ILROB 671: Work, Health, & Health Care
Funded by a dean's grant colleagues the from ILR's resident and extension divisions; Bill Sonnenstuhl (OB), Michele Williams (OB), Rebecca Givan (CB), Tony Ruiz (Extension), Linda Gasser (OB), Nellie Brown (Extension), Arthur Wheaton (Extension), Stuart Basefsky (ILR library), and Sangchan Park (OB) closely collaborated to develop the course. While the course will be team taught, drawing on the different disciplinary expertise and skills of the group members, Bill Sonnenstuhl will act as professor of record, providing some of the lectures and providing continuity from one class to the next. The course is open to graduate students and seniors with my permission.
In the United States, work, health, and health care are intimately entwined. Americans, excluding those eligible for Medicaid and Medicare, are insured through their employers. Yet, approximately 46 million people remain uninsured. Work also exerts direct effects upon employees physical and emotional health. Unhealthy working conditions, for instance, are contributing factors to high rates of cancer, cardio vascular disease, and alcoholism. At the same time, work organizations contribute directly to maintaining and enhancing employee health through a variety of medical programs, including wellness, employee assistance, and disability programming.
Currently, the health care industry is the fastest growing segment of the U.S economy. As it expands, more people doctors, nurses, administrators, salesmen, carpenters, janitors, etc will be employed in this sector, precipitating an even greater need to understand the evolving labor-management relations in these unique work settings, where the economics of care and the promotion of healthy lives are often at odds.
While the first half of the course will focus on the U. S, the second half will shift to an international comparative analysis of work, health, and health care in other countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Korea. Americans, for instance, believe that their health care system is the best in the world and are surprised to discover that the World Health Organization ranks it 24th, right behind Slovenia.
Topics to be discussed include:
- How does business shape health care?
- How are definitions of health and illness constructed by the interplay of work organizations, government agencies, health care providers, insurance companies, and the pharmaceutical industry?
- How does work affect employees physical and emotional health?
- What can work organizations do to promote and sustain a healthy workforce?
- How can employees better navigate the system of health care organizations to insure their own health and that of family members?
- What is it like to work in the health care industry?
- How do health care workers exercise control over their work?
- How does the American health care system compare to those in other nations?
SUGGESTED WEB SITES & LINKS
Work, Health, and Health Care
United States Sources
Associations/Institutes
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
FAQs About Benefits, Health Spending and Insurance Issues
Kaiser Family Foundation
Kaiser Family Foundation
Kaisernetwork.org
Reference Links
StateHealthFacts.org
Government
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
Bureau of Health Professions
National Center for Health Workforce Analysis Reports
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Workplace Injury, Illness and Fatality Statistics
Census Bureau
Health Insurance
Health Care and Social Assistance (Scroll way down for data)
Disability Data
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention
CDC WONDER - Public Health Statistics
National Center for Health Statistics
National Center for Health Statistics
National Library of Medicine
Toxseek
Key Documents (agencies vary)
Health United States
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) materials dealing with HEALTH
Congressional Research Service
An Overview of the U.S. Public Health System in the Context of Emergency Preparedness Updated March 17, 2005
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Occupational Health and Safety Data and Statistics
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)
OSHA Inspection Statistics
International & Comparative Information & Data
Associations/Institutes
Bertelsmann Foundation
International Reform Monitor Database
Eldis
Eldis - Health Systems Resource Guide (Developing Countries)
Also -- Health Resource Guide
Kaiser Family Foundation
GlobalHealthFacts.org
International Inter-Governmental Organizations
European Agency for Health and Safety at Work
European Commission
Health-EU Portal
Describing National Health Systems
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
European Working Conditions Observatory HEALTH and Well Being
International Labour Organization (ILO)
ILO - InFocus Programme on Safety and Health at Work and the Environment
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Health
Statistics
Publications
Information by Country
Key OECD Health Publications
World Health Organization (WHO)
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
Occupational Health