Historical Development of Hospitals in Canada - Essay Example

"Historical Development of Hospitals in Canada" is a great example of a paper on the health system.
Rising from institutions of charity, the Canadian hospital system was geared towards the treatment of the indigent part of the Canadian population all the way to the early part of the 2oth century, especially to support treatment of a host of public illnesses, including tuberculosis and scurvy. From this time on to the 1960s and the 1970s, the Canadian government orchestrated the progress and evolution of Canadian hospitals, wielding a heavy hand in minute aspects of the management of the public hospital system, through legislation and direct intervention in funding and sourcing of supplies and services. This has been the case all the way to the present, with effective control of the system evident in the provision of adequate budgets being provided to public hospitals from the provincial governments, and services ranging from basic care to advanced care of many serious diseases, to research and education, to staffing (Historica-Dominion, 2012).

The heavy hand of government seems to be a good thing in Canada, and the effective management of the system is evident in the quality and breadth of care services provided by the Canadian public hospital system, sustainable through the funding provided by the government as well. This is in contrast to the American hospital system and healthcare system in general, which has been deemed as in a crisis state for some time now. From these perspectives of sustainability, quality of care, and quality of overall management, one can easily make the judgment that it is the Canadian hospital system that is superior and more effective in providing care, and that the US hospital system needs an overhaul in contrast  (Historica-Dominion, 2012; PBS, n.d.; National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, 2012;  Markel, 2008).