How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review

Aim To assess how differences in structure and funding of health care systems in the UK and USA impact on the delivery and quality of end of life care. Background An increasingly ageing population results in the experience of dying becoming part of normal healthcare delivery. The structure and fu...

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Main Author: Eggertsen, Alyssa
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2011
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24780/
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author Eggertsen, Alyssa
author_facet Eggertsen, Alyssa
author_sort Eggertsen, Alyssa
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Aim To assess how differences in structure and funding of health care systems in the UK and USA impact on the delivery and quality of end of life care. Background An increasingly ageing population results in the experience of dying becoming part of normal healthcare delivery. The structure and funding of each healthcare system is very different. The UK healthcare system is available to all through taxation of the public. The US healthcare system is based on individual insurance policies and private medicine. Due to government changes in each country, both healthcare systems are experiencing transformations in the structure and organisation of healthcare. Method A critical review was the chosen method and a variety of databases were used providing a range of sources and types of literature. Findings The majority of people in the UK and the US die in hospitals despite the preferred place of death being at home. The USA spends more of their GDP on healthcare each year compared to the UK. The UK provides universal healthcare compared to the USA providing varied healthcare on the ability to pay. The use of hospice care is also varied in each system. Advance directives are used more in practice in the USA, whereas the uses of such documents in the UK have not been widely used until recent years. Finally, the ideology of healthcare and end of life care also differ between the two cultures in the US and the UK. Conclusion There is no clear result or healthcare system that is better at delivering end of life care. Thus funding and organization of a healthcare system is not a very good indicator of good end of life care. Instead, other factors, including ideology, complexity of systems, and limitations of delivering care, influence good end of life care in practice. Therefore, the practice of nursing patients at the end of life is very complex.
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spelling nottingham-247802017-12-21T22:47:25Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24780/ How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review Eggertsen, Alyssa Aim To assess how differences in structure and funding of health care systems in the UK and USA impact on the delivery and quality of end of life care. Background An increasingly ageing population results in the experience of dying becoming part of normal healthcare delivery. The structure and funding of each healthcare system is very different. The UK healthcare system is available to all through taxation of the public. The US healthcare system is based on individual insurance policies and private medicine. Due to government changes in each country, both healthcare systems are experiencing transformations in the structure and organisation of healthcare. Method A critical review was the chosen method and a variety of databases were used providing a range of sources and types of literature. Findings The majority of people in the UK and the US die in hospitals despite the preferred place of death being at home. The USA spends more of their GDP on healthcare each year compared to the UK. The UK provides universal healthcare compared to the USA providing varied healthcare on the ability to pay. The use of hospice care is also varied in each system. Advance directives are used more in practice in the USA, whereas the uses of such documents in the UK have not been widely used until recent years. Finally, the ideology of healthcare and end of life care also differ between the two cultures in the US and the UK. Conclusion There is no clear result or healthcare system that is better at delivering end of life care. Thus funding and organization of a healthcare system is not a very good indicator of good end of life care. Instead, other factors, including ideology, complexity of systems, and limitations of delivering care, influence good end of life care in practice. Therefore, the practice of nursing patients at the end of life is very complex. 2011 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24780/1/Final_Draft-_edited.pdf Eggertsen, Alyssa (2011) How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)
spellingShingle Eggertsen, Alyssa
How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review
title How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review
title_full How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review
title_fullStr How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review
title_full_unstemmed How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review
title_short How the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the UK and the USA, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a Critical Review
title_sort how the differences in structure and funding of healthcare systems, in the uk and the usa, impact on the delivery of end of life care: a critical review
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24780/