One of the examples of wasted resources in health care today is that the U.S. government spends a lot of money on health care inappropriately. There is the data that $2.5 trillion was spent on health care in 2009. 10% of this money goes to pharmacies which spend 25% of annual revenues on advertisements. Accordingly, Americans pay $62 billion for print advertisements and broadcast for pharmaceutical companies. $60 billion are needed to provide clean water, sanitation, education, and family planning services to every person in all developing nations of the world (Lemberg, 2012). One can say that it is a huge waste of money on something that is of no big importance.
The other example of wasted resources is the inability to do reviews of research evidence on a systematic basis. If this was done, then many of patients’ conditions would have been treated more effectively (Wasted Resources in Healthcare and Research, 2012). Health care workers spend a lot of money on futile care. There was the case with a 90-year old patient, he was recommended hospice care (he had pancreatic cancer), but after that he underwent a lot of unnecessary tests (KevinMD, 2009). Doctors should also encourage patients to do their own research concerning their conditions. It can help doctors to better understand patients’ worries and can help to make a diagnosis (Zeiger, 2010). The length of medical training (which was increased) can be reduced by 30%, and this will not worsen the quality of health care or physicians’ skills (Emanuel, 2012).
In health care one can also notice wasted efforts nowadays. Sometimes laboratory tests and X-rays have to be repeated, because a doctor has to make a decision, and there is no data available from the first tests. Such situation happens one in five times. The investment in electronic medical records systems can be considered to be a wasted effort (Mitchell, 2008). Nowadays health care experiences both wasted resources and wasted efforts as any other field of activity.
References
Emanuel, E. J. (2012). 4 years in medical school is wasting health care resources. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://uncommonstudentmd.com/medschool/2012/6/27/4-years-in-medical-sch ool-is-wasting-healthcare-resources.html" http://uncommonstudentmd.com/medschool/2012/6/27/4-years-in-medical-scho ol-is-wasting-healthcare-resources.html#
KevinMD. (2009). Futile care: A sad case of wasted resources. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://getbetterhealth.com/futile-care-a-sad-case-of-wasted-resources/2 009.06.15" http://getbetterhealth.com/futile-care-a-sad-case-of-wasted-resources/20 09.06.15
Lemberg, D. (2012). The cost of health care – wasting precious resources. Albany Medical College. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://www.amc.edu/BioethicsBlog/post.cfm/the-cost-of-health-care-wasti ng-precious-resources" http://www.amc.edu/BioethicsBlog/post.cfm/the-cost-of-health-care-wastin g-precious-resources
Mitchell, R. L. (2008). Politics, money, and health care IT. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://blogs.computerworld.com/whats_wrong_with_health_care_and_it" http://blogs.computerworld.com/whats_wrong_with_health_care_and_it
Wasted resources in healthcare and research. (2012). Testing Treatments interactive. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://www.testingtreatments.org/tt-main-text/assessing-all-the-relevan t-reliable-evidence/what-can-happen-if-all-the-relevant-reliable-evidenc e-is-not-assessed/wasted-resources-in-healthcare-and-research/" http://www.testingtreatments.org/tt-main-text/assessing-all-the-relevant -reliable-evidence/what-can-happen-if-all-the-relevant-reliable-evidence -is-not-assessed/wasted-resources-in-healthcare-and-research/
Zeiger, R. (2010). The biggest wasted resource in health care? You. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://abcnews.go.com/Health/medical-treatment-internet-research-relati onship-doctor/story?id=12888302" \l ".UHJbfcU0XzM" http://abcnews.go.com/Health/medical-treatment-internet-research-relatio …