the government to create more job opportunities as the system requires complete reformation and the management of the various program (Shepard, Baicker, & Skinner, 2020).
The Negatives of Medicare for All
Despite the various positive aspects of Medicare for All, there exist some negative aspects that include the high taxation system to enable the healthcare facilities to pay for the program. Following the current proposal, it is required that 2.2% of the tax needs to be increased on every person whose salary is considered to be less than $20,000 annually. Also, the high population increases the ratio of care providers to patients, and this will lead to an extension of the time that is taken by the patients when visiting the healthcare practitioners. The most affected groups are the specialized care, whose ratio compared to the population is small. This causes burnout. The current assumption is that every individual will be required to seek medication and treatment, and this, according to statistics, shows that it will be a huge group of people visiting the healthcare facility and therefore, creating more waiting time.
Even though the new system calls for the creation of more jobs, as discussed earlier and which is a benefit, then the transformation requires resources to be implemented and make sure that the changes within the healthcare facilities are well organized (Oberlander, 2019). The resources that the government has a need to divert them to these programs to make it effective, and this is costing the government a lot. It is negative since other similar programs such as the one on national parks and the education system form parts of the resources that need to be pulled together to make sure that they have attained the target. The introduction of Medicare has eliminated the various competitions that they have been in the healthcare sector. Even though this plan would not completely eliminate the competition, then it is evident that it will reduce them. By this, it is the private sector that is being affected, and the competition that it had initially means that the sector may not provide as quality as services as compared to when there is competition.
Conclusions Regarding Medicare for All
Selected Healthcare Plan
This plan is crucial because it will help in shaping the healthcare sector. The private sector will be diminished with time as the attention of the healthcare practitioner is shifted towards the Medicare. Also, the future of Medicare is that it would be easier for the government to make these implementations if proper channels about the matter are followed. Also, the future aspect of this program is that it is likely to eliminate the future sources of insurances, such as the private entities that usually insure the workers. In the future, the triggered deficits that occur due to the worries of the expanding entitlements and the republican and democrats are likely to benefit from the system because of the imposition of taxes (Liu, & Eibner, 2019).
Since the introduction of the Medicare system, its growth has been considered to have improved by about 2.4% faster as compared to the GDP of America in the past 30 years. The projection shows that if similar growth will continue in America, then it is possible that by 2082, it is likely to have the total GDP to be contributed by Medicare in a ratio of about 31% (Housman et al., 2003). In 2010, the projections that were made about healthcare showed that there was the spending of about $2.6 trillion, and this accounted for about 17%. Therefore, it is arguable that using the historical rates; if the health care spending does not remain the same, then it is evident that there are various ways that the people need to understand how the issue of healthcare goes and how it can be resolved in future following the past trends. The government has to understand that the various changes that are being witnessed need to be considered to make sure that the future of the healthcare sector in America is secure, and there is a need to have a better approach to this. The future of the healthcare sector will solely depend on how the technological tools and how these tools will be used to improve on the status of the quality that is offered in the healthcare facilities, and therefore, the lower costs needs to be achieved too.
In conclusion, it is arguable that there have been many proposals that were made many years ago to ensure that there is a universal healthcare delivery system. The three major concepts that have been considered to have gained momentum can be addressed through the following recommendations: the creation of a system of single-payer, Medicare for all, and Medicare Buy-in system that was meant for the people. Even though the concept of Medicare for All is such a great idea and has many benefits, then it is evident that the system may be challenging when implementing due to the fact that it requires a lot of finance.
ReferencesHousman, T. S., Feldman, S. R., Williford, P. M., Fleischer Jr, A. B., Goldman, N. D., Acostamadiedo, J. M., & Chen, G. J. (2003). Skin cancer is among the most costly of all cancers to treat for the Medicare population. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 48(3), 425-429.
Johnson, M., Kishore, S., & Berwick, D. M. (2020). Medicare For All: An Analysis Of Key Policy Issues: A discussion of design issues and options raised by pending Medicare for All legislation and proposals. Health Affairs, 39(1), 133-141.
Liu, J. L., & Eibner, C. (2019). National health spending estimates under Medicare for all.
