BHA-FPX4108 Assessment 2 Instructions: Potential Community Health Interventions
Create a 4-6-page analysis for two potential approaches to address a specific health problem in a community of your choosing.
Introduction
Medical education in the United States has been deemed inadequate to properly train health care professionals in public health and prevention (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016). Current medical education systems focus on the treatment of acute medical conditions versus the prevention of diseases (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016). Experts agree that, to improve population health in our country, medical education programs must be redesigned to include new skills and approaches in preventative care; however, the same experts disagree on the best way to do this (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016).
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has developed and proposed a set of core competencies for all health care providers to ensure adequate care and address the health care needs of our communities. These competencies include: providing patient-centered care, working in interdisciplinary teams, employing evidence-based practices, applying quality improvement, and utilizing informatics (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016). Other recommendations have been put forward; however, adoption of these recommendations has been slow to emerge.
In the past, the typical patient care model comprised:
A patient seeking services.
A provider diagnosing and treating an acute concern.
The patient complying with the treatment recommendations or not.
Today, patient engagement and advocacy are increasing in focus. As provider reimbursement methodologies shift to pay for performance and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and patients demand higher-quality services at a lower cost, patient engagement is a critical variable to improved patient outcomes.
The patient engagement framework was developed to assist in the study of patient engagement. The framework consists of five steps and will be examined in this unit (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016):
Inform Me: providers educate patients and help them understand care
Engage Me: providers interact with patients to improve
Empower Me: patients become a part of the care
Partner with Me: the provider and patient partner in shared care
Support my E-Community: the community is included in the network of patient
The above framework illustrates one way in which population health strives to shift our focus from a reactive treatment model to a proactive wellness model (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016). For your future reference, each type of model can be briefly defined as:
Treatment models provide care to patients who exhibit a problem.
Wellness models take proactive steps to prevent development of a problem.
Reference
Nash, D. B., Fabius, R. J., Skoufalos, A., & Clarke, J. L. (2016). Population health: Creating a culture of wellness (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Demonstration of Proficiency
Competency 1: Integrate principles of epidemiology, population health, and community engagement to plan interventions.
Assess how social determinants affect individuals in relation to a specific health problem.
Competency 2: Differentiate and evaluate evidence-based treatment models and prevention models designed to promote wellness and disease management for population health.
Assess an evidence-based treatment model that addresses a health need.
Assess an evidence-based wellness model for preventing development of a future health problem.
Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and respectful of the diversity, dignity, and integrity of others and is consistent with expectations for health care professionals.
Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics. Write following APA style for in-text citation, quotes, and references.
Note: It is recommended that you complete the assessments in this course in the order they are presented.
Preparation
For this assessment, select one of the three specific health-improvement needs you identified in the Analyze Community Health Needs assessment. Once you have selected the health-improvement need you want to focus on, complete the following:
Conduct research on your chosen health improvement need and identify two possible approaches to address the problem in your community
One approach may be the same one that you identified in your Analyze Community Health Needs assessment, or you can select two new approaches.
Research how other communities are addressing your chosen need and locate relevant data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be a good place to start.
Complete the suggested Community Health Strategies activity if you want to check your knowledge about specific models and strategies for community health initiatives such as education, intervention, prevention, and treatment.
Instructions
Examine potential interventions for the health-improvement need you selected during your preparation and compile a 4–6-page analysis. As previously stated, you must report on two possible approaches, one of which may be from those you identified in your Analyze Community Health Needs assessment.
For the purposes of this assessment, each intervention approach must be evidence based. Also, one intervention must be based on a treatment model and the other, a wellness model. For the purposes of this assessment, use these brief definitions when determining which model an intervention would be categorized as:
Treatment models provide care to patients who exhibit a problem.
Wellness models take proactive steps to prevent development of a problem.
Consult the scoring guide to ensure that you are addressing all criteria at the level to which you desire. Include the following in your analysis:
Assess how social determinants affect individuals in relation to a specific health problem.
Restate the specific health-improvement need that you are researching.
Restate the relevant characteristics of the affected community with regards to your chosen health improvement need. Identify the most relevant social determinants with regards to your chosen health need.
How do they impact individuals in the community?
