The Concept of Public Health - Essay Example

"The Concept of Public Health" is a curious example of a paper on the health system.
Public health refers to an integrated approach that involves scientific and artistic initiatives to ensuring a healthy society. Its scope involves the prevention and management of diseases to sustain people’s lives through initiatives, such as awareness, at different levels of society. This paper posts on my experience as a public health student in the ‘Essentials of public health’ class. The paper identifies some of my gained knowledge in public health, the issues that it faces, and achieved benefits from the class.

Awareness of public health and issues that it faces

The scope of the class has been informative and I have learned many things about public health and environmental factors that affect it. I am for example aware of public health as a system with many elements that contributes to its objectives. Essential elements of the system are “capacity,” “process,” and “outcomes” (Turnock, 2011, p. 8). Capacity defines the availability of applicable assets towards the achievement of public health objectives and includes factors such as personnel, financial resources, and equipment. Cordial interpersonal relationships are also essential to the potential of the system. Processes are other essentials of the system that identify needs and implement measures towards meeting the needs. The final set of elements of public health, as a system, is outcomes that define the measure of achievements from inputs and processes. The three elements are fundamental in planning, implementation, and evaluation of results in public health. I am also informed of the dynamic scope of public health that has witnessed an increase in the classes of stakeholders and change in the roles of each stakeholder towards public health objectives. The government has for example emerged to be the major stakeholder, a knowledge that helps in channeling public health concerns for necessary measures (Turnock, 2011).

Another essential knowledge that I have gained from the class is the set of factors that influence public health. Examples are the legal system and ethics. All public health personnel and processes are for instance subjected to professional ethics that govern relationships among personnel and other stakeholders. This is because ethical values in the profession ensure morality in practice and safeguards each stakeholder’s social interest. I have also learned of the benefits of ethical practice in developing confidence in the public health system, a factor that facilitates a comprehensive effort base from all levels of the society towards achieving public health objectives. Another significant factor that influences public health is its legal environment. Like in any other professional practice, public health practices are subject to legal provisions that safeguard the rights and freedoms of every stakeholder. Knowledge of the legal system is therefore fundamental because a breach of a legal provision in the course of practice induces liability, at any level of participation. Such liabilities are however detrimental to objectives of public health as they consume financial and time resources in litigations. The class has, therefore, informed me of the scope of public health, as a system, and the legal and ethical issues that it faces (Turnock, 2011).

What the course has done to me

The course has prepared me as public health personnel by identifying the scope of the profession and some of the factors that influence public health practices. I am as a result aware of stakeholders that can be contacted for different initiatives as well as how I should carry out roles as a public health worker to avoid legal and ethical liability (Turnock, 2011).