Opioid Crisis at the University of Vermont Medical Center
The purpose of this assignment is to describe the roles and responsibilities of health care management in addressing contemporary health care issue.
Consider the health care environment in which you currently work or plan to work, and select a specific health care organization within that setting to focus on for this assignment. Possible options could include an urban emergency center, a public health clinic, or a rural hospital. Research a current health care issue within your selected organization and any proposed initiatives to mitigate its impact on the community. Examples of current health care issues include the opioid crisis, the cost of prescription drugs, and coverage for health care, etc.
Address the following questions in a 1,500–1,750 word paper about how you would proceed in implementing initiatives to address the health care issue:
Describe the major financial and physical issues.
Discuss the major demographic populations, providers, and regulatory bodies affected.
Describe the major ethical considerations in the context of a Christian worldview perspective regarding the issue from a patient/family, patient care provider, and regulatory body perspective. Address the implications for carrying out work within the public arena with compassion, justice, and concern for the common good.
Based on your analysis, discuss how you would proceed in implementing initiatives to address the identified health care issue. Identify two possible solutions that could be used to meet the needs of the identified stakeholders.
Use 3 to 4 peer-reviewed resources to support your response.
Opioid Crisis at the University of Vermont Medical Center
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Opioid Crisis at the University of Vermont Medical Center
Introduction
The opioid problem in Burlington and surrounding areas began to manifest itself over the last few years, with more people brought to the University of Vermont Medical Centre. The patients showed several complications ranging from addiction to other infections of the skin or bone. While the problem was not evident at first, the increase in cases prompted an analysis of the patients to find the root cause. The results showed a rise in addiction to prescribed medicines by patients together with an increased tolerance of the same, leading to an increase in dosage by the patients.
Financial and physical issues
Hospitals such as Vermont face huge financial problems and bear the grunt of the opioid crisis due to the increased need for emergence care. Emergency care from other causes already claims a considerable part of the available resources in the hospital, thus an increase in case form opioid misuse leads to an overload. Operating costs increased because more funds are required to maintain the necessary equipment needed for such scenarios as well as the human resource requirements. Furthermore, hospitals are forced to pay more insurance costs so that they can cope with the increasing strain on their medical resources.
On the other hand, physical strains have also impacted the hospital with paramedics and emergency staff spending more time attending to patients suffering from an opioid overdose. An increase in patients requiring care, thus directly impact doctors and nurses since more work has to be put in to address all incoming issues (Leffler, 2019). Since opioid use involves the use of both prescribed and illegal drugs, the number of cases is high with the increased probability of casualties. An increase in the working hours negatively impacts motivation levels since the health workers do not have enough time to rest between their shifts. Furthermore, the workers require to work optimally to increase the satisfaction rates of patients since proper treatment ensure that patients’ needs are effectively met.
Demographic populations, providers, and regulatory bodies affected
Prescription opioid drugs tend to affect individuals with underlying chronic conditions mainly, hence the medications are normally used to alleviate the pain. Therefore, an older population was highly affected by the misuse of such opioid, which led to an increase in addiction (Hurstak, et al., 2017). Furthermore, such individuals were most likely to have infections caused directly by the use of these drugs caused by their addiction or the tolerance to opioids. On the other hand, younger people were mostly affected by addiction to illegal opioids found in their communities. These addictions are the most likely to lead to overdose since they are unregulated and taken as a type of recreational drug.
Health and insurance providers are directly affected by an opioid crisis since they are directly linked to the health industry. Health providers in the area have to adjust to being able to cope with the increasing cases related to opioid use (Hurstak, et al., 2017). This ...
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