The United States has several historical issues: migration, free carrying of arms, or racial questions, for example. However, there has always been a special place for healthcare problems in American leaders’ political rhetoric. Today, the system is trying to manage various issues such as malnutrition among older adults that is increasing, the role of nurses and the importance of their diversity, and the growing costs of the services.
To begin with, healthy food availability is essential for elderly people and terminally ill patients. As the Healthy People (2020) program points out, this group is “at greater risk for hospitalizations and death from intestinal pathogens commonly transmitted through foods” (p. 5). Moreover, obesity and anorexia could have a more significant effect on a vulnerable individual’s organism than on young people (Bulut et al., 2019). Thus, the authorities have to guarantee that elderly people and terminally ill individuals can access healthy food despite their financial opportunities.
Another point to be made is related to nurse practitioners’ and home nurses’ roles and the importance of their diversity. Nurse practitioners’ place appears to be as important as physicians’, especially in rural areas, where they serve as advocates to eliminate health disparities (Kaplan, 2020, p. 9). As for the cultural diversity in this sphere, inclusivity guarantees different groups’ presence in the profession. Moreover, it enables the healthcare system to understand each patient despite their cultural or ethnic roots, for instance.
Finally, a fundamental question posed by many Americans seeks the cause of the healthcare cost of continuous growth. According to the research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, there are five key factors: “a growing population, aging seniors, disease prevalence or incidence, medical service utilization, and service price and intensity” (AMA, 2019, p.1). Hence, the government has to deal with the upcoming issues appropriately, as none of these trends shows signs of stopping.
To conclude, the modern healthcare system faces multiple challenges of different kinds. It is vital to remember the importance of healthy food accessibility for specific groups and to realize the place of every player in the team. However, there is also another critical problem of healthcare increasing costs due to objective reasons. The government should seek new effective ways to manage the most crucial sphere of its actions.
References
AMA. (2019). Trends in health care spending. Web.
Bulut, E., Khoury, R., Hyun, L., & Grossberg, G. (2019). Eating disturbances in the elderly: A geriatric-psychiatric perspective. Nutrition and Healthy Aging, 5(3), 185 – 198.
Healthy People. (2020). Food safety. Web.
Kaplan, L. (2020). The importance of building a strong, rural NP workforce. The Nurse Practitioner, 45(9), 8 – 9.