Not to bore you, but.... here is what's been on my mind today.
Healthy People 2010 is a comprehensive group of health objectives for the nation to achieve over ten years. Hopefully. It's suppose to show how we have progressed in public health and medicine; as well as clearly state objectives to bring better health to everyone in the U.S. I first learned about Healthy People 2010 way back in nursing school(8 years ago!). Reading and studying health initiatives the Dept of HHS had developed for the year 2010 seemed so far away. But now, 2010 is here. (Although, it doesn't seem that long ago when I was reading the Healthy People goals.)
The objective that came to the forefront of my mind today is one aimed at reducing the number of maternal deaths. I discovered today that Dad's boss's daughter died suddenly immediately post-partum in the hospital this weekend. This is a horribly tragic event for anyone to encounter. As a labor and delivery nurse (or anyone, really), you hope this will never happen. But it does. Thankfully, not often. I certainly will never forget the handful of patients I have helped care for that ended in a maternal death. That just stays with you, I suppose.
In 1999, there were 9.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in the U.S. The goal for 2010 was to reduce the number to 4.3 deaths/100,000 live births. The 2010 stats haven't been released yet, but the most recent numbers show that we now have 15.1 deaths/100,000. What's worse, black women have a rate of 36.5 deaths/100,000 births (!). WTF. Clearly, we are sucking it up on this particular health objective. But why? We're one of the most advanced nations in the world. We have excellent medical and obstetrical services here. Why can't we save more of our moms from dying? I could bore you some more with my opinions on this matter, but I won't. I'll just keep it simple and say, 'God only knows why it is the way it is.' ....And if that's the case-- God, can you please read the Healthy People 2010 initiatives? We're trying to reduce the bad-ness and improve outcomes. Can you help us out here? Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment