Health Care and Nursing in the United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the health care reforms instituted under the past two presidencies have failed to address the problems of uninsured Americans in the United States. The first part of this paper examines the long road to health care reforms. It pays special attention to the thorny issue of universal insurance and the trends towards the privatization of health care. The next part of the paper then focuses specifically on the field of nursing. It looks at how health care reforms have changed the nature of a nurse?s job, increasing both the level and difficulty of a nurse?s workload. These changes also have significant implications for the quality of patient care in health care facilities and the rise in the number of self-care practitioners in the United States.

From the Paper:

"Many nurses also report a rise in patient acuity. The privatization of healthcare has resulted in a new mindset in the medical workplace, one that requires hospitals to limit admissions to only "the sickest patients for the shortest possible stays" (Sochalski and Aiken 1999:1). In addition to the increase in the number of patients, nurses are also managing an increased number of patients who are much more ill and who require more attention. As a result, the level and difficulty of a nurse's workload has significantly increased."

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