NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 1 Identifying a Local Health Care Economic Issue

Student Name

Capella University

NHS-FPX 6008 Economics and Decision Making in Health Care

Prof. Name

Date

 Identifying a Local Health Care Economic Issue

This assessment identifies a local healthcare economic issue and its impact on a specific community or population. Furthermore, the paper discusses the rationale for choosing this issue as the subject’s topic. Later, it will discuss how this issue impacts diverse groups, particularly low-socioeconomic communities. Lastly, it will identify a gap contributing to this issue based on substantial evidence. 

Local Health Care Economic Issue

The shortage of healthcare staff is a critical healthcare economic issue that has far-reaching consequences on the overall functioning of healthcare systems. This issue is multifaceted and is affected by several factors, such as the growing demand for healthcare services due to the increasing population and the prevalence of chronic diseases (Itodo et al., 2020). Another major factor is high turnover rates due to stressful and challenging situations in healthcare organizations, causing workforce attrition (Willard-Grace et al., 2019). This healthcare economic problem impacts populations and communities. The American Hospital Association has called this a “national emergency” in the U.S., as the workforce shortage has reached 1.1 million by the end of 2022 (Johnson, 2022).

 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1,100 healthcare workers were convinced to leave this field, exacerbating the worsening health situation among U.S. communities (Johnson, 2022). The Tampa General Hospital has encountered this issue lately, and my personal experience facing this issue is shared in a subsequent section.  Healthcare workers’ shortages can lead to additional costs due to the unmet needs of patients and worsening health conditions. This adds up to the financial burden of the U.S. community and impacts their well-being and economic state. This issue will affect future healthcare staffing as about 121,000 physicians will be shortened by 2030 (Harp, 2023). 

The Rationale for Selecting Shortage of Healthcare Staff

 I have selected this issue of insufficient healthcare workforce as a healthcare economic issue for several reasons. This issue is highly relevant to patient care and well-being. As the number of healthcare workers continues to decline, patients experience a lack of timely access to healthcare, which impacts their health, causing adverse health outcomes (Mascha et al., 2020). Moreover, this issue has shown economic implications as healthcare is not just about patients but is an economic driver. The inadequate healthcare workforce has wide-reaching consequences on productivity, workforce stability, and overall community economic health (Sharifi et al., 2021). 

Personal experiences and values also inspire the selection of this issue. For instance, my experience at Tampa General Hospital of Florida was similar, where I saw nurses and several physicians quitting and leaving their healthcare field. Consequently, patients and organizations encountered negative implications such as increased morbidity and mortality rates and reduced return on investment. According to the Florida Hospital Association, this shortage of nurses will reach 59,000 by the year 2030 (USF Foundation, 2023). Moreover, the equity in healthcare that ensures equitable access to healthcare services and the duty of the healthcare workforce to value the well-being of patients are some values that inspired me to select this issue.

Impact of Shortage of Healthcare Staff on Diverse or Low Socioeconomic Groups

 Compared to the high number of patients, insufficient healthcare staff has specifically impacted patients, staff in the organization, and community members. When the healthcare staff is limited, the work burden on staff increases, and there are greater chances of work burnout and turnover rates (Chemali et al., 2019). This issue impacted my work and colleagues in my organization as we were limited in number, and the patient load was high. This increased our working hours, leaving no time to take a break. Ultimately, my colleagues and I made some medication errors that were timely caught, and adverse events were prevented. Moreover, it caused my colleagues to quit their jobs, and turnover rates were further enhanced. The organization faced many issues, such as near-miss events and reduced quality of care delivery. This also reduced patient satisfaction and caused economic instability. 

This issue, particularly, impacts diverse groups and patients from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Community members of diverse backgrounds, such as culturally different people, are unable to receive timely care as they require a culturally competent healthcare workforce. However, a limited healthcare workforce cannot satisfy the needs of a culturally diverse community (Billings et al., 2021). Similarly, patients with financial crises encounter delayed treatments due to financial constraints. Healthcare disparities aggravate the worsening of health conditions among diverse groups. This leads to delayed diagnosis and treatments and increased risks of poor health outcomes and mortality rates (Adugna et al., 2020).

