To change the focus from patient care to money is the most obvious mistake. A business, however customer orientated has a primary objective of making money, whereas a service is about providing care and treatment at the optimum level available. Where in society did human life and well-being slide into a secondary position behind wealth and power? Can a budget be justified against the value of human life. Now doctors have to evaluate and justify the use of expensive treatment balancing age and potential quality of life, unfair pressure on the doctor and the patients involved.
Hospitals and clinics are run by extremely overpaid administrators who have no medical abilities. The money should be used by the medical staff, people whose prime role is to help anyone who is ill. Perhaps the old system of training meant long hours for trainees and low wages, but the types of applicants this brought to the profession were truly dedicated to the health and well being of the patient. They learned their skills on the ward with the people who needed their help. This trusted method of gaining knowledge firmly placed the emphasis on the patient, not a glorification of the role of nurse.
Nursing is not a profession that belongs in a university, it belongs on the wards of a hospital under the guardianship of a senior member of the medical team. A university can provide the theoretical knowledge but patient care skills can only be gained from working with people and communicating with them about their needs.
Ward cleaning by a trainee nurse was part of the daily duty, learned alongside other patient care skills and carried out with the same devotion to duty. Slips in cleanliness and the move away from the use of soap and water, have given rise to MRSA, a costly visitor to hospital wards. Can a value be placed on the loss of lives and discomfort this has caused.
Where are economic cuts usually made? The bottom end of every chain, the people interfacing with the patient. Is it sensible to have one nurse on duty at night in a ward with thirty patients, when basic nursing care can help improve a patients chance of recovery. Mental confidence in having help at hand if you have a problem during the night is part of the recovery process. Stress brought on by delayed care only increases the chance of relapse or further medical problems.
Medical care is important, a priority to us all and should be returned into the appropriate hands of the medical profession where it belongs, with adequate funding to help any person with health problems.
