Population Health As A Unifying Force For Health Care Delivery Systems Essay

The year 2017 saw a lot of changes to the landscape in Metcalfe County and one little lady from Center even put us on the national news. Here are a few highlights.

Prevention and wellness is a key focus in public health services. In Title Four of the PPACA, “prevention interventions are of two key types: services provided to individuals in clinical settings (e.g., cancer screenings), and programs and services provided to communities (e.g., ad campaigns about exercise)” (Redhead & Williams, 2010, p. 30). Many programs have formed in the hope of creating a comprehensive approach to prevention.

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health and wellbeing (Maggie & Scaffa, 2013). It has three key strategies including advocate, enable, and mediate (Tucker, Vanderloo, Irwin, Mandich & Bossers, 2014). Health promotion is through these three strategies that aim to achieve the five actions of the Ottawa Charter which include build healthy public policy; create supportive environments; strength community action; develop personal skills; and reorient health services (Tucker, Vanderloo, Irwin, Mandich & Bossers, 2014). In addition, the values of the health promotion include empowerment; equity and social justice; health as a human right; health as a holistic concept; and respect for cultural diversity (Tucker, Vanderloo, Irwin, Mandich & Bossers, 2014). There are a wide ranges of specific interventions, such as back education program for school children to improve back posture,

Since 1980, the United States has taken on 10-year plans that outline certain key national health objectives set to be accomplished during a 10-year timeframe (Shi & Singh, 2015). These initiatives are founded on medical care with prevention services, health promotion, education, community health care, and increased access to integrated services. The initiative, Healthy People 2010: Healthy People in Healthy Communities, launched in 2000. The initiative emphasizes the role of community partners such as

Measles is virus with a single-stranded RNA and two membranes: a fusion protein that infuses into the host cell membrane and the hemagglutinin protein that absorbs the virus into the cells. The primary site for invasion is in the epithelium of the nares. Measles is highly contagious and very infectious because it is easily transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The virus can stay in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours and infect many people who inhale the infectious agent or touch a surface, then be introduced to a new host through touch to

The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986, defined Health Promotion as being ‘the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health’. There are three key approaches to HP. The first one looks at population subgroups. It is well documented that not all cultures view health as a prime goal. For example, an addict will chose to facilitate his habit over basic sanitary and physical necessities. The ‘population subgroup’ approach looks to focus on targeted solutions for smaller groups

It is crucial to understand what makes a community healthy, as public health is concerned with health promotion of population rather than an individual focus (Department of Health (DOH) 2012). Wanless (2004) defines public health as a “science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting through the organised effort and informed of the society, organisations, communities and individuals”. It focuses on an entire population addressing the health needs of the population, working in a partnership with an individual, communities, health worker, health agencies and

(2012). Health reform and Healthy People initiative. American Journal Of Public Health, 102(1), 30-33. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300312

Permission for conducting the research and using the spring 2016 ACHA-NCHA dataset was granted by the School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan. The project reviewed and approved by the University of Saskatchewan Research Ethics Review Board (REB). A request to obtain Canadian data for the selected variables for this analysis was sent to the ACHA-NCHA. Information regarding the University of Saskatchewan survey was obtained through collaboration with the Student Health Services office within the university campus.

In order for health promotion to achieve its goal, programs that promote and support change have to be implemented before individual health issues arise. The individual based treatment and lifestyle programs that are predominant in Canada often do not contribute to social change and have limited societal effect. The paper by Alvaro entitled “Moving Canadian governmental policies beyond a focus on individual lifestyle: some insights from complexity and critical theories” argues that Canadian health policy is focused on promoting individual lifestyle change and neglects, or to a lesser degree overlooks, societal and economic issues, both of which are factors prevention programs consider. Alvaro argues that governments should refocus their efforts towards programs that remedy societal and economic issues that affect health. This argument is made by referencing reputable studies and sources, employing logical reasoning, and addressing issues that may evoke an emotional response in the public.

To understand the concept of population health, it is first important to understand what defines health. The World Health Organization defines health as “the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1946). This definition implies that the experience of health is a highly personal one and impacted by multiple factors both internal and external to the individual. Population, on the other hand, is defined by Caldwell (1996) as a “large mass of people constituting some kind of definable unit to which measurements pertain” (p.306). Multiple

The population health factors is a subject of extensive discussion within American health care system, nonetheless, few comprehend the bearing to modern health care environment.

Population health improves treatment outcomes among specific patient groups in the community. In the past, there has been a disconnect between technology and clinical practice. This circumstance has made it a challenge to coordinate medical services and resulted in suboptimal treatment outcomes. Population health management helps care provider organizations overcome this barriers by improving patient satisfaction and reducing medical costs.

Fixing problems that face health care in many health facilities demand a system wide set of solutions. The systems used in these facilities must be assessed and redesigned to identify factors that will aid in the achievement of the set goals. The enormous task of achieving the goals should be undertaken collaboratively by all the key stakeholders, who include, health care professionals, planners and policy makers, administrators, payers, and patients and their families. These partnerships must begin with a common understanding of the problems together with a shared commitment to cooperate and work together to eliminate the problems. With this knowledge, therefore, an action plan for redesigning the health care system can be developed and later implemented. For a successful health care service to be realized, there are various factors which should be employed and which are not found in the traditional business setting. These include unique economic processes, proper regulatory requirements and the perfect quality indicators. This creates a need for every leader within the healthcare industry to create or develop unique skill sets that will harmonize both organizational leadership and the inter-professional team development. It is, therefore, important to understand the comprehensive approach to the management of patient care and also how the concepts of team development and organizational leadership support healthcare leaders in creation of a patient-centric

Public health is a huge umbrella term that represent population and within that population is a community. Its primary focus is on population and prevention of diseases and creating healthy communities nationally. It incorporates social, physical, and cultural environments to assist people and their communities (Public Health and Medicine, 2016).