Oberlander, J. (2019). Navigating the shifting terrain of US health care reform—Medicare for all, single-payer, and the public option. The Milbank Quarterly, 97(4).
Shepard, M., Baicker, K., & Skinner, J. (2020). Does One Medicare Fit All? The Economics of Uniform Health Insurance Benefits. Tax Policy and the Economy, 34(1), 1-41.
Song, Z. (2019). The pricing of care under Medicare for all: Implications and policy choices. Jama, 322(5), 395-397.
Love, Forgiveness and Trust
Love, Forgiveness and Trust
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Forgiveness is the acceptance that although someone made a mistake it is important to reconcile with the person by looking behind the fault and maintaining a friendly relationship with the person. Forgiveness will boost morale of the individual responsible for the fault thus enhancing productivity of the person. Furthermore forgiveness creates a comfortable environment of corporation amongst different people. The act of forgiveness is deeply rooted in love and compassion of the person offering it but it does not mean that the forgiver has completely forgotten the fault or mistake done.
It is important to note that forgiveness helps people to be able to take risks and explore other inventions that are useful to an individual, business or even the entire society. Bitterness and failure to forgive may discourage one from exploring very useful ventures because it encourages personal initiative and creativity. Moreover, forgiveness may help people to address issues and challenges that may have caused fault thus improving on them.
Forgiveness should not be limited to certain boundaries however the injured party may ascertain the repetition of the act as well as the intentions of the guilty party. If the act is very repetitive even after several subsequent forgiveness then another chance of forgiving may not be a solution to the issue. Punishment may be used in such instances. Moreover, if the damage is huge and very impactful or could lead to very serious consequences then the intention of the guilty party should be attained first. If the guilty party anticipated serious consequences then forgiveness would not be satisfactory. May be punishment would be the best remedy.
Releasing negative emotions and forgiveness is very important particularly how it is exercised. Initially, self reflection is very important when considering the way to show forgiveness. An individual should understand that a lot of energy is consumed while holding grudge thus consuming our strength and that forgiveness is much better option for our mental and physical health. Forgiveness enhances positive behaviors and healthy relationships among individuals and the society. It is also important to understand why the wrongdoing occurred and try to find explanations as well as exercising self understanding while putting ourselves in the transgressor’s shoes. The forgiver should then express the emotions attached to the hurt by effectively communicating our feelings towards the transgressors and assurance that transgression will not occur again. The final road to forgiveness which is really difficult is letting go of the bitterness by understanding that they must have happened for a reason and that all humans make mistakes.
Organizations and businesses can benefit a lot from implementing love, forgiveness and trust as their important values. The employees will work as a team and strive to achieve a common organizational goal with lots of courage and trust. The organizations’ employees may be highly innovative thus improving the performance of the business. The companies practicing these values may have loyal employees who are able to take risk whenever possible for the good of the company.
Adopting the philosophy of love, forgiveness and trust is crucial to the success of the company or any other business. Employees will always be supportive to the company because they will be highly empowered by the philosophy. Love, forgiveness and trust enable individuals to feel that they are really cared for and that they are part of the bigger family of their organization. It would be easy for delegation of duties as well as training of individuals to take place where there is love, forgiveness and trust. The philosophy will give way to other ethical practices such as equal promotion and fairness as far as recruitment is concerned. There would be sufficient freedom of the employees that may boost employee initiative and innovativeness. It would be easy to follow the leader’s advice and values that are anticipated to positively influence the objectives of the business. Employees will be able to venture into risky activities because they believe that they are cared for and that they are supported by the company leadership and management.
As an ethical leader, I would encourage openness and interactive forums amongst the employees ranging from the most senior people in management and the lowest ranking employee in the organization. I would encourage employees to visit me in my office at any particular time or give them my personal phone number or emails so that they can interact with me anytime from anywhere.
Some of the steps I would take to encourage these principles are setting guidelines and informing every employee about the need of love, trust and forgiveness within the organization. I would encourage employees and all my followers to acknowledge any hurt or wrong committed by anyone and offer apologies as soon as possible. I would ask the followers on the need to clear the offenders’ conscience as well as relieving the anger or any shame of the victim. I would finally ask the employees to practice compassion for everyone and establish a spiritual practice of prayer.