Community Outreach Program - Case Study Example

Community Outreach Program The prime intention of this case study is to develop an appropriate Community Outreach Program with the intentionof mitigating the adverse health conditions that the women of the US face from heart disease. In order to develop this particular program, a detailed study has been made concerning the source of the problem and identifying the barriers relating to the care provided to the sufferers. Specially mentioning, the measures like developing women-centric care programs and providing effective training programs would certainly aid in mitigating the adverse health consequences derived from heart disease that largely face by the women populaces of the US than the male populaces. 1. Introduction In this present day context, heart disease is found to be prevalent amid men as well as women in various regions of the world. With this concern, the case study critically focuses on preparing a relevant and effective Community Outreach Program particularly for the women belonging to diverse age groups, who are suffering from heart disease across the United States. In order to gain an in-depth understanding and develop such an effective Community Program, various significant aspects would be discussed. These aspects include assessing the problem statement concerning the health disparity of heart disease and examining the current number of people who is suffering from this disease. Moreover, the case study also critically describes the key barriers leading to prohibit effective care for this particular segment of US population and produces an effective care strategy, enabling towards offering adequate healthcare facilities to this population segment. 2. Statement of the Problem Based on recent observations, it is confirmed that disparities persisting within cardiovascular health are amongst the major threats for women population in the US. Despite the persistence of lower rate of cardiovascular mortality since the preceding few decades, the cardiovascular problems demonstrate striking and widening implications on the women population across the nation regardless their age, ethnicity, color and socio-economic status. In this regard, it can be stated that the problems linked with heart disease have remarkable outcome not only on the communities, but also tends to impose a major challenge for the healthcare systems to protect women with different cardiovascular syndromes across the US (Mensah, 2010). 3. Current Number of People with the Condition, Disorder or Disease The statistical report of the year 2009 depicts that the heart disease killed 292,188 numbers of American women, implying one in each four deaths of females in the US (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). The disease has been witnessed as one of the chief as well as the leading reasons of death for African American and White women residing across various regions of the US. Notably, almost 5.8% of White Americans, 5.6% Mexican Americans and 7.6% of Black women have been diagnosed relating to this disease across different parts of the nation. These can be better understood with the help of the following pictorial representation. Fig.1: Heart Disease Death Rates, 2008-2010 (Women Ages 35+, by Country) Source: (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013) More recently, it can be apparently noted that in excess of one amid three female adults are diagnosed with certain form of heart disease. According to the mortality rate of the year 2009, deaths caused by heart disease were 401, 495, wherein the females represented a major portion as compared to males i.e. 51% (American Heart Association Inc., 2013). The following graphical chart represents a clear view of different causes of deaths and mortality rate of the US population during the year 2009. Fig.2: Major Causes of Death for Male and Female in the US, 2009 Source: (American Heart Association Inc., 2013) It is worth mentioning that the mortality trend resulting from cardiovascular disease is observed to remain in a vulnerable condition. Justifiably, the female populaces considerably surpass the mortality rate as compared to the male populaces in the US (American Heart Association Inc., 2013). The following figure demonstrates a clear view of the mortality trends persisting within the US due to the impact of cardiovascular disease. Fig.3: Mortality Trend in the US from Cardiovascular Disease Source: (American Heart Association Inc., 2013) The increasing trend of mortality rate due to heart disease is duly observed to involve different syndromes. In this regard, a few of the leading syndromes in cardiovascular disease that raised the annual death rate of women population include coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure (HBP) and heart failure. In each year, almost 55,000 of the female populaces have stroke, which is relatively higher than the male population in the US (American Heart Association Inc., 2013). 4. Describing Barriers to Care for the Women with Heart Disease Despite remarkable improvements made by the US healthcare departments towards combatting against the heart disease, which is quite prevalent amid the female populaces of the nation, certain barriers towards providing better care to this population segment have been witnessed. Cardiovascular disease is largely preventable, however, there exist few common barriers that weaken the care facilities of the agencies and the institutions (Mosca, 2002). These have been described in detail hereunder. Patient Barriers Inappropriate handling of prescribed medicines Misperception regarding the risk factors linked with heart disease Lack of education or limited knowledge regarding heart disease Poor self-efficacy level Source: (Mosca, 2002) Health System Barriers Fragmentation of women centric healthcare facilities and settings Less or lack of availability of key resources regarding women-centric healthcare programs Inadequate healthcare settings for various preventive measures concerning heart disease Sources: (Frich et. al., 2006; Mosca, 2002) Physician Barriers Inadequate education or training regarding the benefit of heart disease prevention programs Inappropriate leadership traits towards preventing women from acute heart disease Sources: (Frich et al., 2006; Mosca, 2002) Policy and Society Barriers Less or limited focus on educating communities towards the prevention of acute heart disease Lack of strong cooperation between healthcare and reimbursement agencies Poor cooperative culture prevailing amid the practitioners and the specialists towards educating communities Sources: (Frich et. al., 2006; Mosca, 2002) 5. Recommendations to Decrease the Condition in the Given Population In relation to the emergence of issues associated with the deliverance of effective care facilities, numerous strategic measures can be adopted by the US healthcare agencies and organizations in order to lessen the condition within the women populaces of the US. These measures have been discussed in detail in the following. Identifying different Barriers Leading to Negatively Impact on Care Programs The strategic measures on the identification process of the key barriers might certainly help the US healthcare agencies and institutions to protect women from heart disease. In this process, the mechanism would help to formulate effective care setting, enabling the women to protect themselves from potential threats associated with heart disease. Expanding the Number of Women-Centric Care Programs The adequate focus on expanding different care programs across the communities can also be duly considered to improve the current strategic measures of the healthcare agencies towards the prevention of heart disease on women population. Continuous Progression in Training and Development (T&D) Programs Training and development initiative specifically for the practitioners and each individual staff member of the healthcare agencies is one of the essential factors contributing in lessening the number of heart disease patients across the nation. In this regard, the training and development programs of the agencies must highly focus on providing effective learning programs to the practitioners as well as the agents, enabling them to effectively counsel the preventive measures for the women to be safeguarded from heart disease. Continuous Monitoring Process The strategy of making continuous inspection of the women-centric care programs can enable the US healthcare agencies or the institutions to formulate wide range of preventive measures for lessening the condition within the given population. 6. Conclusion Based on the above analysis and discussion, it can be ascertained that heart disease in recent times has emerged as a growing concern for the populaces across different areas of the US. According to various statistical reports, it could be revealed that heart disease is one of the primary causes of death of women populaces in the US. Although the governmental agencies and healthcare organizations of the US are often observed to play an essential role, however, there still exist a number of barriers creating major obstacles for them to reduce the negative impact of heart disease. In this regard, the proposed strategic measures in the form of recommendations could play a decisive role for the US healthcare agencies or the institutions towards empowering their different women-centric care programs relating to heart disease, diminishing the condition within the given population by a certain level. References American Heart Association Inc. (2013). Women & cardiovascular diseases. Retrieved from http://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heartpublic/@wcm/@sop/@smd/documents/downloadable/ucm_319576.pdf Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Women and heart disease fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_women_heart.htm Frich, J. C., Malterud, K., & Fugelli, P. (2006). Women at risk of coronary heart disease experience barriers to diagnosis and treatment: a qualitative interview study. Scand J Prim Health Care 24(1), 38-43. Mensah, G. A. (2010). Eliminating Disparities in Cardiovascular Health Six Strategic Imperatives and a Framework for Action. Retrieved from http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/111/10/1332.full Mosca, L. (2002). Overcoming barriers to the better lipid management in women. Advanced Studies in Medicine 2(11), 416-421. Read More