The Role Played by Various Health Models in Ensuring that Populations Are in a Healthy State - Coursework Example

HEALTH Health is said to be a in which human body lacks diseases, pain or any disorder as would cause discomfort. Neuman defined it to mean the state of wellness where the body is in a position to produce higher amounts of energy than the requirements (‘Neuman systems model’, 2011). A person is said to die when the requirements of energy by the body exceeds the energy produced. Stressors are also seen to be other factors that influence the health of human beings and as such, health would take the definition of state of being free of stress. The wellbeing of individuals as would be understood as health has a wider implication with different players being focused on. For instance, in a country, there is the health department that is mandated to have the overall responsibility of ensuring that the general population is healthy. This paper will analyze the role played by various health models (including the Biomedical model, biopsychsocial model as well as the systems theory model) in ensuring that populations are in a healthy state. Besides, the analysis will cover the role played by medical practitioners such as the home based community health practitioners, the nurses as well as the doctors who are in direct contact with patients. Biomedical model This model has been in use in the health field over years and has been seen as a predominantly relevant to health offiials while diagnosing diseases. The definition of heath by the model is the absence of pain, defect or disease and this comprises of what healthy human being is all about. It defines health in the approach of physical processes through disease physiology, human biochemistry as well as the study of organisms that cause diseases. The model relies on only the biological factors that influence health as against taking into consideration such other factors as the environmental, social influences as well as the psychological. This therefore has the implication that biomedical model of health fails to take into consideration the roles played by individual subjectivity as well as the other social factors towards influencing the health condition of an individual. Accordingly, this model is short of explaining the process of diagnosis as to involve the negotiations by the patient and the doctor or such other medical professional involved. The model is widely adopted within many countries especially the developed western countries in diagnosis of diseases by the professionals within the industry of health care provision (Mino & Lert, 2005). This model influences the health sector in that unlike other models that are holistic in approach to the management of health between a society or group of individuals, it concentrates in diagnosis of health conditions through managing the disease causing organisms. Biopsychosocial model Another theory that has been in use in the analysis of human health is the BPS (biopsychosocial model) whose approach to human diseases and or illnesses are influenced by social factors, biological as well as the psychological factors (Hillman, 2011). This model goes a notch higher in explaining what constitutes human health to include, environmental factors, biological, psychological factors as well as the social factors. The model is therefore shown as a contradiction to the traditional medical models, which postulated the essence of explaining a disease from the perspective of biological approach such as the reductionist model. According to such theories, a disease is caused by pathogens, injuries developmental abnormality or even by genetics. Besides, the model is more pronouncedly used within the professional specialized fields of health psychology, psychiatry, family therapies, clinical social works, clinical psychology as well as within chiropractic. In its application in medical field, the model is used in analyzing the cause of a disease as stemming from functionality of a human body. It identifies such factors as the failure to have self-control, negative thinking as well as the emotional turmoil as per the psychological component of the model. Culture poverty, social economic status, religion as well as the technological influence in causing health complications is defined by the social part to the model. This therefore shows that understanding a patient’s health condition by both the patient as well as the medical professional is necessary in order to have an effective course of diagnosis adopted. The causes of human diseases or such health conditions is therefore understood to be influenced by such factors as internal factors to a patient, the environmental factors as well as the sociological factors and this understanding directly influences the clinical approach to the condition for diagnosis and or control (LoBuono, 2002). By borrowing from the social cognitive theorem, the biopsychosocial model holds that effective treatment of diseases requires that health professionals takes into account the psychological, social as well as the biological influences on the proper functionality of a patient’s body. Philosophically, the model posits that there is a link between the body and mind of a human being where the working of the body would have an influence on how the mind works and the vice versa is equally true. There is therefore a direct relation between the body and mind as well as other immediate factors to the general health of a human being. However, it is to be noted that biopsychosocial model is more general in approach and fails to provide a more straight approach to management of human health through provision of direct testable frameworks that would explain the causation factors as well as the diagnostic approaches to health conditions. Systems theory model Betty Newmann developed the model in the light of sources of energy that influence the condition of health of individuals as related to the internal as well as external environment to a person(‘Neuman systems model’, 2011).. It was based on many assumptions, which include that every individual client’s system is distinct and unique. There exist very many stressors, which are universal while other universally known while others are still unknown. Particular interrelationships by variables in a client determine the level of defense that a patient enjoys from a particular line of defense. Environmental factors are major influences to the evolution of the lines of defense as described previously. Lines of resistance explain the uniqueness of individual client’s capacity to challenge and take defense against the stressors. Primary prevention strategies define the possible or the actual risk factors that are associated to individual client condition. The secondary factors provide the practitioner with direction to address the outcome of a particular treatment administered to a particular client concerning stress. The tertiary level on the other hand explains reconstitution-adjusting processes to be adopted for addressing the stress and factor causes. However, bottom line to the theory is that the client system is quite dynamic and involves constant exchange of energy between the client and the environment. A client system according to this theory is the depiction of the interplay of the internal and environmental factors as variables to individual person. In yet another approach to health, stress