Population Health Analysis - Essay Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Population Health Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2009 Population Health Introduction Population health is defined by health outcomes and the distribution of these outcomes in a group of people. It is a way of approaching health with the idea of developing it in the entire population. In achieving this, health inequalities should be discouraged between groups in a population. Population health aims to go beyond the level of public health and medicine by dealing with a wide range of factors that affect the health of a population. Examples of these factors are social structure, environment and the distribution of resources (Deakins University 1992). The purpose of this paper is to discuss population health issues that relate to access to health care for people living in rural communities. This paper will briefly summarize the current situation in Australia and examine the effectiveness of current strategies to ensure health equity for those living in rural areas. Difficulties in Accessing Health Services in Rural Areas and Remote Australia Health facilities in rural areas and remote Australia are mostly inaccessible because they are located in far place from the community who need the service. There are no modes of transportation in these areas and if any, the passengers are overcharged by the practitioners in the transport sector making it hard for poor community to use the services. Also, there is scarcity of hospitals and dispensaries in these areas. People need to travel to urban areas in most cases there is only one health care in a rural area and this results in overcrowding and many patients do not access the services resulting in deaths (Edelman 2005). Health care cannot operate without the service providers. These are the trained health care professionals who deliver health services to the people. For instance, doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and medical laboratory staffs. These professionals can either be self-employed or employees in an organization. Rural areas health cares lack enough numbers of health care providers. These makes it hard to attend to all patients and in cases where they try to attend to all patients, they end up not delivering quality services as they are tired. Health care system requires adequate funds so as to be able to pay the service providers and to meet its standards. There are usually basically five major methods of financing health care systems: paying directly, general taxation, insurance for social health, voluntary or personal health insurance, and insurance for community health. Rural health care services lack funds needed in operation and in purchasing machinery such as computed tomography (CT) for scanning and X-rays machines as they tend to be forgotten and are not funded because they are located in remote areas. Most rural people are not aware of the dangers of some diseases and how to prevent them as they lack education. Most health information is published and it’s hard for them to access the information as they are illiterate. Lack of health information like, determining the importance of a balanced diet, how to prevent some diseases and even how to cure them to the rural people encourages disease attack and spread. This is due to the high poverty levels in these areas and also lack of education institutions. Lack of education has also contributed to lack of enough health care providers as there are no qualified health care providers in these areas (Edelman 2005). Increased level of poverty in rural areas and remote Australia’s makes it hard for local people to access the health care services. Services are provided at a very high cost especially in private health cares making it hard for the residents to access the services. Lack of employment has contributed to the high poverty levels in these areas and lack of education as well. There are various modes of payment used in paying the health care providers in rural areas and remote Australia. The main one is known as fee for service whereby they are paid based on the service they provide. The other one is capitation payment system where the service providers are paid for each patient on their list considering their age and gender. This system is used in Italy, the United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden but it’s mostly used in managed care environments in the United States (Scheck 2003). However, this method is not appropriate as the service provider may register a lot of patients in his list whom he may not attend to at the end of the day or he ends up under serving them in order to maximize his pay. The last mode of payment is whereby the service providers have a fixed salary. These allow funders to control primary care costs directly; however, they lead to under-provision of services, excessive referrals to secondary providers and lack of attention to the preferences of patients as the service providers are sure of their fixed salary. Also, health cares in rural areas under pay the service providers and even they do not recognize their hard work. This results to the service providers not delivering quality services as they lack motivation (Edelman 2005). How to solve the difficulties Health cares in rural areas should be well equipped with machineries such as x-rays and CT in order to be able to meet the patient’s expectations. At the same time, there should be professional’s health care providers who will be able to use all the machines and also deliver quality services to the patients. Health cares should also have basic health care systems, ways of managing pains and transportation services in order to ensure that patients are able to access these health cares. There should also be enough drugs to cure chronic pains and other diseases at an affordable price. This will be achieved through private and public centers contributions in funding the health facilities in rural areas and remote Australia (Gulliford 2003). Awareness campaigns on the causes and prevention of diseases should be conducted in order to enlighten the community. This can be done by conducting workshops, seminars and conferences. In these seminars, locals should be taught on the importance of education on improving health of a community. This will assist in reducing the level of illiteracy in these areas as many locals will end up going to school. Government in Australia should come up with policies for creating jobs for the locals. This will help in alleviating poverty hence making them to afford health care services. This will reduce mortality rate in these areas. Children will go to school when their parents are working. This is because education is very important in determining one’s future. This is because it increases chances of better