GoReact Video Reflection for DO25

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School

Western Governors University *

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Course

025

Subject

Health Science

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

2

Uploaded by PrivatePower11284

Report
One of the insights I gained from researching and planning policy advocacy is how little I knew about the county I live in. When researching Upshur County, in East Texas, I was surprised to find out how many social determinates of health there are for this community. Upshur County, Texas, has some of the worst health outcomes in the state of Texas. Access to healthcare in this area is drastically lower than most other areas, which makes all the other social determinates of health that much higher, including premature deaths with cancer being the highest. I was surprised to find that the Unites Sates patient to non-physician providers ratio, like Nurse Practitioner, is around 800:1 where in my county the number is an unbelievable 6,960 patients to one NP. I also had difficulty with narrowing done what I wanted to address in my SMART goals to make it meaningful and realistic. It was difficult to come up with a measurable and specific goal that would be attainable. Finding contacts for my specific policy advocacy plan was also a challenge, having to narrow down the many contacts, then finding ones that understand the healthcare access challenges in this county. There are not many local government contacts that have a healthcare background, so some may not understand the importance of bringing in not only more physicians, where the focus appears to be, but non-physician providers as well. I was surprised to find there are many grants, tuition reimbursements, and low interest loans available to non-physician providers that are available for rural areas that need to be more accessible and advertised in rural areas. Getting involve in my community is something I would really be interested in. I would really like to get involved and to help advocate for change on some of the glaringly obvious issues effecting healthcare today. I would start by going the town council meeting to hear what
their focuses are and get to know members of the community. Getting to know my community and what is important to them would be the first step in finding out what the true barriers are for the community to gain access to healthcare. My goal would be to share healthcare needs from a nurse perspective with the hope that it would help encourage progress in getting people the access to the care they need.
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