Public Health Essay #2 (Essay Sample)

Public Health
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
 
Public Health
Part One: The gap between the mission of public health and current public health practice
The mission of the public health can be defined as the extent to which the services, programs, policies, as well as research for the population enhance the desired health conditions and outcomes in which the population can be and remain healthy in all aspects. The quality of the public health is the extent to which the services, programs, research and policies for the people foster the desired health conditions and outcomes in which the individuals can be healthy. The mission of public health is thus supposed to take care of all the population regardless of race or ethnicity so as to enable the public health system to improve the quality of health care to attain the health outcomes of the population that are improved. The outcomes can be scrutinized basing on the impact, improvability and practice variability (Kolbe, 2014). The effect can be seen as the extent of essential improvements in the population safety, health quality, equity and health in general that could result from changes in public health. The improvability is the potential for the changes that would lead to a desired health. Variability of practice is the potential for standardizing the sectors where there is a broad variability in practice and where the gaps that exist between the knowledge and current practice, best practices or evidence can be closed without hindrance to innovation.
However, there is a significant gap between the public health mission and the current health care practices because the current practices do not reflect what is really in the mission. For instance, there are disparities based on the race and ethnic minority groups. For example, the disabled are usually in ill health, they use a lot of tobacco, they forego physical activities and they are likely to be obese. The black are also more liable to be given low-quality medical attention with lower rates of screening compared to their white counterparts (Heller, 2012). There are also cases of wasting of the health care resources such as funds; there are also cases of lack of transparency when it comes to allocation of resources.
Part Two: Advantages of intersectoral approach to addressing the issues of public health
The health of a nation is the responsibility of everyone and thus, the intersectoral approach is the joint action among the sector of health and the other groups so as to enhance the outcomes of health. The approach has a lot of advantages; at the federal level, the intersectoral approach develops a climate that improves health by offering leadership and coordination (Fielding, 2013). It encourages the provincial, national and territorial collaboration, giving the public the required tools and information, as well as developing infrastructure to institutionalize the public health policies. At the territorial and provincial level, the approach enhances collaboration across the sectors of government and ministries to develop the health goals, public policies as well as accountability. It also balances the investment in the health sector and offer regular information to the public regarding the status of health. The private sector can provide a healthy and safe environment for working, which can contribute to the overall well-being of the community. It can also provide opportunities for continuous learning as well as protect the environment (Fink, 2013). At the local level, the communities can focus on the determinants of health, sharing resources and information, providing and providing high-quality services as well as participate in program implementation. Lastly through intersectoral approach, the individuals can contribute by taking charge of their own wellbeing and health. They can actively seek for the information required for informed health decisions and build the communities that are supportive. The individuals can also take part in the activities of the community that influence health.
Part Three: The difficulty in expansion of health education programs in the US
It has not been any easy to expand the health education programs in the US because of the internal and the external challenges. The internal issues entail the focus on the disease to the behavior relative exclusion, outpatient versus the inpatient education, as well as the effects of the faculty that primarily focuses its research at the sub-molecular or molecular level.
The external factors encompass the growth in knowledge that is exponential, and that associated with the disruptive technologic innovations and changes in the society. Addressing such challenges calls for a decisive leadership of the institutions with an eye far beyond 2020 (Fielding, 2013). Precisely, the external factors usually represent a more difficult challenge because they are beyond the control of the individual institutions. As such, they are not well defined, and they need the establishment of the strategies that are adequately flexible to adapt the change. They are beyond the direct control of any institution. Advancing the medical education mission requires the institutional leadership to address both the external and internal challenges but with vivid vision.
Part Four: Population-Based Medicine and its role in current health care crisis
The population-based medicine is one of the fundamental notions of the managed care. It is defined as the approach that permits an individual to assess the status of health as well as to evaluate the needs of health of a target population, assess and implement the interventions that are designed to foster and enhance the health and wellness of that population. It effectively and efficiently offers care for that population members in a way that is consisted with the culture of the community, health values, as well as health. Most individuals in the sector of health care have cast off the fear that the population-based medicine implies cookie-cutter insensitivity to the individual needs of patients (Heller, 2012). The population-based medicine plays a significant role in the health crisis by adding another dimension as people benefit from the developed guidelines for the populations to which they belong. It has improved the quality of care, and it has also reduced the costs of medical attention.
Part Five: Public Health Business Plan
In the current turbulent and the financially stressful time, the leaders of public health need the skills of business planning and thus become civic entrepreneurs who can manage and finance the programs creatively using the savvy of the business school. The plan focuses on developing of the civic entrepreneurs who can enhance the effectiveness and the efficiency of the public health sector. The leaders write the public health business plans to meet the requirements in their communities (Kolbe, 2014). The business plan is majorly a tool for learning that makes the leaders to synthesize and integrate their new knowledge and skills in the fields such as team management, data creation or assessment, budgeting, planning, as well as writing and making presentations. It also enables them to make the financial assumptions and analyze the market for the programs of public health. Additionally, the leaders use their business plans to handle the real health challenges of their society within the context of the real organization.
 
References
Fielding, J. (2013). Public health practice: What works. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fink, A. (2013). Evidence-based public health practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Heller, R. (2012). Evidence for population health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kolbe, L. (2014). Developing the Plan of Action to the Institutionalize Comprehensive School Health Education Programs in the United States. Journal of School Health, 12-13.