Hr542 - Week 6 Assignment

HR542 - week 6 assignment

Introduction

There are many activities which are carried out in by the health sector of rather department. These obviously include treating patients, admitting and looking after them, offering lessons on ways to prevent spread of diseases and such. One of the major task that hospitals are assigned is the transfer of patients form one health institution to another due to unavoidable circumstances. This task is not frequent but it is performed when need arises. There have been cases of patient transfer over the years and this has now been known to take place. One of the reasons that this takes place is when the health institution in which a patient is admitted does not have the required equipment to attend to the patient. This then opts for the option of transferring the patient to another health institution which has the equipment that is required to foster the treatment of the patient.

1. Executive summary

Patient transfer is faced with a lot of setbacks. It is unfortunate that not all patient transfers have seen patients get lucky and survive form whatever it is that they are suffering from. This is due to a number of issues which the health sector in general is facing. This is what has increased the rate of morbidity and mortality. More people get sick incase the disease is airborne and they cannot be transferred to a place where they can be quarantined. On the other this has fostered an increase in the number of deaths daily (Bodenheimer & Grumbach 67). Poor transport and communication system is one thing which causes patient transfer not to be effective as patients who need to be transferred are normally in very serious conditions and therefore need urgent attention. With poor transport and communication, this cannot be achieved as most of the die on the way while at times making the disease to spread if it is contagious. Apart from that the poor state of health institutions has also played a part in making patient transfers unreliable. It is a shame that some health institutions do not even have the proper ambulances to transfer patients. That being the case, patients are left to stare and await their death.

This state of being can however be changed as the issues can be looked at and in turn solutions can be arrived at. The health sector should try and critically evaluate the growing rate of morbidity and mortality and in turn try to identify the main reason for the growth. The main issue as mentioned is the lack of efficiency in patient transfer or in other words the transfer of patients is faced with so many challenges that it is rendered ineffective. With such an evaluation, the health sector would try and look into the specific problems that cause the ineffectiveness in patient transfer (Polit & Tatano 98). The government would mostly help in terms of disbursing funds to the health sector to may be purchase medical equipment and reduce patient transfers. Apart from that, it can also pressure the renovation of the transport and communication sector in order to ensure that there are no barriers during patient transfer. There are also other solutions which can be applied such as expanding of small health institutions and providing them with the opportunity to cater to a large number of patients therefore reducing unnecessary patient transfer.

2. Problem issue

Just like it has been mentioned thereon earlier patient transfer has been faced with a lot of challenges therefore deeming it ineffective. This is what has led to increased spread of diseases as well as the growing rate of deaths. The problem therefore is ineffective patient transfers. The issue has to be critically analyzed as it has actually caused a lot of damage in terms of patients dying and others contracting contagious diseases therefore increasing the number of patients in health institutions. It is for this reason that the government is being opted to step and try and provide possible solutions to the problem or rather the issue at hand. The main focus therefore is how to improve patient transfer and on the other find ways to minimize it as it somewhat wastes time which can be used to save the lives of other patients. Patient transfer should basically be evaluated and made as effective as possible.

3. Literature review

Researchers have established a number of risks which are experienced during patient transfer. It is through the evaluation of these risks that patient transfers are going to be made effective. The organization of the transfer operation should be carefully planned and everything that would be required for the transfer should be already set. This is a precautionary measure that those carrying out the transfer ought to take in order to ensure that the patient arrives at their destination safely and attended to immediately if it is an urgent case. As earlier mentioned the lack of necessary equipment to attend make patient transfers effective is one of the issues which has negatively affected the process. This can be rectified by the government giving a hand and providing the necessary equipment to make the transfer successful. This would see to a lot of lives get saved as well as disease control made effective (Bodenheimer & Grumbach 56). It would therefore be appropriate for the government to try its level best and help do away with the issue as it is claiming a lot of lives as well as drawing back on the progress of the health sector in trying to curb diseases.

Patient transfers are not normally the best mode of action which can be undertaken in order to save the lives of those being transferred. Some doctors have it that health institutions should be improved; they should be made or transformed into institutions that have everything that can be required to treat patients regardless of the disease which the patients are suffering form. This would see to the minimizing of unnecessary patient transfers as the patients would get treated where they are. This would minimize chances of loosing patients on the way due to poor transport and communication systems, poor organization of the transfer equipment as well as lack of proper knowledge of the nurses carrying out the transfers. The named issues are what also add to the ineffectiveness of the patient transfer program. It is therefore for this reason that doctors, surgeons as well as researchers from different regions come up with possible solutions which can help alleviate the general problem.

4. Problem analysis

From the information given above, it can be clearly deduced that the main problem is the factors that undermine patient transfers therefore deeming it ineffective. This can be thus termed as ineffective patient transfer