I have unfortunately spent quite a bit of time in the hospital over the last 4 years.
In all the hospitals I found the same short comings. They are sterile and cold, the food is not only sub par but not ideal for promoting healing. Ill stop there for now but I have found from personal experience that the above concerns can have a great impact on health.
My question is, is this all about the money? I just feel like patient care could be taken to new heights by incorporating some pretty basic things.
I know, I know, I am idealistic and ignorant to the reality of health care as a business but I would love to understand the in's and out's of the business side (I have a finance degree and see myself heading that way eventually)
What would you recommend as a resource to help understand for profit health care in the United States? I would like to learn about old issues that have plagued the system for a long time and new ones as well. I would really love to get an understanding of how the national health care act has effected hospitals as well; good or bad.
I would love to know who would be ideal to talk to in a hospital that could guide me.
Nursing used to be about healing the sick person. Now its about slap dash once over lightly, do the bare minimum, get em in and out as quickly as possible, and make as much profit as possible, and do it all with a huge grin on your face,
The biggest problem with healthcare is that people who run it don't understand it, and neither do most of the people who work in it.
So many people whine and complain that its "all about the money" and that's garbage. Other people also point the finger about some for profit hospital crap, not realizing that generating a ""profit"" is just as important to not for profit hospitals.
Hospitals and healthcare are a mess because they are run by people ignorant to healthcare systems and processes, and there aren't enough people who have fundamental understandings of BOTH the healthcare AND business aspects
You have stupid people on one side who think that big bad corporate greed is at the epicenter of all the problems, and that all the problems would just go away if money grubby greedy people went away, and hospitals were just free to spend all the money in the world and all the problems would go away.
And then there are people just as stupid on the opposite side of the spectrum who think the key is just to cut the budget, lay people off, and treat people like incompetent morons.
Thats why healthcare is a disaster, because all the people in charge (on both the healthcare side of leadership AND the business side of leadership) are clueless. Damn leaders need to get educated and learn how to blend the best of business and healthcare together in synergy
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Yes, especially if you are seeking care in for-profit facilities.
It is all about the money and billable time....even in the not for profit ones. I was 30 days late (when I had me emergency surgery) on a $50.00 bill at a prominent medical center not for profit in Boston and they turned it into collections.
Medicine has changed....they give lip service to the "proper" things to say but the bottom dollar is cash.
Nursing will never be important until we can charge for our services.
As long as our professional services are rolled into the room rate, housekeeping, and the complimentary roll of toilet paper, we will never have worth. We will always find our name on the negative side of the balance sheet, while doctors, therapists, etc, who bill for their services, considered to be important.
Unfortunately, the PTB are perfectly happy to maintain the status quo. They wish us to remain barefoot and pregnant. And powerless.
Crusty old bat here. I am soooo glad to see that the 'younglings' such as OP are still motivated to fix healthcare - we need their positive energy and fresh outlook to effect any change.
IMO, the biggest US problem is that reimbursement (payment) is established by Congress- you know, that intensely political group of self-absorbed know-nothings that hang out in Washington DC when they aren't galloping around the countryside trying to buy support????
Our congressional "representatives" are pitiably uninformed about basic human physiology (particularly of the female variety) or health care in general - but hey, they don't care because they have free access to whatever they need, unlike their poor constituents who have to take out a second mortgage to fund their CABG. Periodically, they raid the health care budget to cover the tab for anything else that takes their fancy.... like buying snazzy new armaments to wage a war or building roads to nowhere. And they frequently go off in very strange directions - like tying reimbursement to patient satisfaction..... yeah, that's working out really well.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
I think it is about money but not because of profit-we get pts all the time that are very complex and they don't have insurance. Somehow the facility has to find a way to cover the $500K bill. It is passed along to other pts and other budget cuts. That is why staffing is not what it should be. We have a 1000 beds. How do you feed everyone and have them be happy? I have a family of 4 and no one likes the same food. Our rooms are small and pts complain. You are NOT at the Hilton. You are at a top 10 facility and here for the medical care, not accommodations. Or one on one service. And a mint on your pillow.
I think it is about money but not because of profit-we get pts all the time that are very complex and they don't have insurance. Somehow the facility has to find a way to cover the $500K bill. It is passed along to other pts and other budget cuts. That is why staffing is not what it should be. We have a 1000 beds. How do you feed everyone and have them be happy? I have a family of 4 and no one likes the same food. Our rooms are small and pts complain. You are NOT at the Hilton. You are at a top 10 facility and here for the medical care, not accommodations. Or one on one service. And a mint on your pillow.
Its not about the style of food its about quality - you are what you eat, and this is becoming more and more clear each day. Hospital food is trash, chalked full of sodium, chemicals and preservatives, absolute junk that is in direct contradiction to healing, the whole purpose of what a hospital is for.
The time of excuses is over.
Food is a very powerful at restoring health, in the next 10 yrs it will be a main stream healer instead of reaching of the scripts.
Something tells me you all just wrote a paper for the OP
No, don't start until May. I have a genuine interest in this. I have a degree in finance already and plan on getting into mgmt. in the long run. I don't just run my mouth about a problem, I identify the issues and then plug into where I can to bring about change the best that I can.
Food is a very powerful at restoring health, in the next 10 yrs it will be a main stream healer instead of reaching of the scripts.
How do you figure? Until produce distributors have lobbyists as strong as pharmaceutical companies (read: never) your Ten Year Plan is a pipe dream! No, scripts will always overpower food products, so long as the money is there.
middleagednurse
554 Posts
Nursing used to be about healing the sick person. Now its about slap dash once over lightly, do the bare minimum, get em in and out as quickly as possible, and make as much profit as possible, and do it all with a huge grin on your face,