Acute Care:
Katie Falter, Jenna Tumbusch, Molly Sullivan
Acute/intensive care is defined as “short-term medical care especially for serious acute disease or trauma” (Merriam-Webster). Examples of acute care include strokes, heart attacks, trauma from vehicle accidents or burns, and many more subjects. In England, acute care is sponsored by The National Health Service (NHS) with the use of acute trusts. Acute trusts “make sure that hospitals provide high-quality healthcare and that they spend their money efficiently” (NHS). Sciencedaily.com did a study of the use of intensive care in England and the U.S. and they discovered that “of all hospital discharges, only 2.2 percent in England received intensive care, compared to 19.3 percent in the U.S.” (Sciencedaily.com). It is also common that patients would prefer to die in their homes rather than in hospitals, which contributes to the lower number of intensive care patients in England.
Mental Health In England:
Laura Contos, Megan Foley, Samantha Fry, Heather Hansen
In England, if a person is experiencing symptoms of mental illness they must first go to their general practioner, who can prescribe them basic medications and refer them to a specialist (Mental health, 2010). Mental health patients can be either voluntarily or involuntarily admitted to either a hospital or mental health facility. The Mental Health Act gives police the power to take someone to a place of safety if they are behaving in a way that could be because they have a serious mental illness, and they need immediate care or control (Mind: For better, 2011). Not all treatment takes place in these facilities, Crisis resolution/home treatment team provide treatment and support within the community setting (Bindman, 2011). Although not all areas in England have these teams available. Patients are treated by community mental health teams. These teams are made up of different types of mental health professionals employed by both the NHS and local social service, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, community psychiatric nurses, and sometimes vocational specialists who can help people keep a job, or get back to work. Treatment is usually a combination of antipsychotics and psychological therapies. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence also known as NICE is responsible for deciding what treatments are covered by the National Health Services (Health:mental health, 2011) . Each mental health disorder has its own guidelines regarding coverage by the NHS. Not all medications and therapies are covered by their healthcare system.
Arts Therapy in England:
Andrea Keil, Janet Dapo,Meagan Navarre, and Gabbi Saraney
Arts therapy is a form a psychotherapy that helps individuals express themselves through the creation of art and explore the subconscious. According to a recent study, 26 percent of people in England had tried some form of complementary and alternative medicine or arts therapy during 2010. Some of the most popular forms of therapy found in England include dance movement therapy, art therapy, music therapy, voice movement, and drama therapy.
Dance movement therapy employs the use of movement and dance to engage a person’s emotion, cognitive, physical, and social integration. The Association for Dance Movement Therapy, United Kingdom, was one of the first organizations established to regulate the field of dance therapy. Art therapy uses painting, modeling, drawing, found objects, collage, and other forms of art making as a form of non-verbal expression. Art therapy is often used with patients who are emotionally distressed, struggling with learning disabilities, and physical or mental illness and can take place in group or individual sessions that generally cost between 30-60 pounds per session. Music therapy is a clinical intervention that uses sound and music to facilitate positive changes in behavior and emotional well-being. Music therapy was first used in English hospitals after the First World War and all current practitioners must register with the Health Professions Council and be members of the Association of Professional Music Therapists. Voice movement therapy and drama therapy both combine elements of psychotherapy with an exploration of the self either through the use of the voice or within a dramatic context.
Home Healthcare in England:
Alison Barnette,Ellie Purcell
Home healthcare is believed to have started in Liverpool, England in 1858. William Rathbone, a philanthropist, hired a nurse, Mary Robison, to help take care of his wife at their home during the end stage of an illness. Rathbone's wife died in 1859, at which point he implored Mary to visit some of the most poverty stricken district in the city and provide healthcare to the less fortunate. Rathbone, with help from Florence Nightingale, spent the rest of his life working to provider and expand healthcare door to door, to the poor. Today, in England, home healthcare is funded by the government as well as agencies of the NHS (National Health Service). Relatives of people receiving healthcare in the home are also encouraged to provide direct cash benefits for healthcare. In England, a person’s need for home healthcare is determined by a means-testing and 75% of home health patients pay for part or all of their care out of pocket.
Healthcare at Home (HAH), is one of the largest providers of home healthcare in the UK. With a focus on providing patients with pharmaceutical and clinical services in the comfort of their own homes, HAH coordinates with several hospitals, charity programs, and pharmaceutical companies to achieve this goal. HAH was the first home health provider to achieve national accreditation and prides itself on providing all nurses with specific training and specialized equipment for care of a person at home.
