The title of the book “Hospital: Man, Women, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids.” is a perfect explanation for what the book has to offer and covers. The book is written from the point of view of author Julie Salamon as embarked on a year-long journey to Maimonides Hospital, located in Borough Park, New York City, which is arguably the most diverse location in the city. In her book, she wanted to highlight some of the over looked aspects of a hospital, which includes what happens behind the scenes, and the variables the impact the decisions hospital administrators make. During her time at Maimonides she meets and encounters over 70 different administrators, doctors, and patients. In doing so, she is able to provide a holistic view into how health care is a business and money drive industry, what goes on behind the scenes in a hospital, and how the combination of profit driven motives and administrative politics impacts the service and quality of care a given hospital provides for its patients. Ms. Salamon also talks about hospitals are only paid by the amount of patients they discharge and how it results in lower quality are at times. Another main point of the book is overcrowding at hospitals and how this impact the delays of the treatment of patients who are in dire need of medical care. Additionally, Ms. Salamon goes into great detail on the high level of diversity doctors have to deal with on a daily basis at Maimonides and the unique accommodations of having to staff over 50 interpreters in order to communicate with and suit the needs of the 80,000+ patients they treat each year. Lastly, Ms. Salamon touches upon the inter tensions and politics that take place among d... ... middle of paper ... ... due to the many characters she included. Each chapter jumped around from character to character, which made it very hard to learn and understand the personal backstory of each character that the author tried hard to show. In addition to this, in each chapter Ms. Salamon would also jump from character to character. For example, one paragraph might have been talking about Alan Astrow and then the very next paragraph would start with the introduction to or the continuation of the story of a different character. I believe this really took away from the great research and evidence she found about the behind the scenes aspect of a hospital. With this being said, I would still recommend this book to people who are interested in the business side of a hospital. They would just have to pay careful attention the numerous story lines in order to fully understand this book.
The concepts discussed within the article regarding medicalization and changes within the field of medicine served to be new knowledge for me as the article addressed multiple different aspects regarding the growth of medicalization from a sociological standpoint. Furthermore, the article “The Shifting Engines of Medicalization” discussed the significant changes regarding medicalization that have evolved and are evidently practiced within the contemporary society today. For instance, changes have occurred within health policies, corporatized medicine, clinical freedom, authority and sovereignty exercised by physicians has reduced as other factors began to grow that gained importance within medical care (Conrad 4). Moreover, the article emphasized
Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard Medical School graduate and writer for The New Yorker, phenomenally illustrates the unknown side of healthcare professions in his book, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. By exploring the ethical and analytical aspects of medicine while entertaining readers with relatable anecdotes, Gawande impresses on his audience the importance of recognizing the wonders of the healthcare field, as well as the fallibility of those within it.
Zuger’s point-by-point organization emphasizes the difference between one medical student with older traditional values, and another medical student who embodies the modern hospital standards. The traditional student is unorganized, stays late, does everything for herself, but truly cares for the patients and their families. On the other side, the modern student is clean and organized, does only what his job describes, works only his hours and nothing more. He works as a team with the rest of the staff, but he doesn’t truly care for the patients. Modern medicine has made leaps and bounds in the field of keeping people alive, but true care of a doctor also helps the patient and their family.
The flow and organization of the topics are structured chronologically and easy for readers to have a clear depiction of the progression of the book. He explains and elaborates his ideas and assumptions on struggles with morality, through real voices of patients and his own personal encounter. The first few topics were lighthearted, more on procedural terms such as the demographics of care in the United States and India and the evolution of care. This heightens to themes that are close to one’s heart as he uncovers the relationship amongst medicine, patient, and the family. It also deliberates on the concerns after medicine becomes impotent and society is ill-equipped for the aging population, which highlight the decisions and conversations one should or might have pertaining to death. He makes
Perhaps the most conspicuous example of the hospital environment’s detrimental impact is Billy Bibbit’s suicide after Nurse Ratched threatens to tell his mother about his night with Candy, the prostitute McMurphy brings onto the ward (Kesey 302-304). While this event can be interpreted as merely a tragedy between a manipulative nurse and an overwrought patient, it can also be interpreted as a representation of the harm that can result from an economy that encourages
An important factor in debates over health care and treatment strategies is the issue of cost. It is tremendously expensive to provide the state-of-the-art care that the modern hospital offers. Concerns about where the money will come from to care for elderly citizens appear to be making the case for "mercy killing" even more compelling. Under financial pressure, hospitals are exercising their right to deny such expensive healthcare to the aged or seriously ill.
Question Quote "I doubt that these experiences are unique to the hospitals or the medical school at which I have thus far trained. I expect that they pervade health care systems throughout the country. I give credit to my medical school for teaching me to be critical of the culture of medicine, apply interdisciplinary perspectives to clinical quandaries, and reflect on my experiences." (Brooks KC. 2015.)
