The shortage of medical health professionals in South Carolina transforms itself into one of the major causes of insufficient administration of adequate health care to the population. The scarcity of healthcare personnel is caused by several factors that, include the increase in the number of aging people in South Carolina. Most older adults need to be monitored and treated because they are majorly affected by chronic diseases (Post, 2017). This explains why most of the medical facilities and resources are utilized in the training of elderly patients. In South Carolina, there is a smaller number of medical doctors quitting training schools than those joining, which leads to fewer doctors than expected. It is also observed that medical schools have few spots for people to enter medical school, which results in a deficiency in the number of medical professionals.
The shortage of health workers has made the clinical experts that are supposed to delay their retirement. Thus, this causes the specialists’ efficiency to reduce due to aging and slower at performing their healthcare duties (Gibbons & Shaikh, 2017). Doctors also work for fewer hours in the hospital, making the patients wait for many days or long hours to receive medical attention. This increases the strain on the shortage of health care delivery.
The deficit of health care staff and health care delivery has affected South Carolina and the whole US nation. The following are some of the comparative statistics that compare the effects and amount of shortage of health workers and health delivery between South Carolina and the entire US. South Carolina has fewer doctors than other parts of the United States. This scarcity of medical practitioners has rendered the region require a boost in the number of employed medical consultants to ensure adequate administration of good and quality health care.
It is also evident that the patient-physician ratio in South Carolina is higher than that of the nation, which is 1625: 1, while the national patient-physician ratio is 1466:1. This shows that the physicians in South Carolina are burdened, and the health care delivery is not as efficient as it should be due to the increased overload of the medical professions (Fleisher, 2021). Another issue is a lack of funds in South Carolina, which are supposed to be disbursed by the national government.
These resources are supposed to aid in paying doctors and maintaining primary care training centers. Because of the inadequate reserves, there is reduced efficiency from the doctors, as many quit in search of better-paying regions, thus leading to a scarcity of care personnel (Pettingill & Tewes, 2020). Furthermore, in South Carolina, it is also seen that the number of aging people is increasing. The elderly citizens need an augmented supply of medical doctors and primary care physicians, which continues to cause these scarcities. This is mainly because the older generation is mostly presenting with chronic diseases that increase the disease prevalence in the county.
Currently, with the deficiency of healthcare personnel, there is an increase in burnout among all caregivers in the medical practice. This is due to an upsurge in workload, which generally leads to insufficient efficacy in diagnosis and treatment. The patients are also affected because they have to wait for long hours before getting doctor appointments or before they are treated. There are limitations to the doctor and patient time as the gap in the ratio is relatively high and does not give the patient enough time to express themselves.
In the next ten years, the impact of the shortage of care providers will be realized in almost every section of the healthcare system. One of the most pronounced effects is that there will be premature and preventable deaths that will be caused by negligence. This will occur because the medical professionals will not obtain adequate education due to the inefficiency caused by the exhaustion of doctor lecturers.
References
Gibbons, C. M. & Shaikh, Y. (2017). A Vision of the future: Organization and delivery of healthcare in the digital age. a vision of the future: Health Management Policy & Innovation., 2(2).
Fleisher, L. (2021). Future challenges in health care: Health policy, health care financing, access, and clinical care delivery. ASA Monitor, 85(S10), 5-7.
Pettingill, B., & Tewes, F. (2020). Exploring doctor shortages during and after the pandemic of 2020: Some dire consequences but few solutions.Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Disabilities, 6(2), 1-4.
Post, F. (2017). Managing chronic kidney disease in the older adults living with HIV.Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases, 30(1), 4-11.