How do these impacts affect the health and ability to seek out treatment of individuals?
What inequities with regards to social determinants exist between specific populations in the community?
Why is it important to acknowledge these inequities when determining interventions to improve a population health issue?
Assess an evidence-based treatment model that addresses a population health need.
Describe an evidence-based treatment model to address the health need.
Be explicit in your descriptions, pointing out the identifying characteristics of the model.
How can you tell that the model belongs in the treatment model category?
Explain why the treatment-based model is a potentially effective intervention for your identified health need. Comment on advantages and disadvantages of the treatment model.
Assess an evidence-based wellness model for preventing development of a future population-health problem.
Describe an evidence-based wellness model to prevent future development of the health problem. Be explicit in your descriptions, pointing out the identifying characteristics of the model.
How can you tell that the model belongs in the wellness model category?
Explain why the wellness-based model is a potentially effective intervention for your identified health need. Comment on advantages and disadvantages of the wellness mode
Potential Community Health Interventions Sample Paper
Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a global health issue that has and is still threatening the health and well-being of communities globally, including Missouri City, Texas. While currently there is no treatment for COVID-19, different strategies exist that can be used to control the pandemic and minimize its impact on the community. This essay evaluates some of those strategies that can be used to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the Missouri City community by exploring several aspects of the intervention, such as the social determinants affecting the people of Missouri City in relation to COVID-19, the appropriate treatment model for the disease and the wellness model suitable for the Missouri City community. Missouri City is a city in Texas, USA, and exists within Houston-The Woodlands metropolitan area. It is mostly in Fort Bend County, with part of its area within Harris County. As of 2019, the city had a population of 74,557 people, residing within 78.72 square kilometers (United States Census Bureau, 2019)
Social Determinants
Social determinants of health are either social or economic conditions that influence the health and wellbeing of a community (Darcis et al. 2020). Social determinants of health exist in two types, namely the physical environment and the social environment. While the COVID-19 disease always includes social determinants, some economic determinants are also available. For instance, the people of Missouri City are outgoing – they engage in various social gathering activities such as church worships, music concerts, and family gatherings. Furthermore, the vibrant city of Missouri has several social places where people gather to engage in different activities such as shopping, drinking and partying. Since COVID-19 is an infectious disease, social distancing is important. However, maintaining social distance is problematic in Missouri City considering humans’ heavy reliance on social interaction.
But considering modern technology, people have different ways of achieving social interaction, such as social media chat and texting. Therefore, peoples’ interaction is limited to virtual interaction. However, various precautions have been made in a physical setting, the most common one being the six-meter rule. This encourages people to keep at least 1.5 meters distance from each other at any given time, thus minimizing the chance of the virus’ transmission (Word Health Organization, 2020). Apart from the social distancing rule, other basic hygiene measures can be used to minimize the spread of COVID-19. These measures include regular hand cleaning with either hand washing or alcoholic hand rubbing agents, regular cleaning of surfaces, and covering one’s mouth when sneezing or coughing.
Moreover, potentially infected individuals are encouraged to test for COVID-19. Early testing is essential because it enables immediate treatment delivery and separation from the rest of the population (Wilder-Smith & Freedman, 2020). Unfortunately, though, some individuals are asymptomatic, and therefore it would be difficult to tell the potentiality of transmitting the disease to others. Typically, asymptomatic individuals are those who have been infected but do not exhibit any symptoms (Afzal et al., 2021). This explains why it is important to maintain social distance.
Apart from being a socially vibrant population, a high proportion of Missourians are affected by various chronic diseases that increase their risk of getting COVID-19 infection. For instance, according to 2011 statistics, 30.2% of Missourians were obese while 34.3% of them had hypertension. Moreover, as per Yun et al. (2013), 39.7% of the Missouri population were diagnosed with high cholesterol, while 1.7% were diagnosed with diabetes. These statistics reveal the extent to which some members of the Missouri community are not only exposed to COVID-19 infection but also experience healthcare burdens that would worsen their health outcomes. The duty of care for those with underlying conditions would worsen if they contract COVID-19, affecting their ability to afford healthcare. There needs to be a COVID-19 prevention model that protects this population from COVID-19.
