Canada Health Act (1984)
The Canada Health Act (1984) is an act in which federal government ensures that the provinces and territories meet certain requirements, such as free and universal access to publicly insured health care. The act has five major criteria which include universality, accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability, and public administration (Madore, 2005). Some people believe that the Canada Health Act was shaped to address simple medical care or that “basic medical care has evolved to the point that the system can no longer accommodate the demands placed upon it” (Library Publication, 2014). As a nursing student, this legislation works in favor with the interest of the public, the practice of nursing, and the health care
…show more content…
environment. Being a new comer to a country, there are many things one looks at in order to settle down in a new place, one of them being health care.
Coming to a country which has the advantage of getting free health care from a country where people die because they are unable to pay for treatment, is a major plus point. In many countries, health can only be restored when forms are filled and money is deposited. “In Canada, governments are the main source of funding for health care because they play a key role in the insurance market” (Madore, 2005). With this legislation in place, Canada has opened up an amazing opportunity for one’s wellness. This act helps protect, promote and restore physical as well as mental well-being of residents of Canada and facilitates access to health services without barriers. Enforcing this regulation has permitted people to feel secure about their health and not fear about money. Along with the public, health care providers such as nurses are also compensated for the services they …show more content…
provide. As a nursing student, nurses are the primary care takers for a patient. They are the ones who are always with the patient from the day they enter the hospital till the day they leave. With this legislation intact, nurses have found it both easier and harder to cooperate with patients and how they provide the care. There have been many job opportunities that have opened up for nurses because of the high amount of people who are able to seek care for their illnesses. Nurses are able to enforce the fact that “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, rather than merely the absence of disease” (Jarvis, 2014, p. 30), to the public and is only progressively becoming part of the wider public knowledge. With this, nurses are able to talk with patients more and are able to giving more patient teachings as they do not have to fear who should get more priority and who should get less. Implementation of this act, assures everyone gets treated equally, in regards to care provided and there is no prejudice as to who gets first choice. This creates an environment that is healing and in favor of everyone. In the placement of this act, health care setting have become positive and supportive.
“In Canada, as in most other industrialized countries, the major current causes of illness and death are linked closely to lifestyle and the environment” (BC Physicians, 2000). Health care environment is one of the primary deaths reasons. Nurses play an important role in how the environment should be like, whether it be hospitals, nursing homes or doctors’ offices. With this act, environment is a top issue that has come forward because more people would be getting checkups, or getting treatment. Without a clean environment, there would be a spread of more infection and disease which would cause a lot more money to be put towards the health care system then
intended. In conclusion, Canada Health Act (1984) legislation works in the interest of the public, nurse’s practise and the environment. It gives the security of one’s health and wellness without fearing about financial obstructions. This provides the nurses a chance to help the public by giving them more clients teaching without worrying about the cost of care the patient would have to pay for after leaving. With the healing process, the environment helps speed up the process and enforces a positive atmosphere. Thus, this legislation is a positive groundwork for our health system and is an essential right for all Canadians.
The role of nurse practitioner in the Canadian healthcare system is relatively new compared to the traditional roles of doctors and registered nurses, and as with any new role, there are people who oppose the changes and others who appreciate them. Some members of the public and the healthcare system believe that the addition of the nurse practitioner (NP) role is an unnecessary change and liability to the system because it blurs the line between a doctor and a nurse; this is because nurse practitioners are registered nurses with additional training (usually a masters degree) that allows them to expand their scope of practice into some areas which can be treated by doctors. Other people feel that nurse practitioners can help provide additional primary care services, while bridging communication between nurses and doctors. There are always legitimate challenges to be overcome when changing a system as complicated as healthcare,
The Canadian health care system promises universality, portability, and accessibility; unfortunately, it faces political challenges of meeting pub...
