Public Health Reflection Paper

This public health policy paper will discuss and outline the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as well as barriers and controversies surrounding the policy and its relevance in nursing profession. The ACA will eventually affect everyone. Statistics reflecting United States health outcomes have proven the need for the initiation of policy formation within the United States healthcare system. “In March 2010, President Obama signed into law a comprehensive health reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).” (Estes, Chapman, Dodd, Hollister, Harrington, 2013, p. 144) The ACA promotes preventive care—including related services and family planning—that should result in improved health outcomes and

The invaluable skills that I have gained and learned through my after school clubs, Future Business Leaders of America, (FBLA) and National Honor Society( NHS), has stirred up a desire in me to help my community and to make a difference in the lives of people, by majoring in the Public Health field. Through Public Health, I will help those in my community at large to live healthy lives; mentally, socially, physically and culturally. Healthcare is an essential need in life and is a great field that would allow me to make a difference.

The healthcare sector offers a variety of professional opportunities that include pediatric, geriatrics, public policy and many other areas in which I hope to make a impact towards. I have always been intrigued by medicine and continue to gain more interest in public health. In the future, I desire to combine both medicine and public health by participating in an MD and MPH program. My experiences and education provide me with constant motivation in achieving my goals.

Public health has the interests of the public at its core. According to the Department of Health (DoH) (2012) Public health is concerned with prevention and therefore encourages people to ‘stay healthy’ and ‘avoid getting ill’.

While both medical care and public health work to improve the lives of many people, there are several distinctions between the two fields. Healthcare providers such as nurses and doctors are responsible for diagnosing and treating illnesses for individual patients. The care ranges from minor injuries to severe and chronic diseases. Meanwhile, public health strives to improve the well-being of a population. Public health advocates for the overall “promotion and prevention” of diseases before it even becomes an issue for healthcare providers. Public health encourages people to adopt healthy lifestyle choices and strives to control the outbreak of diseases. Although public health is often overlooked in the grand scale of medical care, it is undoubtedly the main aspect in ensuring that the overall health of a community is prospering.

I first realized my passion for health promotion and disease prevention the summer following my first year of college. I had the privilege of attending the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP), which introduced me to numerous healthcare professionals. During the program, many of the professionals shared their stories about why they choose the profession, and with each story, I began to reflect deeply on my own background and what drew me to medicine. It was not until an emergency medicine physician spoke about his experiences, that allowed me to fully understand connecting my background to my future. The physician mentioned growing up in D.C., which brought to mind my family in D.C. It had been almost a year since my grandmother

Obesity was significantly more prevalent amongst female African Americans in this community. With the highest rate affecting women between the ages of 45 to 64. Obesity was also higher amongst Black females who’s educational attainment was lower

After reviewing this article, I have determined that the dimensions of health involved with this issue are physical, environmental, and intellectual. For starters, this issue affects a person's physical health because it causes the body to deteriorate until eventually the person dies. Those who become addicted fail to take proper care of their body with healthy products but rather ingest harmful ones. Another dimension involved is environmental because depending where a person lives will depend how accessible these painkillers are. In an area where a doctor over prescribes painkillers, or people illegally sell painkillers, there should be a higher addiction rate because painkillers are easier to obtain. The final dimension involved

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" (1920, C.E.A. Winslow). This therefore infers public health is the preventing and controlling of disease within communities, to prolong life and promote health through organised society. The keys aspects of public health …

Public health is positioned as one in light of the fact that public health is central to 21st century medicinal services and shares the same general objectives as whatever is left of the health care framework - lessening sudden death and minimizing the impacts of ailment, incapacity, and damage furthermore gives financial and social advantages to the area, due to some degree to expanded profit.

The purpose of this essay is to define public health and compare it to personal health, also a discussion of benefits and disadvantages of public health. The following questions will also be answered: What are the benefits of public health assessments? What are the disadvantages, if any? Give an example of a potential conflict within the community that could arise as a result of public health assessments. How can public health advocates and policy makers prevent and/or manage such a conflict? How can public health assessments be used to form public policy? Additionally, this paper will debate the how the community has or will be affected by the smoking in public places laws.

I was drawn to the idea of not only focusing on one-on-one patient care that doctors provide, but also solving problems that affect the health of entire populations. The study of disease and health within populations; for instance, preventing disease, promoting health, and reducing health problems between groups are the main reasons I want to pursue an M.P.H focusing on epidemiology. These are my strongest interests because I believe they are important in improving our world’s health.

Under public health, an ideal healthcare system will ensure that the members of the society remain healthy and this will require prevention of injuries and diseases as well as health promotion and provision of coordinated, effective and timely healthcare. To achieve lasting and substantial improvements in public health, a common goal alignment will be of great important. A clear cut integration of public health and primary care will improve the capacity of the healthcare system in carrying out respective missions and linking it with other stakeholders in the promotion of collaborative ward improved health of the community.

Public health is a dynamic field of medicine that is concerned primarily with improving the health of populations rather than just the health of individuals. Winslow (1920) defined public health as;

The Women’s Health Issues course this semester have been interesting and informative. I gained great perspective on health topics affecting women’s health status and ways biological and social factors put women at a higher stake for health issues. One of the most important thing I am taking away from this class is the importances of understanding women’s health, as a Public Health student women’s health has been a topic of interest for a long time. Coming from a developing country where many women grapple with health issues from discrimination and prescribed roles, it has been important for me to take this class and to have better understanding on health disparities that exist globally between women and men. In the following paragraphs I