When society thinks of healthcare, there are many racial disparities within healthcare, especially in treatment. How being a person of color in the United States can be difficult when it comes to accessing health care, especially in the hospital. In the United States, there seems to be a separation between physicians and patient, which contributes to the disparities in quality of healthcare. The hospital is a place where people should feel equally treated. The hospital is also a place where can be refused medical attention due to their socioeconomic status, race and gender. A patient needs to have confidence in the capability of their physician, so that they can be able to confide in him or her. When a person goes to the hospital to have
The staff, physicians and board members were not ready to fail. They didn’t want to abandon all those who depended on their services, but they also knew closing the hospital's doors would hurt
Now under the title of “No Mercy Hospital,” fitting for the outcome of the original conflict, this institution left isolated itself from its surroundings, cutting itself off from african american patients until 1931 when, as Morrison describes, “the first colored expectant mother was [finally] allowed to give birth inside its wards and not on its steps.” Before this unexpected day, african americans were not granted the right to enter the halls of the hospital. Even the first african american doctor, who “had been dead a long time by 1931,” “had never been granted hospital privileges and only two of his patients were ever admitted to Mercy, both white.” As he worked with little assistance and acceptance, this doctor was even restricted helping his fellow man, forced to ignore family, friends, neighbors and anyone who had the same skin color as he did. Not only was the street a mark of contempt for the average african american man, woman and child, the hospital and its employees was shackled to this sadness and this imprint of bigotry. While this window to the home of Macon Dead that Morrison builds in this first chapter is short, within its two pages, it is able to shine and reveal the prejudice that has developed in the area, the victory of the caucasian americans and the defeat of the african
...ctors? Besides, if a hospital works like this , doctors should equip with medical ethics such as, doctor should equip with autonomy of the individual, professional justice ,beneficence to everyone and non maleficent. Otherwise, it loss of meaning of this jobs. It is believed that most of the healthcare staff are enthusiastic. However, there are so many annoying social activities staff should attend but that is not include in their working scope.(醫者心) Therefore, even healthcare staff full of conscientious however it scattered the attention or energy by the social activities. Thus the quality of health care gradually decrease.(irrational non humanized)
Peter Nicks and William Hirsch’s 2012 documentary film, The Waiting Room, follows the lives of patients, doctors, and staff in a hospital in California. The hospital is a safety net hospital meaning that it provides care to low-income, uninsured populations. The documentary examines the obstacles faced by people who live without healthcare in addition to showing the public what goes in a safety net hospital. The Waiting Room fits into the finger categories of government and politics and science and technology. The most relevant category is government and politics. Healthcare and insurance have played large roles in the government for years. In fact, ObamaCare, the president’s plan for health care reform was one of the root causes of the 2013 government shutdown. This draws attention to just how large and important the congressional healthcare debate truly is. The documentary also fits under the finger category of science and technology. The Waiting Room discusses the technological and scientific innovations found in today’s hospitals. Additionally, it references some of the new methods being used to treat diseases that are prevalent in society. This is particularly significant because these new technologies and treatment methods are being used to save lives every day. The implications of the Waiting Room and safety net hospitals are not limited to finger categories; they are evident in tens of thousands of hospitals throughout the world.
Medicine as a Form of Social Control This critique will examine the view that medicine is a form of social control. There are many theorists that have different opinions on this view. This critique will discuss each one and their different views. We live in a society where there is a complex division of labour and where enormous varieties of specialist healing roles are recognised.
Mona Counts works in the village of Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. It is a medically underserved area and a HPSA (health professional shortage area). The town has an extremely poor economic base and majority of Mona’s patient population are poverty level. Mona is not worried about the money and will tell a patient to come in for a check up, regardless of whether or not they have health care. One patient said, “she is old-fashioned, she talks to you and tells you what you nee...
Faith Community Hospital, an organization who's mission statement is to promote health and well-being of the people in the communities. They serve through the extent of services provided in collaboration with the partners who share the same vision and values. Though the mission statement is the model that everyone should be following, everyone does not think the same about every issue. We all may face similar situation at one point in time but the end result may be different for each individual because we all have different values and beliefs. There are many differences between ethics, laws, beliefs, and oaths that all affect the decisions from patients to staff members. Some patients refuse to take medical services and there are staff members who refuse to provide certain services due to those value lines. Some of the staff members are caring so much for the patients that they sometimes take radical positions to respond to their well-beings. In these situations medical intervention can conflict with religious beliefs or personal moral convictions. Hospital pharmacists are even taking positions which they believe to be important such as filling uninsured prescriptions by accepting payments in installments. Staff members in ICU initiated Do Not Resuscitate procedures with out written orders. Doctors are putting patients first from various interpretations. In "right to die" situations the doctors seem to be getting too involved in compassion and passions with their patients. We need to stay focused on what our jobs are and what we are promoting which is to provide healthcare and its services to members of the communities. Counselors are also treating some of their clients with no authorization of the values and beliefs they have. On the other hand, there are some staff members within the hospital who refuse to serve patients unless they have confirmed insurance coverage. If a patient is to pass away because of unauthorized decisions, this can cause a stir with the media as well as with current or future patients in the community.