The impact of managed care on female caregivers in the hospital and home.
This article explores the connection between layoffs of nursing staff in hospitals, replacement of nurses with poorly trained aides, and the increasing burden on female family caregivers. It also discusses the centerpiece of managed care's cost containment efforts--reduced use of the hospital and earlier discharge of patients to the home. The article argues that these policies add to an increasing burden of care on female family caregivers and that US family policy does not support family caregiving. Finally, it recommends rigorous research to assess the social, emotional, and financial costs of nursing layoffs on nurses themselves as well as on female family caregivers.
Gordon
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D017028:Caregivers; D003363:Cost Control; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D006754:Hospital Restructuring; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000600:supply & distribution / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce