The Top Challenges Currently Facing the Healthcare Industry
As far as industries go, there’s hardly any out there that is as important as the healthcare industry, especially considering the fact that without qualified nurses and doctors, many people wouldn’t be alive today who currently are. Doctors and nurses working in hospitals save lives, as shown by the amazing work that they have been seen to do during the Covid pandemic. Nonetheless, many people in the healthcare industry have been buffeted by a whole round of different, often interlocking challenges.
Knowing what these challenges are is crucial for anyone, either in the healthcare industry or those who are thinking about moving into the healthcare field. Only by being able to clearly understand these challenges, people can make sure that they know what to do to overcome them and be the best possible professionals in the healthcare field. If you are interested in learning more, then it’s absolutely recommended for you to read the rest of this guide below which has been produced especially for your reading pleasure. Check out the content that has been written below now in order for you to be able to get the crucial overview today.
Challenges Faced By The Healthcare Industry
The Covid Pandemic
It is safe to say that the Covid pandemic, despite the loosening of restrictions across the USA, has caused unprecedented damage across the country and is likely to stick around for a much longer while yet. This is something that you should definitely have on your radar, no matter whether you are a healthcare professional or you are simply reading this for interest, as it has been proven that almost anyone can catch the disease, sometimes even more than once.
The damage that this pandemic has had upon the healthcare industry has been profound, leading to the need for triage in some hospitals as well as unprecedented levels of burnout amongst hospital staff. There has also been the death of hospital staff, especially in poorer regions where people didn’t have the necessary personal protective equipment. People might also think that the disease is over, but as the last mutations have shown, there is always the fear that a new strain could emerge and could wreak a new level of havoc upon the American healthcare system. Professionals from all across the spectrum should be prepared for anything that could happen in the future regarding the pandemic.
The Restriction Of Abortion Access
Regardless of your opinions on abortion, the leaked opinion by Justice Alito on overturning Roe vs Wade, will have serious ramifications across the USA. If the law does go into effect, it is likely that around 23 to 26 states could ban abortion within just a couple of weeks. This could lead to the criminalization of doctors doing their jobs, more women dying as a result of home-botched abortions, and more women dying as a result of not getting the abortions they need in order to actually survive, especially if they are suffering from a miscarriage.
Additionally, in states where abortion will probably remain legal, such as New York and California, people are going to expect a rise in “abortion refugees” who will cross state lines in order to get the care that they need, putting further strain on their healthcare systems. This means that doctors across the country need to be prepared for this reality, as whether or not it happens, the current climate is still going to make it harder for women to receive the medical care they need.
High Level Of Turnover
Due to the high levels of stress in clinical settings, pandemic-related or otherwise, combined with the historic levels of inflation, means that there is often a lot of turnover within the healthcare industry. People are leaving hospitals in order to either look for jobs in other clinical settings or even for other jobs entirely, leaving their posts for completely different industries. It is up to hospitals themselves to be able to offer their doctors and nurses higher levels of training, higher wages, and more time off to make sure that they aren’t burned out and can still do the work that is required of them.
If you are still interested in becoming a nurse or a doctor, then you should definitely look into the possibilities of higher education. If you take a degree at a top institution, you will learn not only the ins and outs of becoming a great caregiver but you will also learn about the benefits of evidence-based practice, the likes of which are currently rising in popularity. Nonetheless, considering the many high costs that are involved with attending an institute of higher education, you should definitely think deeply about whether or not this is the right decision for you.
The Supply Chain Crisis
The supply chain crisis, which has been predicted to get a whole lot worse, has a lot of knock-on effects on the healthcare industry. For example, when a hospital needs ventilators to deal with people who are suffering from coronavirus, but due to historic waits at American ports, there is sadly the very real problem of hospital managers not actually getting the ventilators that they need. This means that hospital managers working within the healthcare industry need to make sure that they are aware of the fact that there could be massive shortages of crucial products and find workarounds.
Cybersecurity
When we are talking about the nefarious actions of hackers, there are absolutely no lows to which these people won’t stoop to. This means that even hospitals could be under threat from the attack of these people. This means that, if you are working as a hospital manager, you need to make sure that you have amazing cybersecurity protocols in place for preventing your hospital from getting hacked, as this would not only lead to a loss of income but could even lead to people in your hospital dying. This will definitely cost you a fair amount of money to get installed, but this is nothing compared to the amount of money that you could end up losing in the event of a hack.
Managing The Explosion Of Telehealth
One side effect of the Covid pandemic has been the quite considerable rise of people having digital consultations instead of going to the doctor in person. On the whole, this is a good development because it means that the burden on the physical hospital itself has been greatly lessened. Nonetheless, with telehealth on the rise, this actually does come with a lot of challenges. For example, if your hospital doesn’t have a telehealth option yet, then it will definitely be expected to do so in the future. The other struggle could be trying to deal with an increased demand for telehealth. Either way, it’s important to have a roadmap, so your hospital is not overwhelmed.
Healthcare Skepticism
It is a sad fact that, as nearly one-third of Americans who refused to get the coronavirus vaccine have shown, some people are more or less completely distrustful of traditional medicine. This is something that is not just true regarding the coronavirus vaccine, but across all different kinds of healthcare options: certain people simply do not trust the science, and healthcare professionals, to do their job to the best of their ability. This can be for many reasons, stretching from religious to political beliefs.
This is obviously something that can cause a lot of stress for healthcare professionals. After all, it can be very hard to know what to do if you have been trained to help people for several years, and then when they come into the hospital, they are actually rejecting many of the core tenets that make up modern medicine. The trick is never to think that you are better than them just because you went to college and they probably didn’t or that you probably make more money than them. Instead, it’s best to approach them like you would talk to a child or someone with special needs, clearly stating the reasons why they should take the medicine that you have prescribed them. You might be surprised by how malleable people truly are.
Conclusion
It has been the express aim of this guide to give you absolutely all of the information that you should know with regards to the many different challenges that are currently facing almost every single aspect of the healthcare industry. Although this guide definitely sought to be as exhaustive as it can possibly be, it is worth bearing in mind that this is a topic that is constantly evolving, so something that might be true today might be completely different in just a few months or even a few weeks.
This means that you definitely need to be doing your own research to understand all the different challenges that healthcare professionals are currently facing. With that said, if you ever need a refresher in the months and weeks to come, it is definitely worth revisiting this guide in the future.
