Challenges Faced by Aboriginals in Canada's Health System

This article discusses the challenges faced by Aboriginals in Canada's health system, including unequal access to healthcare and discrimination in employment opportunities. It also suggests improvements such as Lean manufacturing principles and Electronic Health Records implementation. The article includes three reflection papers on the topic.

Running head: HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 1
Health Administration
Name
Institution

HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 2
Health Administration
Reflection Paper #1
There are a lot of challenges that Aboriginals undergo in Canada, however, there are
some of them I never got a glimpse of until recently when I was involved in a certain community
project. One thing that struck me was the fact that the aboriginals were subjected to unequal
access to Canada’s health system. It is evident that the First Nations people are more vulnerable
to chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS as well as mental illness (Bear, 2017, p. 97). In fact, a
report that was released by the UNICEF in 2009 indicated that the aboriginal children were twice
likely to be hospitalized as a result of preventative illnesses. Consequently, I was shocked to
collect a lot of views suggesting that the aboriginals were denied equal hospital access in
Canada. To me, this was something that seemed ironic for existing Canada’s universal health
care system to be increasingly adorned for its overall quality of care despite the fact that it
remains out of reach for the indigenous people in Canada (Reading, 2018).
Secondly, it was surprising to learn that the aboriginals in Canada were discriminated
when it came to employment opportunities (Reading, 2018). Most of the people that we surveyed
complained about unfairness not only in the access to medical health care but also in the
employment opportunity. Notably, this was something I never expected given the fact that I
would expect people to be treated fairly and based on merits in getting employment. To further
my career, I intended to advocate fairness in society to make sure that people receive equal
opportunities not only in the access to medical care but as well as employment.

HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 3
References List
1. Bear D. From Toques to Tokes: Two challenges facing nationwide legalization of
cannabis in Canada. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2017 Apr 1; 42:97-101.
2. Reading C. Structural determinants of Aboriginal peoples’ health. Determinants of
Indigenous Peoples' Health: Beyond the Social. 2018 Apr 25:1.

HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 4
Reflection Paper #2
The overcrowding of the emergency department in Canada particularly in Ontario has
become a widespread issue. In most cases, the overcrowding is experienced in Ontario given the
fact that it is an urban center with high-volumes of people (McGeorge & Bateman, 2017).
Nonetheless, this is often associated with poor patient experience, especially in the emergency
department. One scenario that I recall was a time I experienced a fall and I was rushed to a
nearby hospital. While I required an immediate medical attention, I waited for nearly two hours
before I was attended to by a nurse. Notably, this reflected what most Ontarians are forced to
undergo in regard to the health care service delivery on a daily basis (McGeorge & Bateman,
2017). Consequently, the overall improvement of the emergency department would work a long
way in the quality of health care services. In essence, an improvement program based on Lean
manufacturing principles would be an important approach to deal with the issue of overcrowding
by reducing the wait time in the health care system.
Secondly, the Canadian health care system can be improved through the implementation
of an Electronic Health Record across the entire of Ontario. While various medical institutions
have already implemented EHR, there are those that have not taken into account the importance
of keeping the patient’s record electronically (Stoddart & Evans, 2017, p. 27). As a result, there
has been a continuing consensus among various medical providers on the improvements that
would be brought along with the implementation of the EHR. Notably, the overall electrical
prescribing is likely to enable the prescribers to best utilize their available time. On the other
hand, prescribing drugs through an electronic database can improve the overall prescribing
practices and thus help in the prevention of dangerous interactions in medical health services. In

HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 5
this light, the implementation of HER would improve the health care services that are offered in
Ontario.

HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 6
References List
1. McGeorge K, Bateman TM. Settling for Mediocrity: Aging and Health Care in New
Brunswick. Journal of New Brunswick Studies/Revue d’études sur le Nouveau-
Brunswick. 2017 Nov 23;8.
2. Stoddart GL, Evans RG. Producing health, consuming health care. InWhy are some
people healthy and others not? 2017 Jul 5 (pp. 27-64). Routledge.

HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 7
Reflection Paper #3
As a health administration student, I have always been fascinated by different topics
especially those that revolve around the provision of quality health care services in the society.
Although I would consider all the presentation interesting especially because it involved medical
care, I found the one on the improvement of health care services more interesting of all. Having
experienced the health care services in Ontario, the issue surrounding overcrowding in hospital
particularly the emergency department is not something that is new to me (Mays & Fitzpatrick,
2018). In this light, I have been a victim of long waiting time in the Canadian health care system
and thus I found the topic more interesting.
One thing that I learned out of this presentation was the fact that there has been an
increasing overcrowding in various health care systems across Canada (Bhatia & Falk, 2018).
Despite the fact that Canada has made a big stride in the overall improvement of the health care
services, I learned that there are still some improvements that need to be made to bolster the
quality of health care services. As an administrative student who aspires to be a leader in the
health care system, I am looking forward to champion the changes that have been identified to
improve the medical care in our local area.

HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 8
References List
1. Bhatia RS, Falk W. Modernizing Canada's Healthcare System Through the Virtualization
of Services. 2018.
2. Mays N, Fitzpatrick R. Assessing Health Care System Performance. Sociology as
Applied to Health and Medicine. 2018:377.