USD HSC 310 Reflection

By Anthony Lund

I took the Health Care Delivery course because it was a prerequisite class to obtain my Bachelors of Science in Health Sciences with Paramedic Specialization. I took the Paramedic classes first because at that time, I was not planning on continuing my college education. After graduating from the Paramedic Program through USD and Sanford Health, my wife and I decided that I should just keep going and get my bachelors degree, then see if it is still feasible to continue on in another specialty. When I signed up for this class, I wasn’t really sure what I would be learning about. To me, Health Care Delivery seemed kind of vague, especially after just completing paramedic school.

I believe that my main takeaways from this class include: learning about the evolution of health services in the United States, learning how attempts are being made in making health insurance affordable, and learning about the different services and facilities that are available for inpatients.

I think that it is amazing looking back and seeing how far health services have come. To think that in the post Civil War era, an individual did not need any specific training to become a physician, they just had to want to do it. In this day in age, it takes many years of classes, residency, board exams, and licensing to be able to practice medicine. Medicine has also come along way from bleeding, purging, and using diuretics and emetics to heal, to being able to have many labs performed, a MRI, or even X-rays. Also coming from almshouses and pesthouses, to big, all inclusive hospitals.

I also enjoyed learning about health insurance and how it has grown and evolved over the years. It was nice learning more about Medicare and Medicaid, since that is going to be a huge factor in my upcoming health profession. I am also glad that I was able to learn a lot more about the Affordable Care Act and how it’s impact has been on the health care system. Although the United States is trying to make health care more affordable and accessible, there is still a lot of room for improvement to be able to get this to all Americans.

I really enjoyed learning about the transformation of hospitals from the early days of admitting people for extensive stays to today, where knowledge and technology has allowed patients to have a relatively short stay, if any. I liked learning that outpatient services are allowing a better turnover in hospitals so that they aren’t always overburdened. I also enjoyed learning the subtle differences in for-profit and nonprofit hospitals, and how each can help patients in their own way. The emergence of specialty hospitals has also made a big impact on patient care because the patients can go to these hospitals and know that they are going to places that specialize in what they are doing.

I firmly believe that this class has helped me by opening my eyes and seeing how the health field is basically run. This will help me in my personal life because I will know my options a little better and hopefully make better choices for me and my family. I also believe that as a paramedic, and wherever my schooling takes me, I will have more insight on how my patients needs will be met. Either by which hospital to take/refer them to, how to advise them on insurance options, and to help them make overall better choices about their care. I also believe that this class will serve as a great starting block to build from for the rest of my classes because of the wide array of knowledge that we have learned.