Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

It is often challenging to have health care services that meet the needs of Canada’s diverse population and the needs of both men and women. Gender influences access to care and women in particular are at risk for face difficulties to care (Ontario Women`s Health Equity Report, 2010 p.1). Women are more likely to be poor and have greater caregiver responsibilities in contrast to men. These both factors are barriers to accessing health services. The way the health care system is organized creates barriers to accessing effective care for women because it has failed to take into account that men and women use the health care system very differently. Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

ORDER  HERE A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

Failure of Addressing Women’s Health Nender inequity rather than eliminatingeeds Supporting Family Members Providing Care Gender-based analysis is a critical component of reforming Canada’s health system as it helps policymakers understand disparities in health status, how health and illness are experienced and how men and women access and interact with the health system (Health Canada, 2003). Today’s health care system does not take gender into account because it does not considers the kinds of care and support that women define as important to their health and well-being. In 2002, Commissioner Roy J. Romanow, released a report entitled the Romanow Report offering recommendations on how to reform and renew Canada’s health care system. The Report stresses the importance of health equity and addressing the differing health care needs of men and women, in order to improve access of health services. A recommendation the Report lists is, “developing programs and services that recognize the different health care needs of men and women, visible minorities, people with disabilities, and immigrants (Romanow, 2002 p. 155). Health equity is refers to study of people of different class, social economic status, age, gender, education, sexual orientation and ethnicity having access to the health care resources needed to achieve their health potential. It is about Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

This dissertation is the culmination of six years of graduate education and
research in the fields of sociology and demography at the University of Pennsylvania.
Although this project is my own, the success of my work would not have been possible
without the advice from several faculty members and students at the University, as well
as the never-ending support of my family. First and foremost, I want to acknowledge
Jerry A. Jacobs, my advisor and dissertation committee chair. Jerry has been an
exceptionally supportive mentor, and his feedback and advice throughout the process of
researching and writing my dissertation has been indispensable. Sam Preston and Jason
Schnittker, the other members of my dissertation committee, have also provided helpful
theoretical, methodological, and editorial advice. My entire dissertation committee was
wonderful, and I feel fortunate to have worked with such knowledgeable and supportive
scholars in my field.
The first chapter of my dissertation was published in the International Journal of
Comparative Sociology. I would like to thank my coauthor, Virginia W. Chang, for her
hard work and dedication in getting this chapter published. In addition, the editor of IJCS,Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay
David A. Smith, as well as the reviewers, provided insightful comments that strengthened
the paper.
Other faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania whose advice
contributed to my research include Paul Allison, Herb Smith, Kristen Harknett, HansPeter Kohler, Janis Madden, and Robin Leidner. I am also very appreciative of the
iv
advice and support I received from my fellow sociology and demography students,
including Ruth Burke, Andy Fenelon, Vitor Miranda, Allison Sullivan, Sabrina
Danielsen, Junhow Wei, Whitney Schott, and Arielle Kuperberg. I would especially like
to thank Julie Szymczak, a dear friend and indispensable asset to me throughout my
tenure in graduate school. In addition to the faculty and students, I would like to
acknowledge the incredibly helpful staff in sociology, demography, and in the Population
Studies Center library, including Audra Rogers, Carolanne Saunders, Yuni Thorton, John
McCabe, Nancy Bolinski, Aline Rowens, Karen Cooke, Shellie Copp, Addie Métivier,
and Nykia Perez Kibler.
I would not have been able to write this dissertation without the unrelenting
support from my family. Special thanks to my mom, Deborah Medalia, who has
encouraged and supported me throughout my life, and particularly in the past six years. I
am also tremendously grateful to have such a loving partner and fiancé, Drew Dallas,
who has always has my back and helps me keep my cool. Thanks also to my dad,
Anthony Phillips, and his wife, Maureen Smith, and everyone else in my family for their
love and encouragement. I would also like to acknowledge the inspiration of my Papa,
Dr. Avrom Medalia, who passed away in 2002; ever since I was eight years old I wanted
to get a PhD like him.
Finally, I dedicate this dissertation to my Nana, Judy Medalia, who motivated me
to finish this dissertation even when it felt impossible to do so. Although she passed
away in May 2011, her encouragement has stayed with me and continued to help me
v
through the process of completing my PhD. One message she reiterated when I felt
overwhelmed with school was that “If it were easy to get a PhD, everyone would do it.”
This message may sound simple, but has reminded me that it was OK that writing a
dissertation was hard. It certainly was difficult to write this dissertation, but I am so glad
that I saw it through to the end. Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay
vi
ABSTRACT
ESSAYS ON GENDER AND HEALTH
Carla Medalia
Jerry A. Jacobs
The relationship between gender and health is complex. Although women live longer
than men in almost every country throughout the world, women also tend to be sicker
than men. While biological sex differences likely contribute to sex gaps in health, crossnational, historical, and life course variation suggest that social factors also play a role.
This dissertation is composed of three chapters which examine social explanations for
gender gaps in mortality and morbidity. The first chapter looks at the relationship
between gender equality in the public sphere, and sex gaps in life expectancy throughout
the world. I find that influence of gender equality on the sex gap in life expectancy
depends on the level of economic development. The second chapter takes an historical
perspective to examine the trend in the sex gap in depression in the United States
between 1971 and 2008. In examining this trend, I find that the sex gap in depression has
decreased over the past forty years, due to a decrease in depression among women that is
primarily attributable to an increase in women’s labor force participation and attachment.
In the third chapter, I examine the relationship between gender, aging, and depression
using longitudinal data for the population over age fifty in the United States. In doing so,
I find that age does not increase depression until age 75, after which point depression
vii
increases for both sexes, but particularly for men, leading to a reversal in the sex gap in
depression at the end of the lifespan. Furthermore, while the majority of the age effect on
depression is explained by social and health changes, I conclude that there is a net effect
of age per se on depression after age 75.Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: Gender equality, development, and cross-n

Causes of healthcare personnel shortages
The aforementioned shortage of healthcare professionals in health centers has a number of causes. First of all, professional healthcare jobs like surgery are characterized by a limited number of qualified people. This leads to a serious personnel shortage in most health centers which force the few qualified personnel to work for more than one health center.

