How Good Is the Quality of Healthcare in the United States? Review the report The Challenge and Potential for Assuring Quality Health Care for the 21st
- Review Chapter 1 from the course text.
- Review the following:
- History of Healthcare.
- How Good Is the Quality of Healthcare in the United States?
- Review the report The Challenge and Potential for Assuring Quality Health Care for the 21st Century.
- Watch the video History and Development of the U.S. Health Care System.
Prior to the development of public hospital systems, most Americans lived in rural areas and either cared for themselves when sick or relied on a local physician to make house calls. Most births occurred at home along with basic medical procedures. With that said, the concept of a large health care facility to treat sick and mentally ill patients is nothing new; there are historical records dating back as far as the 10th-15th centuries depicting health care systems with very similar concepts and policies seen today. Specifically, quality health care was provided on a large scale for the general public. The first known health care facility in the United States was built in 1751 by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Compared to hospital systems of the past, our modern facilities incorporate sophisticated and technologically advanced treatment-diagnostic capabilities.
However, ongoing issues persist in the areas of access, cost, and quality of care.
In this week’s discussion address the following prompts. Your initial post should be a minimum of 500 words. In your initial post,
- Discuss two specific medical advancements (in the last 10 years) and the challenges that hospitals face in providing these advancements to all patients equally.
- Discuss the following questions: Can there be quality of life without quality of care for patients? Inversely, can there be quality of care yet no quality of life for patients?
- Describe two historical events that either led to the advancement of U.S. hospital systems or two historical events that impeded the advancement of hospital systems in the U.S.
► HOSPITALS THROUGH THE AGES
This chapter provides the reader with notable historical events, from ancient civilizations to the present, that continue to revolutionize the delivery of patient care. It reviews the advances in civilization, as disclosed in the history of hospitals and medical achievements through the ages. A study of the past often reveals errors that can then be avoided, customs that persist only because of tradition, and practices that have been superseded by others that are more effective. The past may also bring to light long-abandoned practices, which may be revived to some advantage. The story of the birth and evolution of the hospital portrays the triumph of civilization over barbarism and the progress of civilization toward an ideal characterized by an interest in the welfare of the community.
This chapter reviews some of the most amazing medical discoveries and achievements in the history of medicine. It also describes some of the failures that continue to plague the healthcare industry. The importance of the study of history is undeniable. The Spanish philosopher George Santayana (1863–1952) recognized this all too well when he said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), an Irish dramatist and socialist, recognized the tragedies of the history of civilization when he said, “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience.” Yes, Santayana and Shaw are right: If we do not learn from past mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them. Progress in health care will only prevail so long as each new generation practices advances in medicine. Although the struggle to progress is a road filled with many pitfalls, hope still looms.
Martin Makary wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “Medical errors kill enough people to fill four jumbo jets a week . . . . To not harm going forward, we must be able to learn from the harm we have already done.”2 If we do not learn from historical events to those of the present day, we are bound to repeat them. This chapter takes the reader on a journey from the past to the present, from which to spring forward on a better road that returns the people’s trust in the safety net of the nation’s hospital systems. Here, we go “back into the future” to bring forth the fruits of healthier hospitals and healthier lives. Let the reader now travel that road.
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