Chances are there`s a hospital near your home or workplace, one you find so familiar that you hardly notice it when passing by. Although it`s seemingly melted into the background scenery, that hospital represents a focal point of major changes in how you`ll obtain your health care in the coming years.
At hospitals all over the country, occupancy rates–the number of patients admitted to the hospital–have fallen off drastically. In part, this reflects the evolution in the way we obtain health care. For many conditions that once required a patient to be hospitalized, individuals increasingly are being treated in doctors` offices or as ”out-patients” at hospitals.
Federal regulations aimed at slowing the explosive growth in health care costs also have put the brakes on hospital occupancy rates. The average hospital in this country has one-third of its beds empty.
The hospital industry is feeling the effects of this decline, especially since it has taken place over a relatively short period of time. Many hospitals are adjusting their traditional roles in the community and offering new medical and surgical services to make up for the shortfall.
Overall, 1.5 million fewer patients were admitted to hospitals in 1984 than in 1983. In recent data from the American Hospital Association, the average stay in the hospital also went down–from 7 days in 1983 to 6.7 in 1984.
As hospitals continue to respond to these pressures, it will mean changes for you and the health care available to you (and there`s simply no telling in what ways).
Dear Dr. Johnson: Can you tell me more about the new drug that helps dissolve fats and cholesterol in the arteries? I believe it is called TPA.
TPA stands for tissue plasminogen activator, a substance that can help to dissolve blood clots. TPA (which is naturally occurring but also can be produced synthetically) does not dissolve fat or cholesterol that has been deposited over a long period of time in the arteries.
The use of TPA for treating acute heart attacks still is considered experimental. In practice, it must be given within hours to dissolve the blood clot that might and often does occur in an already narrowed artery (and leads to the actual heart attack).
Dear Readers: Consider the numbers.
In 1905, the world`s population was 1.7 billion and growing by about 9 million persons a year. In 1985, the world`s population is 4.8 billion and growing by 78 million per year.
By 2005, world population is expected to reach 6.6 billion, which represents nearly a fourfold increase during this century.
The incidence of diabetes is climbing by about 6 percent a year in the United States; however, through proper diet, exercise and medication, a normal or near-normal lifestyle is possible. Up-to-date information is provided in Dr. Johnson`s booklet. For a copy, send $2.25 to Diabetes, P.O. Box 533, Palmyra, N.J. 08065. Make checks payable to Newspaperbooks.
