BHA-FPX4108 Assessment 2: 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 patients.
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

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