Treatment Model
Treatment models are useful in treating infections based on the patient’s current situation (Indini et al. 2020). They represent an actual treatment for the disease and are often executed with the consideration of the patient’s current condition. Because the main COVID-19 symptom is fever, most locations conduct a temperature check on people before accessing the premises. This is useful in containing the virus from spreading in public places (Darcis et al. 2020). However, temperature check as a treatment model is not the most efficient way of handling COVID-19. With the increasing number of infections in Missouri City, there needs to be a constant revision of the treatment models to facilitate rapid containment of the disease.
Wellness Model
Wellness models seek to help communities and individuals avoid disease transmission before their health is compromised. As per Wilder-Smith and Freedman (2020), this includes creating public awareness and policy guidelines. Nonetheless, the treatment and wellness models must be integrated and coordinated for the disease to be effectively contained.
Fundamentally, the wellness model seeks to enable community members to take proper actions and precautions towards protecting their health and wellbeing. One of the most critical components of this public awareness, whereby the public is sensitized on the various ways of preventing infection. Furthermore, public awareness encourages people to follow the set guidelines to stay healthy – for example, encouraging people to get tested in case they suspect an infection. But the strategy of early testing is not always effective because, in some cases, an individual may test negative but later get exposed to the virus. Another disadvantage of early testing model is that many testing facilities will not test individuals unless they display symptoms. This is especially an issue because some people are asymptomatic. As such, according to Darcis et al. (2020), the asymptomatic individuals remain untested but go ahead to infect others.
Conclusion
The application of treatment and wellness models is a common and essential strategy for dealing with infectious diseases that threaten the lives of individuals. The models are fundamentally designed and executed to protect the health and wellbeing of both local and international communities. However, as governments and healthcare organizations coordinate to develop treatment and wellness models, the responsibility of containing the diseases ultimately lies on the people – based on their actions and response to the developed models. Social distancing and basic hygiene practices are some of the most common actions that can help contain the spread of COVID-19 in Missouri City. Fortunately, technology has enabled communities and individuals to interact even without being together physically. Most importantly, the community must work together to prevent COVID-19 from causing a decline in their health condition.
References
Afzal, I., Abdul Raheem, R., Rafeeq, N., & Moosa, S. (2021). Contact tracing for containment of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the early phase of the epidemic in the Maldives. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 33(1), 131-133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539520956447
Darcis, G., Vaira, D., & Moutschen, M. (2020). Impact of coronavirus pandemic and containment measures on HIV diagnosis. Epidemiology & Infection, 148. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268820001867
Indini, A., Aschele, C., Cavanna, L., Clerico, M., Daniele, B., Fiorentini, G., … & Grossi, F. (2020). Reorganisation of medical oncology departments during the novel coronavirus disease-19 pandemic: a nationwide Italian survey. European Journal of Cancer, 132, 17-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2020.03.024
Indini, A., Aschele, C., Cavanna, L., Clerico, M., Daniele, B., Fiorentini, G., Fioretto, L., Giordano, M., Montesarchio, V., Ortega, C., Pinotti, G., Scanni, A., Zamagni, C., Blasi, L. & Grossi, F. (2020). Reorganisation of medical oncology departments during the novel coronavirus disease-19 pandemic: a nationwide Italian survey. European Journal of Cancer, 132(), 17–23. doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2020.03.024
United States Census Bureau (2019). 2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files. Retrieved January 4, 2022
Wilder-Smith, A., & Freedman, D. O. (2020). Isolation, quarantine, social distancing and community containment: pivotal role for old-style public health measures in the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak. Journal of travel medicine. https://academic.oup.com/jtm/article/27/2/taaa020/5735321
World Health Organization. (2020). Considerations for quarantine of individuals in the context of containment for coronavirus disease ( COVID-19): interim guidance, 19 March 2020 (No. WHO/2019-nCoV/IHR_Quarantine/2020.2). World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/331497
Yun, S., Kayani, N., Homan, S., Li, J., Pashi, A., McBride, D., & Wilson, J. (2013). The burden of chronic diseases in Missouri: progress and challenges. Missouri medicine, 110(6), 505–511. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179805/
