Respite Care

Examples of Respite Care in the following topics:

• The "Sandwich Generation" and Elder Care

  • This broad term encompasses such services as assisted living, adult day care, long-term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and in-home care.
  • For example, many countries in Asia use government-established elderly care quite infrequently, preferring the traditional methods of being cared for by younger generations of family members.
  • One relatively new service in the United States that can help keep the elderly in their homes longer is respite care.
  • This type of care allows caregivers the opportunity to go on vacation or a business trip and know that their elder has good quality temporary care.
  • Another unique type of care cropping in U.S. hospitals is called acute care of elder units, or ACE units, which provide "a homelike setting" within a medical center specifically for the elderly.

• Day Care

  • Day care, in which children are cared for by a person other than their legal guardians, contributes to their socialization.
  • Examples of day care range from the next door neighbor watching one's children to hiring a babysitter to large day care facilities that resemble preschools.
  • Child care is provided in nurseries or crèches, or by a nanny or family child care provider caring for children in their own homes.
  • The day care industry is a continuum from personal parental care to large, regulated institutions.
  • Some advocate that day care is inherently inferior to parental care.

• Child Care

  • Child care involves caring for and supervising a child or children, usually from infancy to age thirteen.
  • The majority of child care institutions that are available require that child care providers have extensive training in first aid and are CPR certified.
  • If a parent or extended family is unable to care for the children, orphanages and foster homes are a way of providing for children's care, housing, and schooling.
  • The two main types of child care options are center-based care and home-based care.
  • Analyze the different types of child care in the United States, from parental care to center-based care

• Gender Inequality in Health Care

  • Gender discrimination in health care manifests itself primarily as the difference that men and women pay for their insurance premium.
  • Gender discrimination in health care could be changing in the United States.
  • In the context of the 2012 contraceptive mandate debate, health care professionals' assessments that contraception is an integral component for women's health care, regardless of sexual activity, went largely unaddressed.
  • This bill is seen as a vital step in combating gender inequalities in the health care system.
  • Identify three ways in which gender inequality in health care manifests itself in the United States

• Physicians, Nurses, and Patients

  • The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or other health care provider.
  • The U.S. physicians are an important part of the health care in the United States.
  • The profession combines physical science, social science, nursing theory, and technology in caring for those individuals.
  • A patient is any recipient of health care services.
  • Patients' satisfaction with an encounter with health care service is mainly dependent on the duration and efficiency of care, and how empathetic and communicable the health care providers are.

• Paying for Medical Care

  • As noted in the previous section, disparities in health care are often related to an individual's or a group's ability to pay for health care.
  • As the health care recipient is not directly involved in payment of health care services and products, they are less likely to scrutinize or negotiate the costs of the health care they receive.
  • An alternative to private health insurance and the free-market approach to health care is publicly funded health care.
  • Publicly funded health care facilitates the creation of uniform standards of care.
  • Health care workers' pay is often not related to quality or speed of care.

• Health Insurance

  • In 2001, the United States government spent $4,887 per person on health care.
  • One explanation for the higher health care costs in the U.S. is the billing approach.
  • Modern medicine approaches health care from two angles.
  • This second method typically focuses on preventative care.
  • Across the country, American workers, their families, and small businesses are struggling with rising health care costs and policies that put quality, affordable care out of reach.

• Aging

  • As people grow older, they become less self-sufficient in terms of taking care of their own finances, health, and general day-to-day needs and obligations.
  • The rest of society typically assumes some level of responsibility in ensuring that the elderly are cared for.
  • The various forms that elderly care services can take include assisted living, adult day care, long-term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and in-home care.
  • The different institutions can further be classified as medical (skilled) care and non-medical (social) care.
  • While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is supposed to address many issues confronting the healthcare sector today, the rising cost of healthcare remains a national problem, as patients are paying more in order to receive the same care as before.

• Health Disparities

  • While technology has advanced the practice of medicine and generally improved health, not all people have the same access to health care or the same quality of health care.
  • Lack of a regular source of care.
  • The Institute of Medicine in the United States says fragmentation of the U.S. health care delivery and financing system is a barrier to accessing care.
  • Lack of diversity in the health care workforce.
  • Cultural differences between predominantly white health care providers and minority patients is also often cited as a barrier to health care.

• Preventing Illness

  • Preventive medicine, or preventive care, refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms.
  • Preventive medicine, or preventive care, refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms.
  • Preventive care may include examinations and screening tests tailored to an individual's age, health, and family history.
  • Since preventive medicine deals with healthy individuals or populations, the costs and potential harms from interventions need even more careful examination than in treatment.
  • For instance, intrauterine devices (IUD) are highly effective and highly cost effective contraceptives, however where universal health care is not available the initial cost may be a barrier.