It is an assumption by many that Canada has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. But do they really? There are numerous health services in Canada which should be part of the universal care nonetheless are not. These include but are not limited to: dental care, vision care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and prescription drug coverage. This report will solely focus on why basic dental care should be a part of the Canadian universal healthcare. Dental care is predominantly delivered in the private sector on a fee-for-service basis, with approximately 62.6% of Canadians paying for care through employment-based insurance and 31.9% through out-of-pocket expenditures and only a small amount of the Canadians, 5.5%, are qualified for public funding through government assistance programmes (Ramraj and Quinonez, 2012). It was seen that by 2009, dental coverage affordability became a problem not just for the low income families but also impacted middle-income earners as a result of their lack of, or decreased access to comprehensive dental insurance (Ramraj, 2013). It is stated by the World Health Organization that universal health care coverage should reassure access to necessary care and protect patients from financial hardship, and that the governments are obligated to
Individuals experience different access to health-care depending on their social location. “A lack of access is illustrated by a person who has had an unmet health-care need for which he or she felt he or she had needed, but had not received, a health-care service in the past year” (Ives, Denov, & Sussman, 2015, p. 170). Health-care access in Canada is often unequally distributed, leaving vulnerable individuals unable to secure sufficient assistance. Changes in health-care delivery in Canada have affected individuals’ access to services. Vulnerable groups such as low-income, rural, and immigrant families experience pronounced difficulty adjusting to Canada’s health-care system.
Canada’s Health Care system is gradually growing to be a major concern in today’s society with providing Canadians with the standard of care they deserve. Health care has become an issue because of the shortage of doctors in Canada; many of them are either going to the U.S.A. or going to other countries to practice in hospitals and clinics. The earning cap imposed by the government has forced doctors to work fewer hours than are necessary to serve the public. Many Canadians are without a doctor to help them with their needs and emergency rooms are filled to capacity with no available beds for those who have to be admitted to the hospital. Waiting time for specialist and specialty tests have become so long that someone diagnosed with a major illness may die before they can be properly treated. Nurses and others in the medical field are overworked and understaffed because the government has made cut-backs to the Health Care System. We live in a country where our health care is a privilege to have, but getting ill is becoming a problem if there is not adequate facilities and professionals to care for the sick. Today’s society is aging longer than ever and will need health care longer than before; patients recovering from hospital stays are being sent home more quickly than ever before, and terminal patients are being sent home for their last days.
Healthcare reform has been debated throughout history, and continues to be a debate today. An initial healthcare plan was supported by Theodore Roosevelt in 1910. He campaigned on the promise of national healthcare, but he was defeated. Harry Truman proposed it thirty years later but the plan was vigorously opposed by American Medical Association (AMA) as socialized medicine (Palmer, 2010). As a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) who has been practicing for more than a year, an advanced nurse with a Master of Science in Administration for ten years, a military nurse leader for twenty years, and a home health and ICU nurse for more than twenty – five years, I agree that we need to rethink the direction of healthcare. Without healthcare reform, the number of uninsured is predicted to increase to 54 million in 2019 according to Deutsche Bank Research trends (2010). This increase in uninsured patients will put a strain on emergency rooms (ERs) as many uninsured patients use ERs as their primary care, which increases healthcare costs and offers poor follow-up care for the patient.
In 2009, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) and former ANA President Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR witnessed this historical moment. American nurses celebrate with satisfaction, because their hard work paid off, enacting historical health care reform legislation that benefits not only nurses but their patient as well. Despite that the health care reform is now a reality, is important to keep working in order to make sure that the reform is implemented effectively (Routson, 2010).The ANA has been in favor of a health care reform that would provide high quality medical services for all. ANA believe that with Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act, millions of American will be protected against the lost or denied health insurance coverage and improved access to primary and preventive care. (ANA, 2011)
Primary health care is the essential step to the Canadian health system. It is often associated with other specialized health care sectors, and community services. Many patients visit various services under primary health care such as family doctors' offices, mental health facilities, nurse practitioners' offices; they make phone calls to health information lines, for example, Tele-health; and receive suggestions from physicians and pharmacists (First Ministers; meeting on healthcare, n.d.). This service can prevent patients from visiting the emergency department, when all that is required is some guidance and advice. Having primary care services can reduce the consumption of acute beds, where only seriously ill patients can use the acute beds when it is available. Primary care not only deals with sickness care, but it helps patients receive preventable measures; it promotes healthy choices (Primary health care, n.d.). The focus on appropriate health care services, when and where they are needed, enhanced the ability of individuals to access primary care in various settings: at home, in a hospital or any number of family health care venues, such as Family Health Teams (FHTs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), or Nurse Practitioner- led clinics. This paper will look at the litigious heated argument in the Romanow Report concerning primary care. It will begin with a discussion of the outcome of the Accord on Health Care Renewal (2003) and The First Ministers' Meeting on the Future of Health in Canada (2004), both referring to primary care, which will then be followed with an assessment and analysis of the different ways in which the accords have been addressed in support of primary care. Followed by a discussion about the changes on ...
