Health Care Beliefs Of The Baltic

Health Care Beliefs Of The Baltic
Health Care Beliefs Of The Baltic
– Mention and discuss the health care beliefs of the Baltic and Brazilian heritage.
– Discuss and give at least 2 examples of the care beliefs of these two culture.
– APA format
– A minimum of 500 words.
– A minimum of 2 evidence based references no older than 5 years.
Identify potential barriers to implementing community health plans in your community and brainstorm ways of addressing these barriers (2–3 paragraphs).
Your paper should be 2–3 pages in length, not including the cover and reference pages. Use APA throughout.
You must include 2–3 sources that are APA cited and referenced in your paper. (Sources may include community resources such as flyers, brochures, interviews, news stories, and local research data from credible sources.)
‘We only live in the past, when we had to pay nothing for health care.’
This is the opinion of practically everyone working in healthcare in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, more than 15 years after regaining independence.
Others, notably patients, have not yet conceived of the concept.
Western standards are anticipated, but governments can no longer afford to provide them for free.
This results in a strong medical technology foundation, but also a persistent financial deficiency – and a somewhat thriving private sector.
Estonia
The Estonian health system differs from that of its Baltic neighbors due to a transformation and reform process that concluded in a complete restructure in 1990.
Smaller hospitals were closed or merged with larger ones.
Simultaneously, hospital administrations cut lengths of stay and bed capacities while gradually shifting the accounting method from case-overall to diagnosis.
To improve management, the government decided to privatize all hospitals a few years ago, either as a non-profit business or as a corporation.
The government is currently considering authorizing solely non-profit maintenance.
The new central hospital in Pärnu, the seat of Estonia’s largest district, may be a good example of this process: a large hospital with over 1,000 personnel grew out of many smaller ones.
Today, it not only provides comprehensive medical care, but it also represents the highest level of technical standards.
The project was mostly sponsored by the government, with the European Social Fund contributing €500,000 for technological devices.
Parallel to the redevelopment project, the hospital administration steadily lowered the clinics’ bed capacities from 1,300 in 2000 to around 940 beds in 2004.
The government also improved ambulatory care.
Family doctors were elevated to the status of ‘doctor of first contact,’ and they were available to everyone, with no patient co-payment.
Simultaneously, the government steadily increased family doctors’ wages and compelled them to undergo longer continuing education courses.
The number of ambulant general practitioners (GPs) and doctor’s surgeries climbed from 147 to 600 between 1992 and 2001.
Although the previously introduced family doctor’s system offers a modern appearance to the health sector, it is not universally praised.
The changes were criticized further because too little money was spent on health care during the economic boom: the health issue (5.4 percent of BIP) has not achieved half of the EU average value (10.9 percent of BIP).
Latvia
Riga’s Paula Stradinja University Hospital is one of 121 Latvian hospitals and one of two university hospitals.
Patients with acute illnesses are primarily treated at a university hospital because acute care is considered basic medical care and is therefore free.
There is no time or money for specific therapies.
As a result, family doctors urgently move less urgent cases because treatment is faster and will be paid.
Chronically ill patients, on the other hand, must frequently wait more than six months for treatment because the hospital’s limited funding is once again consumed by special treatments.
The government intends to reduce the number of hospitals to 52 by 2010 and to centralize the healthcare system.
Despite the fact that several Latvian hospital doctors have resigned owing to a lack of funds, a bright light has emerged since April 29.
The Ministry of Health reached an agreement with the health workers union to raise physicians’ gross monthly salaries from roughly e330 to maybe treble this year.
One of the key causes for this could be the looming shortage of doctors.
Every third physician is beyond the age of 55, and around 20% plan to relocate abroad in the near future.
To ensure treatment over the next decade, Latvia will require 1,500 extra doctors.
As in Germany, the situation has tightened, first in rural areas where few physicians wish to move because of the low pay.
Another reason the government is raising wages is to combat corruption in the health-care system.
Medical doctors who take ‘black currency’ payments will face penalties, according to a new law.
However, whether such a regulation can stop the current practice is debatable.
If a patient pays extra money to the hospital administration voluntarily, it is not rejected.
But that’s not all.
Patients must also pay an official participation charge of €2.50 for a house visit and a hospital admission fee of €7, followed by a daily fee of €2.20.
Food and lodging are priced at €40 per day, regardless of duration of stay.
Patients’ donations to healthcare issues total around €18,000,000 every year.
While physicians and officials believe that patients are perfectly capable of paying these small sums (‘Health is a question of individual priority settlement’), observers of the Latvian health service believe that more than a third of the population refuses due to high additional payments for doctor’s visits.
The largest Latvian private ambulatory clinic employs 170 doctors, with a patient case capacity of 250,000 persons.
Every day, 1,200 patients are treated; more than 90% are privately insured or pay for services out of cash.
There are 16% of private ambulatory medical practices in Latvia, although the majority are not very effective.
Many have insufficient beds and would not be able to serve clients who could afford private care.
Lithuania
Lithuanian healthcare, according to lawmakers and officials, has no flaws.
Doctors are filled with optimism as a result of the recently announced pay raise, and hospitals are on their way to becoming high-tech health service centers.
However, the number of hospitals and beds is no longer a viable option.
Changing governments have been closing hospitals since 2000.
The bed capacity for 100,000 people fell from 1,300 to fewer than 900.
Physicians are not the only ones suffering from a persistent lack of funding, but they are well organized.
Hundreds of doctors wanted more money in 2005 as a result of low pay, a lot of overtime, and only moderate patient appreciation.
As a result, the government now intends to raise wages over a four-year period.
Prior to the strike, most doctors’ salaries were just marginally higher than the Lithuanian average monthly income of e380.
To earn such a living, GPs must spend ten minutes on average per visit.
However, if the majority of doctors did not have two or three jobs, the compensation rise had no discernible effect.
They will not feel the payment is appropriate if they are well-trained.
As a result, it is not surprising that patients offer additional fees; in 2003, the private contribution was approximately 24 percent.
Furthermore, little money allowances are perceived as thankfulness rather than bribes.
The administration intends to combat corruption in the health-care system, but opposes enacting a corruption law.
A state medical association with strict supervision over doctors could be the answer.
It will most likely take years to determine whether further payments are the best strategy to combat ‘black cash’ payments.