Shahadat Rahman
English 21003
17 October, 2017
Research Proposal
When most medical students are asked why they
chose to pursue medicine, most of them would give the same response: they want
to save lives. Why else would one dedicate nearly 13 years of their life to
higher education? Yet the American healthcare system poses a host of problems
for doctors when treating patients. The idyllic perception posed by the idea of
helping others is shattered when doctors face the bureaucracy established by
hospital administrations and insurance companies: patients no longer receive
the care they deserve, instead transforming a selfless profession into a game
of money; and doctors are unable to fulfill the Hippocratic oath that defines
them, as they are restricted to treating patients based on insurance policies
that are heavily dependent on one’s wealth. It is crucial for those considering
a career in medicine to realize the problems doctors face with the American
healthcare system, as well as the responsibility of the American people to
offer a solution to the disorganized system. Therefore, how can the American
healthcare system be rectified to mitigate the obstacles doctors face, allowing
them to give better care to patients?
Every
year, nearly 20,000 students are accepted into a medical school; yet when they
become doctors, studies state that approximately 63% of doctors are unhappy
with the medical field (Adams 1). In fact, doctors have the lowest job
satisfaction rate in America and only 54% of doctors would choose medicine
again as a career (Adams 3). After committing nearly 13 years to higher
education, why is it doctors do not realize their dissatisfaction with medicine
sooner? The answer lies not within medicine itself, but in the way medicine is
distributed. Doctors possess little control over how they can treat patients,
with insurance companies playing the biggest role in dictating treatment plans.
Given recent potential legislation regarding American healthcare, the way
doctors help patients could deteriorate rapidly.
To expose the plights in
the American healthcare system and how it restricts doctors, research will be
compiled from a plethora of newspaper articles, science magazines, databases
such as Science Direct, studies from associations such as the American Medical
Association and Mayo Clinic, and most importantly interviews with professionals
who plan on entering or who work in the medical field. The interviews will be
conducted with Najmin Rodriguez—a registered nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital— as
well as Tanjila Hoque — an MD student at NYU Langone medical school— and an
anonymous pediatrician at Bellevue Hospital; the interviews will provide
insight on the challenges medical professionals face when treating patients, as
well as provide comparisons between reality and preconceived notions that
medical students may have about being a doctor. Interviews with patients will
also be included to help understand how they are impacted by the inadequacies
of American healthcare. Journal articles such as “Health Insurance Expansion
Impact on Patients, States, and Providers,” and “Impact of Insurance and
Hospital Ownership on Hospital Length of Stay Among Patients With Ambulatory
Care–Sensitive Conditions” will help elaborate on how healthcare impacts
patient care, as well as address the direct causes of the problems within the
healthcare system. A number of articles will also be utilized to investigate
how the American healthcare system is changing under the new presidential
administration, and what this will spell for doctors and patients. There is an
abundance of research considering the causes and effects of the current and
future healthcare systems, but solutions are scarce; thus, the purpose of this
paper will be to determine feasible solutions to remedy the American healthcare
system in order to aid doctors in treating patients.
This paper will provide
an understanding of the current crisis regarding American healthcare and how it
affects patients, slowly transitioning into how these problems can be remedied
to help doctors. The paper will begin by providing statistics on how doctors
view their profession — what percentage of doctors are dissatisfied with
treating patients — and investigating why there is dissatisfaction within the
medical field. The research will then delve deeper into how hospital
administrations and insurance companies control patient care, ranging from
investigations into hospital budgets and insurance policies to interviews with
healthcare professionals. Even further, the new healthcare system proposed by
Donald Trump will be dissected and the implications will be detailed. An
amalgamation of all previous research will then lead to potential solutions,
including reallocating funds within the federal budget and other methods of
improving healthcare.
Works Cited
Adams, Susan. “Why Do So Many Doctors Regret
Their Job Choice?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 30
Apr. 2012, www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/04/27/why-do-so-many-doctors regret-their-job-choice/#4c146d437fae.
Chang, Lucy. Personal Interview. 17 Oct. 2017
Bundorf, M Kate, et al. “Impact of Managed Care
on the Treatment, Costs, and Outcomes of Fee-for-Service
Medicare Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction.” Health Services Research, Blackwell Science Inc, Feb.
2004, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360998/.
Hoque, Tanjila. Personal Interview. 17
Oct. 2017
Kleinman, Jason. “AM Last Page: Health Insurance
Expansion Impact on... : Academic Medicine.”
LWW, AAMC, journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Citation/2014/02000/AM_Last_Page___Health_In urance_Expansion_Impact.39.aspx.
Mainous,
Arch G., et al. “Impact of Insurance and Hospital Ownership on Hospital Length
of Stay Among Patients With Ambulatory
Care–Sensitive Conditions.” Annals of Family Medicine,
American Academy of Family Physicians, Nov. 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3252189/.
“Medical School Applicants, Enrollees Reach New
Highs.” Association of American Medical Colleges,
www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/446400/applicant-and-enrollment data.html. Rodriguez, Najmin. Personal
Interview. 17 Oct, 2017
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