Secondly, most health care centers suffer a shortage of healthcare professionals due to employee turnover (Quach, 2009, p. 1). The shortage is also caused by the limited number of trainers/professors in the industry which is usually due to the demand of professionals in health care which forces virtually all qualified medical personnel work in hospitals.

Narrowing our discussion to the situation in ABC hospital, the most probable reason for the shortage of surgeons is the fact that qualified surgeons are few and thus just like the other health centers; the hospital finds it hard to get qualified surgeons. A number of qualified surgeons are also in private practice performing general surgeries (Robert, 2008, p. 1). This has also contributed to the shortage of surgeons and other health professionals in most health centers.Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

Another contributing factor in the shortage of surgeons in the ABC hospital is the risk involved in surgeries. This is because fresh medical students find it difficult to get the required expertise and experience required in surgery since they are only allowed to handle minor surgeries. This makes entry to the surgery profession a challenge. Let us have a look at the effects that the shortage of surgeons has had on the ABC hospital.

Effects of healthcare personnel shortages
The shortage of surgeons in the ABC has had tremendous effects on the hospital and the community at large. Many patients have had their conditions worsen while they wait for their appointment with the surgeons. Others have even lost their lives due to lack of immediate attention by the surgeons.

Learn More
This means that the hospital loses millions of dollars due to the stated problem of inadequate surgeons. The inadequacy of the surgeons also means that the available surgeons are overworked (Larson, 2002, p. 1). The surgeons spent most of their time in the hospital and thus they may provide mediocre services due to fatigue. This may in turn have effect on the number of surgery patients visiting the hospital.

With this discussion, it is apparent that the inadequacy of the surgeons in the ABC hospital has had a lot of effects on the hospital and the society. It is thus desirable that appropriate solutions to the problem should be found in order to mitigate the aforementioned effects.Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

Solutions to health care personnel shortages
The personnel shortage can also be reduced by proper utilization and motivation of the existing workforce, whereby, cheap methods like the polishing of the management of the hospital can be used. This will lead to better and friendly supervision which can possibly act as a motivation to the workers.

The management of the hospital should also ensure that the job descriptions of the hospital workforce are clearly stated in order to avoid conflicts that increase employee turnover. Provision of safe working conditions would be particularly helpful to the ABC Hospital surgeons since it will help in preserving the health of the surgeons and thus ensure that they are fit to perform their duties (McSweeney, 2010, p. 1).Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

This will help in reducing absenteeism and therefore help substantially in the fight against surgeon shortage. The problem can also be addressed by hiring people with perfected multiple skills such that they can multitask. For instance, the hospital can hire surgeons with perfected post-operative care skills.

Another strategy that can potentially change the situation in ABC hospital is the increment of employee benefits and the hiring of more professionals. Employees will definitely be motivated if their work is rewarded by good salaries and allowances like overtime allowances, risk allowances etc (“Media center”, 2010, p. 1).

On the other hand, the hiring of more surgeons will ensure that the facility does not run out of surgeons in the short run and once they are in the organization, they will be retained by the proposed increase of benefits.Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

Learn More
The hospital may also invest more in the backing of health education and give support to their workers. This will help in the motivation of the workers and it will assist medical students (surgeons) in getting the experience required in order to successfully attend to patients. The stated strategy will help in reducing the aforementioned shortage of surgeons in the U.S.

Justification
There are many reasons why the proposed strategic solutions to the surgeon shortage problem in ABC are feasible. The suggested perfection of the management of the hospital will be helpful since an improvement of inter-patient delays and other inconveniences to the surgeon will be reduced with good management.

It will also ensure that the surgeons they have are not overworked in ABC by stating their duties clearly. Additionally, the suggested motivation of the surgeons they have will help in the retention of the surgeons and thus it will ensure that the hospital does not run out of surgeons.

As discussed earlier, the provision of safe working conditions will ensure that the surgeons working with the hospital are fit to perform their duties and thus this will definitely mitigate the inadequate-surgeons problem (Fuhrmans, 2010, p. 1).Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay

The suggested benefit schemes and investment in the support of surgeons will definitely act as a motivation to the current employees and it will also act as an attraction to new surgeons.

Conclusion
Health care professionals are highly demanded by health care centers but the number of professionals like surgeons graduating from medical schools is limited. This is partly due to the challenging nature of health care jobs and the limited number of professors in this field.

The two stated reasons have worked in unison to make medical schools have a limited number of schools hence the shortage of health care professionals. There is no immediate solution to this problem but a number of strategies are suggested to help the ABC hospital in mitigating the effect that the shortage has had on the hospital and the society at large. Shortage of Men in Healthcare Essay