has been seen as a factor that contributes to the condition of health to an individual. Medical practitioners such as the nurses, clinical psychologists and doctors have the role to manage and assist patients to address the stress ‘factor’ to health of individuals. Defense lines as postulated by the theory are the internal factors with which a patient is able to fight the possible causes of stress with the normal line referring to the common state of equilibrium of a person while the flexible line referring to dynamic nature of man where the defense system can very easily alter. Therefore, according to the theory, a practicing nurse has three distinct roles in management of the stress in patients through maintaining the defense system. A nurse is also required to maintain and strengthen the internal defense line through increasing resistance factors while at the same time reducing reactions in a patient. Moreover, the nurse is empowered to empower the patient to readapt and return to wellness after the treatment while at the same time guiding the patient against reconstitution or return of the stress (“Nursing theories”, 2012). Health care systems and role of professionals National health care often comprises of three main types of systems, which run concurrently. These include National (public) Healthcare System, the private healthcare system as well as the community (home based) health care systems (Anonymous, 2009). The national healthcare systems describe the overall organization through which the government delivers healthcare to the public. The private healthcare system on the other hand describes the system of health care provision whose main players is the private sector. There are various levels of health care provision and in every level; different practitioners (professionals) are encountered. The health professionals involved in general health care system are such as the home based community health workers, nurses, medical doctors as well as clinical psychologists. The working of each health care professional is distinct and may be influenced by predefined theories. According to Newman, intervention task by health professionals is accomplished when the health practitioners identify other persons pattern and identifying with own patterns and thus she suggests that the health professional should work from such a perspective. For instance, the nurses are seen to have the most properly pronounced work in the system of medical health. Nursing discipline is multifaceted and thus spans through a meta-paradigm concepts. Nursing helps people encounter their own meaning through aiding in identification of own patterns of relating. Newman’s expanding consciousness theory stemmed from the early theory by Rogers ‘Unitary Human Beings’ (Gueldner et al, nd). According to Newman, consciousness is a combination of cognitive, effectiveness awareness, physiochemical growth and maintenance as well as human immune system. She derived much from the Rodger’s theorem, which holds that the patterning of persons defines the interaction especially in consciousness of the human environment interactions. Intervention by the nurses’ presence assists patients identify with environment. Interaction of patients and the nurses at such critical times of need assists the patients to develop links in an authentic way. This therefore according to the theory of consciousness by Newman, holds that nurses become critical ingredient in assisting clients expands consciousness (Newman, nd). As an individual however, a client is defined by personal patterns while in the entire scene of expanding consciousness, the individual is at the ‘centre’. In this regard, a person in definition is expounded to include the aspect of community as well as family. However, the environment is quite abstract and is often depicted to be beyond individual consciousness of such a client. Newman sees illnesses as common disruptive events whose purpose is not only to disorganize relationships but also to reorganize them at higher levels and as such bring about the ultimate relationship between the client and the environment (Glennister, nd). Home based health workers are another bunch of health professionals who are responsible of overseeing the good health of individuals without necessarily visiting health care centers or facilities. Community health care can be defined as the overall healthcare provision service that is formulated to deliver health care services to the homesteads. It is a decentralized avenue of taking the services to the lowest level of households. It ensures healthcare services accessibility to the marginalized, coronary illness victims and generally reaches to the disadvantaged at the ground level. It is designed to help people live as independent as possible within the confines of their homes and communities. This profession however has basic necessary attributes that are required and they include professional competence, knowledge, skills and personal judgment (Anonymous, 2012). The department of healthcare within any nation is responsible of ensuring that the well-being of citizens is ensured through policy frameworks, offering social services as well as through adopting public initiatives. For instance, the Obama care policy in US ensures that medical insurance covers are accessible and affordable to all (Silvers, 2012). Public initiatives such as immunization and awareness creation are other roles that are taken by the departments of healthcare across the globe. Conclusion It is to be understood that the state of being healthy incorporates the efforts of an individual or such other people who are close to the person and the health care providers at large. Health care professionals are highly esteemed in the overall healthy condition of a society. The healthy professionals referred to here, include the doctors, nurses, medial psychologists, counselors, and the community health workers. The structure in the health care profession ensures that there is coherence in interworking of the various departments that ensure that the ultimate goal of having a healthy society is realized. This paper therefore has evaluated the interrelation of the various players within the health sector through the guidance of the various health models that are in use in the sector today. In this discussion, this paper discussed various health concepts together with the role of the health department within a country in ensuring the health of the people is checked. Besides, it has evaluated the various factors that influence the health of people as well as the various models used in such an explanation. References “Neuman systems model”, (2011). 2011 Symposium. 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A Call for an Integrated Biopsychosocial Model to Address Fundamental Disconnects in an Emergent Field: An Introduction to the Special Issue on“Sexuality and Aging”. Ageing Int, 36:303–312 LoBuono C., (2002). Stilling the voices. Special report, Drug Topics, 146:20 Mino J. C. & Lert F., (2005). Beyond the biomedical model: palliative care and its holistic model. HEC Forum, 17(3): 227-236. Newman M. A., (nd). Health as expanding consciousness. Retrieved from < http://nursingtheories.blogspot.com/2009/07/margaret-newman-rn-phd-faan.html> Silvers J. B., (2012). “Update on Health Reform – the ACA in Ohio” Retrieved from http://www.ohiopha.org/admin/uploads/events/JB%20Silvers.pdf Read More