The American health care system is very different today than in the 1980s when the country reacted to HIV.
In the 1980s the Hill Burton Grant Act was still the focus of hospitals. There also were no "health care systems," they were community hospitals. Many of the hospitals providing communities care have closed.
In the 1980s hospitals had Directors of Nursing, not Vice Presidents of Nursing. They had medical directors and not medical directors that answer to CEOs. Their supply system was directly to the hospital as they needed them. In 2014, the health care system has a supply chain whereby many hospitals within the system receive standard issue supplies.
There are less nurses that provide care to patient and the nurse:patient ratio is different.
Health care is different in 2014 and the difference existed long before the Affordable Care Act.
Did the USA react sufficiently to the outbreak of HIV? Yes. The community was cared for and given hospital care. If Ebola would break out in that number of people, which it never will, could the USA care for them as it did during the initial HIV outbreak? Good question. A better question considering this strain of Ebola seems to make it's way to health care workers. If there are care givers that become patients because they are sick, who is going to care for patients? Who is going to care for the sick care givers?
This fuss by health care workers is a vital conversation and not simply a chore to pacify anxiety within the community. A nursing assistant has died in Spain. This conversation is important.
In the 1980s the Hill Burton Grant Act was still the focus of hospitals. There also were no "health care systems," they were community hospitals. Many of the hospitals providing communities care have closed.
In the 1980s hospitals had Directors of Nursing, not Vice Presidents of Nursing. They had medical directors and not medical directors that answer to CEOs. Their supply system was directly to the hospital as they needed them. In 2014, the health care system has a supply chain whereby many hospitals within the system receive standard issue supplies.
There are less nurses that provide care to patient and the nurse:patient ratio is different.
Health care is different in 2014 and the difference existed long before the Affordable Care Act.
Did the USA react sufficiently to the outbreak of HIV? Yes. The community was cared for and given hospital care. If Ebola would break out in that number of people, which it never will, could the USA care for them as it did during the initial HIV outbreak? Good question. A better question considering this strain of Ebola seems to make it's way to health care workers. If there are care givers that become patients because they are sick, who is going to care for patients? Who is going to care for the sick care givers?
This fuss by health care workers is a vital conversation and not simply a chore to pacify anxiety within the community. A nursing assistant has died in Spain. This conversation is important.