income and job security. It also provides a sense of control of people lives. Education is a key factor that influences rural people and remote Australia occupants’ health (Glanz 2002). The environment surrounding the local community contributes a lot to their health. These factors include housing and working conditions. Families should live in a high social structure which has high standards housing conditions. These will assist in avoiding overcrowding which results to health problems. Enough service providers should be hired to work in rural health cares. The government should hire qualified and enough health care providers who will serve all patients. The service providers should be well paid in order to motivate them. They should also be given an incentive as a way of appraisal for good services delivered (Gulliford 2003). Both the public and private sectors should assist in funding rural health cares. This will result to reduction of the pay for the services rendered to the patients hence making the services to be affordable. Social and Structural Determinants of Population Health Environment The environment surrounding us contributes a lot to our health. These factors include housing and working conditions. Families living in a low social structure have poor housing conditions. Those living in cities are faced with overcrowding and live in rented houses. Most of the tenants neglect these properties due to lack of enough income. Private landlords also ignore the conditions of the properties subjecting the families living in them to health problems. Owner occupiers may not also have the finance and resources to maintain their properties resulting to a decrease in their health. Most rural people live in overcrowded houses due to large number of family and inadequate shelter affecting their health. Natural environment also contributes to illness for instance air and the quality of water. Due to pollution in remote and rural areas, most of the air is polluted and the water not fit for human consumption. A study done by the Trent Community Health Observatory shows shocking figures of illness due to living in rural and remote areas of Australia.. The lower class people cannot afford resources so as to leave the remote and rural areas and move to urban areas where there is a healthy environment. This lower class sector will continue to suffer from poor health due to the environment they leave in (McGrail 1998). Gender Sex has an effect on our health. Research shows that women have a long life span than men. This can be argued in that women are more conscious with their health and mostly use the services provided than men. Men are always considered to be aggressive and always take more risks compared to women. Actually, it is always men who do the dangerous jobs like construction and welding. They always work for long hours and do hazardous works. Basically, women are more socialized and take good care of themselves than men. In young people the population of the both genders is almost the same but there is a large gap in elder people. For instance in 1996 women aged 75 years and over occupied one third of the population. This rose up to three quarters of the population at the age of 85 years. Basically, the life expectancy rate for women and men has a difference of four years in the rural communities of Australia (McGrail 1998). Ethnicity Social inequalities are not only affected by the gender and social class only but they are also affected by the ethnicity. Ethnicity also affects our well being and our health as well. The norms and values of an ethnic race have an impact on their health. For instance, Sickle cells mostly affect Afro- Caribbean’s biologically compared to other ethnic group. Asians communities are likely to suffer from rickets due to the way they cover themselves from head to toe lacking enough exposure to the sun. The foods they eat can also cause to obesity (McGrail 1998). Racism takes a large part in the ethnic minority. There is an increase in abuse in the lower class population in rural communities of Australia affecting the people’s mind and their self esteem resulting to stress, anxiety and depression. Communication barrier due to ethnic groups in rural areas results to problems in the provision of medical services. Information containing advice of a certain illness is not translated into all ethnic minority language in rural communities of Australia resulting to confusion and feeling unconsidered of the groups left out (Young 1998). The Relationships between Behaviour and Health Outcomes According to the health service providers, there exist a relationship between behaviuor of an individual and his/her health status. When improving the health of an individual much effort is put in modifying the individual’s behavior. Mostly, the health of a person is determined by his behavior choices. Most people who smoke cigarette have a high chance of suffering from lung cancer than those who do not smoke. High alcohol intake results to cirrhosis and also sexual immorality causes sexual transmitted diseases which results to death (Gochman 1988). Eating a lot of food without exercise makes one to suffer from obesity. Lack of enough food leads to malnutrition and makes one to be more prone to diseases like Kwashiorkor and Marasmus.Staying in dirty environments and not maintaining cleanliness like always washing hands after visiting the toilets and washing the fruits before consumption results to diseases like cholera. Loss of a loved one or a spouse by death results to harsh psychological and socioeconomic consequences. This affects the health status of the widowed person (Wikinson 1996).Behaviours that causes diseases should be avoided in the rural communities so as to prevent diseases and ensure healthy communities. Health and Illness from a Population Health Perspective The main goal of PHP (the population health perspective) is to sustain and develop the health of the entire population minimizes the inequalities in health among the population groups. Health is defined as lack of any illness but PHP has a wider definition. It defines it as being able to carry on in daily life and creating conditions for people to realize their life pursuit. This idea of health identifies a number of factors like social, economic and environmental factors that contributes to health. PHP refer to health in a broader sense by including a state of mental, spiritual, physical and social health (Hcs 2004). Therefore, social, environmental and political conditions are a part of health issues. Exercising, eating organic and well balanced food and not indulging in smoking do not guarantee good health if we are oppressed in our living and working conditions. An adjustment in an individual analysis of health has an effect in the definition of health problems and has an impact