Gap Contributing to Shortage of Healthcare Staff

The identified gap contributing to the shortage of healthcare staff is the growing disparity between escalating requirements for healthcare services and an insufficient supply of qualified and trained healthcare professionals. This gap is not just theoretical but supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) as it estimated an emerging shortfall of 10 million healthcare workforce by 2030 among low- and lower-middle-income countries. (World Health Organization, 2019). Another identified gap is the poor well-being of healthcare professionals due to limited staffing and the increased number of patients on them. Due to these factors, healthcare professionals are prone to physical and mental ailments, impacting their well-being. As a result, many healthcare professionals deem it appropriate to quit and further increase the turnover rates (McDougall et al., 2020). 

All this leads to a healthcare workforce shortage at hospitals and impacts community individuals as they cannot receive essential health services and confront pandemic challenges with the help of professionals. The community’s economy is also affected badly as the healthcare costs continue to increase while workforce productivity is at stake. This further leads to economic burdens on the community.

Conclusion

The healthcare economic issue discussed in this paper is the need for more healthcare staff in America. The issue has particularly impacted my healthcare organization (Tampa General Hospital). The issue resulted in work burnout, delayed care treatments, and high turnover rates. The gap identified contributing to this issue is mainly due to an imbalance between the needs of healthcare services and the availability of adequate professionals.

 References

Adugna, M. B., Nabbouh, F., Shehata, S., & Ghahari, S. (2020). Barriers and facilitators to healthcare access for children with disabilities in low and middle income sub-Saharan African countries: A scoping review. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4822-6 

Billings, J., Ching, B. C. F., Gkofa, V., Greene, T., & Bloomfield, M. (2021). Experiences of frontline healthcare workers and their views about support during COVID-19 and previous pandemics: A systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06917-z 

Chemali, Z., Ezzeddine, F. L., Gelaye, B., Dossett, M. L., Salameh, J., Bizri, M., Dubale, B., & Fricchione, G. (2019). Burnout among healthcare providers in the complex environment of the Middle East: A systematic review. BMC Public Health, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7713-1 

NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 1 Identifying a Local Health Care Economic Issue

Harp, J. J. (2023). The shortage of healthcare workers in the United States: A call to action. Assessing the Need for a Comprehensive National Health System in the United States. https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/the-shortage-of-healthcare-workers-in-the-united-states/315884

Itodo, G., Samson Enitan, S., Oyekale, A., Agunsoye, C., Asukwo, U., & Enitan, C. (2020). COVID-19 among healthcare workers: Risk of exposure, impacts and biosafety measures -A review. ASJ: International Journal of Health, Safety and Environment (IJHSE), 6(04), 534–548. https://academiascholarlyjournal.org/ijhse/publications/may20/Itodo_et_al.pdf  

Johnson, S. R. (2022). Staff shortages choking U.S. health care system. U.S. News. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-07-28/staff-shortages-choking-u-s-health-care-system 

Mascha, E. J., Schober, P., Schefold, J. C., Stueber, F., & Luedi, M. M. (2020). Staffing with disease-based epidemiologic indices may reduce shortage of intensive care unit staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 131(1), 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1213/ane.0000000000004849

NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 1 Identifying a Local Health Care Economic Issue 

McDougall, R. J., Gillam, L., Ko, D., Holmes, I., & Delany, C. (2020). Balancing health worker well-being and duty to care: An ethical approach to staff safety in COVID-19 and beyond. Journal of Medical Ethics, 47(5), medethics-2020-106557. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106557 

Sharifi, M., Asadi-Pooya, A. A., & Mousavi-Roknabadi, R. S. (2021). Burnout among healthcare providers of COVID-19: A systematic review of epidemiology and recommendations. Archives of Academic Emergency Medicine, 9(1), e7–e7. https://doi.org/10.22037/aaem.v9i1.1004 

USF Foundation. (2023). Giving to USF: Tampa general hospital and USF team up to strengthen pipeline of nurses with training and education. Giving to USF. https://giving.usf.edu/impact/tampa-general-hospital-names-usf-health-college-nursing-simulation-lab

Willard-Grace, R., Knox, M., Huang, B., Hammer, H., Kivlahan, C., & Grumbach, K. (2019). Burnout and health care workforce turnover. The Annals of Family Medicine, 17(1), 36–41. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2338  

World Health Organization. (2019, August 7). Health workforce. Who.int; World Health Organization: WHO. https://www.who.int/health-topics/health-workforce#tab=tab_1