Quality of Healthcare

Cruz (2013) writes in her article Youre Getting Too Much Healthcare that an overabundance of tests and referrals can actually diminish the quality of care that a patient receives. The overall point of the article is that too much testing and prescribing can be harmful in that it could lead to a decline in the patients quality of life. So if care diminishes life quality for a patient it cannot be considered quality care. The fine line that practitioners need to walk is knowing when to say enough care is enough and not try to steer patients into getting more testing and prescriptions than they need.

It is essentially the same argument that Lichtenfeld (2011) makes: people are seen more as a source of profit for the healthcare industry, which tends to put profits before people. As a result practitioners are encouraged to prompt patients to get tested too much, to ask for another prescription, and to generally try to treat every single ailment even though no ones health will ever...

She notes, however, that a major reason for this expense is the overuse of tests, referrals, and prescriptions. Testing,...…doctors. In addition, people who receive too much healthcare may become reliant on it and lose their ability to take care of themselves.

So even though it is important to be proactive about ones health, people need to remember that they do not need all the bells and whistles of modern healthcare in order to live long and healthy lives. Often, less is more when it comes to healthcare. And healthcare providers should be increasing health literacy, promoting preventive health through simple steps like eating a healthy diet and exercising, and not shying away from traditional and natural medicines. There does not need to be so much fear about…