MODULE 6 ASSIGNMENT

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MODULE 6 ASSIGNMENT

Why the Relationship Between Public Health and Private Health Medicine Has been Contentious

The relationship between public health and private health medicine has been sometimes contentious for a number of reasons. Firstly, historical boundaries, which involve division of labor, have led to the relationship between public health and private health medicines being sometimes contentious. Public health medicine focuses on treatment of diseases and provision of care. Contrary, public health focuses on health promotion and disease prevention (Sultz & Young, 2017). However, this does not mean that private health medical professionals do not employ strategies for prevention of diseases. Although they focus on disease treatment and care, they always consider the application of disease prevention strategies a fundamental part of their work. For instance, sometimes doctors may assist their patients to quit smoking in order to prevent lung cancer. Contention arises when public health and private health medicine consider their roles mutually exclusive. This results in goal conflict, as each entity strives to achieve its goals.

Secondly, the difference in who public health and private health medicines focus on sometimes makes their relationship contentious. Usually, public health addresses health issues from the perspective of the population, while private health medicine addresses health issues from an individual’s perspective. Public health providers diagnose a community health problem using disease surveillance systems and scientific research, while private health care medical providers diagnose an individual’s health problems by listening to patients as they describe their symptoms and through performing relevant medical tests. Due to the differing viewpoints, both public health and private health medicines have often expressed powerful oppositions; thus, making their relationship sometimes contentious.

The perceptions public health professionals and private health medicine have about each also result in their relationship is sometimes contentious. The public health professional has characterized private health medicine as a field dominated by self-interest where the professionals seek to gain more money. On the other hand, private health medicine professionals view private health as a politically corrupt field (Sultz & Young, 2017).

Furthermore, public health professionals argue that the quality of care should not depend on the financial resources of the patient. Instead, they believe that a patient should receive the best possible treatment despite their financial status. Contrary, private health medicine professionals believe that the quality of medical services depends on the patient’s financial resources. These different perspectives are what make their relationship sometimes contentious.

How to Deal with the Problem of Medical Errors

The first step in dealing with medical errors is identifying these errors, which can be facilitated by reporting them as they occur. However, reporting of medical errors is faced with various barriers, which result in many medical errors going unreported (Aljabari & Kadhim, 2021). To deal with the issue of medical errors, the government needs to take the necessary actions to keep track of the status of this high-risk situation as it does with other epidemics instead of continuing to trust the health care providers to deal directly with the issue. This is because, more often, medical errors are committed repeatedly by the same medical staff, but health care providers, patients, and their families are hindered from reporting these issues by several barriers, with the most common barrier being the fear of consequences. Thus, the barriers hindering reporting of these medical errors can only be solved by the government creating a platform where the errors can be safely reported and forwarded to the relevant authority.

For instance, Aljabari and Kadhim (2021) reveal that health care providers fail to report medical errors perpetuated by another health care provider due to fear of criticism by colleagues. Research reveals that some health care providers fail to report medical errors as they occur because they are afraid that they will be discriminated against by their colleagues if they report such issues (Afaya et al., 2021). Another barrier to reporting medical errors relates to the systems used for medical error reporting. There is a challenge of lack of reporting systems and lack of anonymity of the systems being used for reporting medical errors. Some of the systems used for reporting medical errors require the person reporting the error to fill in their names and other identifying details, which creates fear among health care providers; thus forcing them not to report medical errors (Soydemir et al., 2017). Research reveals that more medical errors would be reported if the reporters felt protected (Soydemir et al., 2017). Therefore, when the government takes the responsibility of monitoring the status of this high-risk situation and finding safer ways of reporting medical errors, such as creating a platform where the errors can be anonymously reported and forwarded to the relevant authorities, this will help minimize the fears of reporting medical errors and encourage health care providers, patients, and their families to report medical errors as they occur. Consequently, this will ensure that the responsible persons are held accountable for their mistakes, thus preventing similar mistakes from being repeated. Also, the federal government can easily identify the non-compliant facilities and the necessary actions taken to reduce medical errors. For these reasons, the federal government needs to take the necessary actions to keep track the status of the high-risk situation of increased medical errors.

Why Addressing Only One of the Trio of Rising Costs, Lack of Universal Access or Variable Quality of Health Care Worsens the other Two

The major issues in the US healthcare system include increased healthcare costs, variable quality of healthcare, and a lack of universal access to health care (Sultz & Young, 2017). Although the US government has gone ahead to address these issues, its efforts are yet to bear fruits. In fact, efforts to address one of these issues worsen the remaining two. For instance, legislative attempts to create universal access to health care have worsened the quality and the cost of health care. Universal access to healthcare implies that healthcare services should be availed to all people, notwithstanding their capability to pay for them. One of the legislative attempts to create universal healthcare is the provision of affordable healthcare in the form of Medicaid. However, this has been associated with increased cost, which in turn have adversely affected the quality of care. Zieff et al. (2020) reveal that universal healthcare is associated with high costs. Being a capitalist nation, it is believed that everyone in the US is capable of paying for any service. Therefore, the efforts to offer universal healthcare in the US have resulted in medical debts within the health care institutions. The increased medical debts have led to the reduced ability of health care institutions to purchase drugs and medical equipment. Consequently, this has affected the quality of care rendered as the hospitals cannot render some services. Also, legislative effort to offer universal healthcare has meant that the majority of low-income earners will free-ride, and individuals who can afford to pay for the health care services are forced to pay more. Furthermore, in an attempt to provide universal health, the government is forced to augment the cost of health care services in order to raise more health care funds. Also, the legislative attempt to improve the quality of care requires use of high quality medical equipment, which results to increased costs. Due to the increased costs, the government is forced to provide health care to a lesser number of people thus adversely affecting the provision of universal healthcare. Thus, the legislative attempt to address any of the three issues worsens the other two.

References

Afaya, A., Konlan, K. D., & Kim Do, H. (2021). Improving patient safety through identifying barriers to reporting medication administration errors among nurses: an integrative review. BMC health services research, 21(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-07187-5Aljabari, S., & Kadhim, Z. (2021). Common Barriers to Reporting Medical Errors. The Scientific World Journal, 2021. https://dx.doi.org/10.1155%2F2021%2F6494889Prybil, L., P. Jarris, and J. Montero. 2015. A Perspective on Public-Private Collaboration in the Health Sector. NAM Perspectives. Discussion Paper, National Academy of Medicine, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.31478/201511aSoydemir, D., Seren Intepeler, S., & Mert, H. (2017). Barriers to medical error reporting for physicians and nurses. Western journal of nursing research, 39(10), 1348-1363. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0193945916671934Sultz, H. A., & Young, K. M. (2017). Health care, USA: understanding its organization and delivery. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Zieff, G., Kerr, Z. Y., Moore, J. B., & Stoner, L. (2020). Universal healthcare in the United States of America: a healthy debate. Medicina, 56(11), 580. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fmedicina56110580