on how the research is carried out (Murray 2002). However, PHP places an individual in a wider context. Eventually, there are concerns that concentrating in wider circumstances can hide important elements of the experiences of an individual. The steadiness between macro and micro elements is vital. Individuals can change a number of determinants of health while others are altered by a population. An example is the income inequality which is basically a form of a population than that of an individual. Personal income is determined by the individual skills and also to taxes and redistributive programs which cannot be controlled by the individual. Therefore, the PHP tackles issues on conceptually different levels including the individual, his family, society and the community. The distinct levels consider the precursors, developmental procedures and the incidents of the individual. Therefore, health and illness issues should be attended to at different levels simultaneously (Bayer & Jennings 2007). PHP concurrently talk about economy and equity drawing a widespread support and gives both welfare condition advocates and neo- conservatives. Economic development which is a conservative dispute is an important component in improving the population’s health status, as is equal distribution of wealth which takes a social welfare dispute. Another significant element of the PHP is its various disciplinary natures. This has an advantage at a certain level though it has some challenges. The challenges include; terms differences, it is hard to evaluate the degree of evidence from other subjects like health imperialism and turf wars (Glanz 2002). Population Health Management in rural communities Population health management (PHM) helps in the improvements of the population health. It is defined as the practical field of attempt that uses a number of individual, cultural and organizational involvements to assist in improving the morbidity pattern and the behavior of a population when using the health care. PHM is different from disease management as it includes a lot of chronic conditions and illness using a one point of coordination and contact and through predictive modeling transversely many clinical conditions. PHM also includes Intensive care management for patients in high dangers of risk and personal health management for patients under lower levels of expected health risk making it to be wider as compared to disease management (Scheck 2003). Natural Ways of Managing and Preventing Common Diseases in a Rural Areas Aging- To fight aging, one should keep his system alkaline with fresh fruits drinks, fresh vegetable juice, and a lot of fresh green vegetables. The diet should contain about 70% organic food. Cultured foods for pleasant digestive flora should also be included in the diet. One should include fish in his diet about 3times times weekly. Drink enough water and reduce fats and heavy foods consumption. Consume eggs meat, butter and dairy products carefully (Dean 1993). N One should avoid caffeine, highly seasoned and chemically processed foods, high fat foods and sugar. Actually, Sugar makes one to age quickly than any other food substance. Arthritis- A holistic herbal complex intended specifically for arthritis is Osteo-Flex 1500. In order to prevent arthritis, proper digestion is very important. Avoid foods that cause allergies. Consume a lot of foods with sulphur like garlic, asparagus and onions. Kale is recommended for arthritis. Include fresh leafy vegetables and fresh fruits in your drink. Consume fresh pineapple most of the times as it has bromelain which is essential for inflammation. Clear lower bowel. Exercise a lot of times. Reduce weight. Keep the consumption of fats and starchy foods down. Avoid dairy products, white sugar, salt and fried food. Principles to Illness Avoidance, Health Support and Community Capacity Building in rural communities In order to prevent diseases, one has to eat well, exercise frequently and stay in a clean environment. Drinking enough and clean water also ensures good health. Staying happy help in avoiding stress and depression which lead to illness like stomach cancer. Also, undergoing counseling especially when one loose his/ her loved one help in reducing harsh psychological and socioeconomic consequences which affects the health status (Deakin University 1992). Creating public awareness on ways to prevent and cure diseases, help in preventing diseases. Vaccination against dangerous diseases like polio and tuberculosis among others help in controlling these diseases (Bayer & Jennings 2007). The services provided in the health care should be affordable to the entire community. These principles will help in promoting the health of a community as they will control and stop the spread of the diseases to the entire community. This will eventually result to the community capacity building. A healthy population will possess power to develop and ensure economic equality. Conclusion The health of a group of people is very important and should always be put in to consideration. Strategies should be laid down in order to improve the health of people living in rural areas and remote areas of Australia. In so doing, there should be adequate health care systems in these areas to ensure good health to the target population and at the same time providing a source of income to the health care providers. Therefore, public and private sectors should work hand in hand in ensuring that the population has access to the health care and that the services provided meets the needs of the target population. At the same time health care providers should be well paid in order to maintain quality service delivery. Bibliography Bayer, R., & Jennings, B., 2007, Public health ethics: theory, policy, and practice, Oxford University Press, Michigan. Deakin University, 1992, Population Health, Deakin University, Washington Edelman, C., 2005, Health promotion throughout the life span, Elsevier Health Sciences, Saint Louis Gochman, D. S., 1988, Health behavior: Emerging research perspectives, Springer, New Jersey. Glanz, K., 2002, Health behavior and health education: theory, research, and practice, Jossey-Bass, Michigan. Gulliford, M., 2003, Access to health car, Routledge, London.. Hcs,2004, Quality Through Collaboration: The Future of Rural Health Care, National Academies Press, New York. McGrail, K.M., 1998, Determinants of population health: a synthesis of the literature, Health Canada, Ottawa. Murray, C. J., 2002, Summary measures of population health: concepts, ethics, measurement and applications, World Health Organization, New York. Scheck, A., 2003, Population health management: strategies to improve outcomes, Health Administration Press, New York. Wilkinson, R., 1996, Unhealthy societies: the affliction of inequality, Routhledge, London. Read More