The American Nurses Association (ANA) developed a foundation for which all nurses are expected to perform their basic duties in order to meet the needs of the society we serve. The ANA “has long been instrumental in the development of three foundational documents for professional nursing; its code of ethics, its scope and standards of practice, ands statement of social policy.” (ANA, 2010, p. 87) The ANA defined nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” and used to create the scope and standards of nursing practice. (ANA, 2010, p. 1) These “outline the steps that nurses must take to meet client healthcare needs.” () The nursing process, for example, is one of the things I use daily. Other examples include communicating and collaborating with my patient, their families, and my peers, and being a lifelong learner. I continually research new diagnoses, medications, and treatments for my patients. As a nurse of ...
The Canadian healthcare system is a socialized system that offers universal coverage to all Canadians at a cost, it is not for free. It is publicly funded and administered on a provincial basis. This means that each province collects money for healthcare from taxes. On average, each Canadian pays about $6,000-$9,000 per year- which is not that much different from the American private healthcare. The federal government collects the taxes then distributes money to each province based on the needs. The major requirement of the Canada Health Act is that all provinces, which do get federal money to deliver healthcare, have transparency and accountability, be universal and portable. This means that a Canadian living in one province can move to another province and still have the same medical coverage. The type of medical services provided is left to each province. While most of the basic health care is covered, plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons and certain other rehabilitation services are not covered. It is important to know that in this system there are often very long delays to get surgery or to see
The initiative recognized that nurses have the opportunity to change health care, as we know it, and transform it to meet the needs of the ACA. The barriers that were identified include “outdated policies, regulations and cultural barriers” (IOM, 2011, p. 85). While increasing the scope of practice for APRNs was a large part of this key message, cultural diversity, gender diversity, and the aging workforce were also highlighted.
Nurses are active, they see policies as what they can restructure or change, instead of taking it as what has been imposed on them. They are involved in policy development as well as working together as one profession. As nurses, they participating in decision making regarding health policies, as well as taking part in implementations associated with changes in health care. Currently, nurses are serving “on advisory committees, commissions, and boards” (Cohen, M. & Walker, A. 2010). Policies and decisions in these areas will help to advance patient care in health
With the passage of the ACA, the Federal government in collaboration with the states, reformed the “healthcare system by giving more Americans access to quality, affordable health insurance” (Obama Care Facts, Summary, n.d.). Thus, the ANA Agenda for Reform had been partly achieved. In addition, the Agenda also served as a wake-up call that brought key nursing and patients’ issues to the fore, e.g., Safe Staffing, Safe Patient Handling, and Title VIII (Nursing Workforce Development) Funding (ANA, 2016), just to mention a
Access to health care refers to the ease with which an individual can obtain needed medical services. Many Americans face barriers that make it difficult to obtain basic health care services. These barriers to services include lack of availability, high cost, and lack of insurance coverage. "Limited access to health care impacts people's ability to reach their full potential, negatively affecting their quality of life." (Access to Health Services, 2014) Access to health services encompasses four components that include coverage, services, timeliness, and workforce
Health care has always been an interesting topic all over the world. Voltaire once said, “The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” It may seem like health care that nothing gets accomplished in different health care systems, but ultimately many trying to cures diseases and improve health care systems.