How Healthcare Works, LLC

High school students across the country planned a protest. They weren't protesting school lunches, teachers, grades or even educational curriculum.  They were protesting for their rights to feel safe in their schools.  Their rights to know that if an "active shooter" arrived on their school grounds with a gun, then their likelihood of returning to their homes that evening would be high.  The kids stated that the reasons they were protesting is that no one seems to be doing anything.  The kids felt that they had to sit idly by and watch and wait and hope and fear.  These young people have declared gun violence in the United States a public health issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently been given permission by Congress to study gun violence. The CDC's mission statement indicates that "The CDC works...to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S." Gun violence in schools is all t

Another school shooting flashes across headlines.  In ways, the stories seem to repeat themselves. A mentally ill student or young adult attacks a school. Sometimes, it isn't a school. It's a movie theater or a political rally.  Then, the finger-pointing begins. Who is to blame? Where did we go wrong as a society? It's the school. No, it's the police officers who failed to follow up on complaints. No, it's the gun lobby that allows guns in America. No, it's the manufacturers of guns. No, it's bullying. No, it's society. The thing is, there is no single answer to this complex issue. There is no one person or one thing to blame.  There is one thing that is true. There is something wrong in American society that is causing these issues to occur.  In order to solve the problem as a whole, each problem must be addressed independently. One of those problems is understanding, funding, and appropriately treating mental health issues. In America, it's no se

Across news media, television, newspaper, and social media, reports have come in that this is the worst flu season in years.  Individuals are at home from work and school, coughing, sneezing, sniffling, aching with fevers.  They curse the fact that they contracted the flu in the first place.  Those that received the flu shot, curse the flu shot claiming it is ineffective and didn't work. How the Flu Shot Works In order to understand why someone would get the flu even though they got a flu shot, one must first understand how the flu shot works. The flu shot is determined every year by the World Health Organization (WHO).  They determine which strains of the flu are most likely to occur in the population based on the flu virus that is present in the population. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States work with the WHO to determine which viruses will be most prevalent in our country. The virus selected is injected into eggs.  (This is the reason so

In the early 2000s, the buzz phrase for hospitals and healthcare organizations was "core competencies" or a set of behaviors organizations wanted all staff members to exhibit.  One of those behaviors was "treating others with dignity and respect." To some employees, they wondered the reason that was even a behavioral issue.  They felt that they pursued healthcare careers to preserve the rights, health, and dignity of patients and others.  Unfortunately, that is not the case for everyone. Considerable research has been done regarding treating patients with dignity and respect.  The focus of the research is how care providers can enhance the autonomy of the patient while also caring for the patient.  Calling patients by their preferred names, engaging them as care partners, and not talking to them in sing-song voices as one would a small child, are all measures that have been taken.  However, dignity and respect goes beyond patient care in a healthcare organization

While some Americans may cry for government to get out of their healthcare, the probability of that occurring is slim to none.  Healthcare is one of the most regulated industries in the United States. The regulations are to protect the health, safety, welfare, quality and cost of healthcare services in this country.  Moreover, close to 18% of the United States' gross domestic product is spent  on health care. Gross domestic product is the total of all goods and services that are made in a country in one year.  That means, in one year, almost $1 out of every $5 is spent on healthcare. The federal government spends over $1 trillion a year on healthcare. As such, politics and healthcare are not a marriage of convenience.  They are a marriage of necessity. Of course, healthcare and politicians are dependent upon the millions of Americans who consume healthcare services every year.  Healthcare organizations can have the best hospitals, the best equipment, the most qualified profession

A young adult male, Bob,  rushed up to the desk of the doctor's office.  Bob told the clerk that his dad was there. He knew his dad was there because his mom told him that his dad was sick, so Bob should not plan on coming over for dinner that evening. The young man demanded that the clerk let him see his dad.  He told her that he had a right to know what was going on with his dad.  Bob started getting very irate and told her that she better let him see his dad or he was going to sue the clinic.  The clerk just smiled and told him that was not possible.  She asked his name and said that she would check to see if he could go back to the exam room.  The clerk left for a few moments and came back and told Bob, that no, his father did not want him in the exam room. Bob was furious.  He knew about HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) from his own past experiences with doctors and nurses.  He remembered his parents discussing his treatment with his doctors and nu

I remember the time I got frostbite like it was yesterday.  I was in junior high.  I had a blue puffer jacket that snapped up the front.  I loved that jacket.  I left the house that morning, and my mom asked me, "Aren't you going to wear a hat?"  I told her I didn't need one.  The truth was that I didn't want to wear my hat. My mom had bought me this really cute knit hat with faux fur around the edge with matching gloves and a matching scarf.  The gloves had faux fur around the cuff, and the scarf was a plain knit scarf.  When I wore the hat to school, the kids on the bus made fun of me and asked me how many rabbits I killed to wear that hat.  I quit wearing the hat. I went to school that morning having convinced myself I didn't really need the hat anyway.  I had heard about frostbite, but I never thought it would happen to me.  I thought it was just something adults used to scare kids into wearing hats and gloves when they didn't want to. That November