The American equivalent to HAH is Amedisys which is also a leading provider of home health and hospice care. This company’s mission statement aims to “[provide] personalized, professional care for patients in the comfort of their homes and [treat] patients the same as a member of our family”. Like HAH, Amedisys provides assistance in the community and has helped over 650 individuals and charities including Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Make a Wish Foundation, and the Red Cross. Amedisys received its accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care.
While we are in London, it is possible to see home healthcare vehicles going door to door and maybe even some home health nurses entering and leaving the houses. Also, if given the opportunity to visit a hospital, a decrease in admission rates, decrease in the number of in-hospital patients, and the implementation of home healthcare programs for patients may be observed.
Hospice Care in England:
Hannah Fairbanks, Alyssa Hale, Lauren Miller, Adrienne Novak
Hospice care is end-of-life care. Health care professionals and volunteers give medical, psychological and spiritual support. Care can take place at home, at a hospice center, in a hospital, or in a skilled nursing facility. The goal of the care is to help people who are dying have peace, comfort and dignity. The caregivers try to control pain and other symptoms so a person can remain as alert and comfortable as possible. Usually, a hospice patient is expected to live 6 months or less. Hospice care, care at the end of life, always includes palliative care. Palliative care relieves symptoms without curing your disease. The goal is to make you comfortable and improve your quality of life. However, palliative car is different from hospice in that you may receive palliative care at any stage of a disease.
The US has adapted and mimicked their hospice care after the UK’s system created by Cicely Saunders. The main goal is to provide comfort for the patient and much of the nursing care is the same including medications, facilities, and comfort measures. However, some discrepancies can be found between the countries. For example, the requirements for admission to hospice are much simpler in the UK compared to the United States. The only thing needed in the UK for hospice care is the doctor’s approval that the patient has a terminal illness. They are able to be on hospice for years while the United States only allows patients to be on hospice if they have 6 months or less to live. The cost is much greater in the United States and 84% is paid for by Medicare. Hospice is free to patients and caregivers in the UK and is funded by the government as well as donations and volunteering.
Healthcare Organization:
Megan Asterino, Hailey Jones, Maegan Starcher
Healthcare in England is very different than in the United States. England’s healthcare is based on a socialized system, where every citizen is guaranteed healthcare. The United States has a mainly private sector of insurance which is supported by employers which could mean that not everybody is supported or guaranteed coverage. In the US, healthcare is largely driven by money where surgeries are suggested because of the profit motive. Taxes are taken out of paycheck which go towards the employees insurance and also into fund for Medicare and Medicaid as well as other government funded social assistance programs. It is quite different in England because hospitals and medicine are funded by the government. Money is taken out of checks and that money is given to the governemnt for the overall healthcare of the person. Because of this, quality of service is downgraded. There are not enough nurses and doctors for the amount of people that need care. The waiting lists and time for seeing a doctor or receiving a doctor are extremely long, at times lasting up to more than a year. Just like the United States, some sort of healthcare reform is necessary in England and has been a major topic in government for many of the past decades. There have been ongoing debates and protests from nurses in recent history, demanding better funds and services for healthcare.
Healthcare Financing:
Charles Baron, Alex Hildebrandt, Christine Kuester, Mollie Majcher
Health Care financing between the United States and the United Kingdom greatly differ. The United States uses mainly Medicare, Medicaid and individual insurance for citizens. The United Kingdom has a nationalized hospital system. Therefore the British do not have to pay for their health care. They delegate an approximate $3,876.08 per patient, however, it is treated similar to our insurance because some people spend over that approximation and others do not.
The health care in England was instituted in 1948 because they felt that the non-insured should be protected and free health care is a citizen’s right. The goal of this was to boost productivity and therefore boost economic growth. The health care is financed by national taxes and not local.
“No hurdle facing health care reform in the United States today is more daunting than the problem of financing universal coverage” (Gruber, 2009,p. 4). “The budget of the NHS in England (health care in other parts of Britain is organised separately) ballooned in the boom years to £104 billion ($164 billion), and is protected from the spending cuts affecting most other government departments. Yet David Nicholson, the NHS's chief executive, has estimated that the service faces a shortfall of up to £20 billion in the next three years. In theory the reforms will save money, by cutting administrative costs and giving GPs more incentive to spend wisely. ” (The Final Frontier, 2011, p. 59). Under Barack Obama, the US is trying to move into more of a socialized health care.
