Current Issues in Health and Health Care Systems - Annotated Bibliography Example

Current Issues in Health and Health Care Systems Annotated bibliography Athey, V. L., Rogers, T. K., Suckling, R. J., Tod, A. M., & Walters, S. J. (2012). Early diagnosis of lung cancer: Evaluation of a community-based social marketing intervention. Thorax, 67, 5, 412-417. The study evaluates the efficiency of the mixed-method community-based promotion of lung cancer diagnoses. It involved the combination of the public awareness efforts and training that were conducted in the localities with high cancer incidences. Some of the factors involved in the study include the self-reported awareness of the disease symptoms, the intentions of the participants to seek health intervention, different methods used in primary care, the changes in the incidences of the disease under investigation, and the form of diagnosis. The study results showed that social marketing made most patients change their attitude through affirming that they would visit a practitioner and receive an X-ray process. The study registered a 20% increase in the rates of X-rays among the cancer patients. The results of the study showed that people would change their attitude towards evolving trends with the increase in the level of awareness or promotion. This is an affirmation that early awareness strategies and recognition initiatives facilitates health improvement. However, the study did not follow up to confirm the sincerity of the study participants to confirm whether they really visited the practitioners or they were just agreeing verbally. Additionally, the study was not fully inclusive because it only focused on areas with high cancer rates. Ezzati, M., & Riboli, E. (2012). Can non-communicable diseases be prevented? Lessons from studies of populations and individuals. Science, 337, 6101, 1482-1487. The study asserts that two-thirds of the deaths caused by diseases to the occurrence of non-communicable diseases such as cancers. Most of the deaths are registered in developing countries. This calls for urgent preventive strategies that reduces the rate of spread or positively changes the people’s attitudes towards medication. Some of the strategies suggested by the study include control of tobacco and alcohol use through increasing taxes, regulating sales and most importantly, banning advertisements related to tobacco or alcohol promotion. Increased prices of alcohol and tobacco products resulting from increase in taxation as well as regulations discourage users. This promotes the impact of health related strategies. The study posits that increase in negative promotion leads to subsequent rise in the consumption of the product being advertised. Ezzati and Riboli suggest that advertisements should only focus on the strategies geared towards educating the public on the negative impacts of tobacco use. However, the study results are limited in that they do not incorporate the measures that can be applied by addicts to transform and abandon risky habits. Loewy, E. H., & Loewy, R. S. (2002) Changing health care systems from ethical, economic, and cross cultural perspectives, New York, Kluwer Academic Publishers The book explores the impact of different health structures on the ability of the professionals to practice in an ethical and acceptable way. The limits and the outcome of the health practice are determined by the environment in which the health care professional practices. Loewy and Loewy assert that health systems should support information sharing culture between the patient and physicians. They should also be devoid of any financial challenges that may derail the service delivery. The book also discusses the impact of the time spent with the patients to the outcome of the health promotion exercise. It was discovered that the more the time allocated between a doctor and the patient, the more convenient and effective is the outcome. The cultural set-up of the community is also useful in the promotion of the dissemination of the health information among the society members. However, it should be clear that the time spent between a patient and the physician is dependent on many factors, among which that are medically supposed to aid healing i.e. relaxation or resting time. Newton, J. T. (2012). Interdisciplinary health promotion: a call for theory-based interventions drawing on the skills of multiple disciplines. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 40, 2, 49-54. The article argues that improving the health of populations requires the involvement of various perspectives guarding on the political, societal, community and political factors affecting health. According to Newton, development of the interventions able to modify health-related behaviours requires team work and collaboration with various stakeholders in order to include their varied views related to theoretical, political and empirical knowledge. The research drew on three critical areas meant to capture the attention of the public; improvement of the behaviours and attitudes towards the treatment being offered, encouraging early detection of the diseases, and managing as well as minimising any anxiety that may increase the negative impact of the disease. Development of the theoretical model of the help-seeking behaviour by psychologists has shown that appropriate intervention strategies and collaboration can be established. The study results asserts that promotion measures in health care assists in offering motivation to the affected people; thus, enhancing healing. However, enhanced promotion could also motivate people to engage in actions that may compromise the healing process e.g. promoting tobacco use. Owusu-Dabo, E., Lewis, S., McNeill, A., Britton, J., & Gilmore, A. (2011). Support for smoke-free policy, and awareness of tobacco health effects and use of smoking cessation therapy in a developing country. Bmc Public Health, 11. The research was conducted on the assumption that the prevention of the epidemic increase in the rate of smoking among developing countries is challenging. The research is based on Ghana and identified that the country maintained low incidences of tobacco use despite the fact that it has well established tobacco firms. Some of the factors identified included public awareness of the risks related to health, the attitudes of the people to smoke-free policy, and promotion methods used. The passive smoking among the population was found to be high. This is despite the fact that the health risk awareness level was found to be high in Ghana with the main channel of information dissemination identified as the radio. Gender disparity was also noted whereby women had a lower health awareness levels compared to men. This implies that mixing both negative and positive promotion activities would not enhance the preventive activities. Negative advertisements will always have an impact with higher magnitude compared to that of the positive message. The study did not point out that the impact of negative promotion depends personality of the recipients. Paton, C., Hansen, M., Fernandez-Luque, L., & Lau, A. Y. (2012). Self-Tracking, Social Media and Personal Health Records for Patient Empowered Self-Care. Contribution of the IMIA Social Media Working Group. Yearbook of Medical Informatics, 7, 1, 16-24. The article explores the different types of devices used by self-trackers and the social media channels applied by the self-tracking community. It addresses the impacts of the increased use of the devices in the promotion of the health informatics. The review identified the increased in the use of the social media channels in enhancing the dissemination of the health information. However, the efficiency and effectiveness are limited because most of their use does not comprehensively tackle the issue of disease management. Use of the mentioned devices affirms the usefulness of technological development in increasing the rate of personal health surveillance, social sharing and connectedness and integration of regional and international health systems. The new trends have enhanced sharing of health data as well as enabling the application of scientific techniques from personal health improvement strategies to the general epidemiological processes. However, the trackers raise ethical and scientific issues that need to be addressed before they are applied, to ensure effectiveness. Rojas-Anaya, H., Skogen, K., & Miles, K. A. (2012). Stakeholder perspectives on the use of positron emission tomography in phase III oncology trials in the UK. Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre, Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex. The study identifies the factors affecting the use of PET in the oncology trials in the UK through evaluation of the stakeholder perspectives. The study involved the invitation of potential of various stakeholders with interest in PET research for participation. The stakeholders were contacted through use of questionnaires that collected information related to their experience and involvement in PET research, the role of PET in phase III oncology trials and the methods used in promoting the use of trials. The results showed that the participants believe that the use of PET comes with benefits in oncology. The promotion and awareness efforts led to the identification of the barriers to the application of the PET; poor availability, funding problems, poor coverage of training activities, uncertainty on their use and low availability. This proves that interventions for improving the availability and effectiveness of health measures can be enhanced through health promotion activities. However, the study requires participants who understand the PET and its use in their body health. Scanlon, M. L., & Vreeman, R. C. (2013). Current strategies for improving access and adherence to antiretroviral therapies in resource-limited settings. HIV AIDS (Auckl); 5:1-17. The study asserts that efficient clinical outcome of the use of the antiretroviral drugs in the control of HIV/AIDS depends on the access and people’s adherence to treatment. The use of antiretroviral drugs in curtailing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS has been clogged with numerous barriers that have led to low rates of HIV testing, connection to the HIV care systems and the required compliance to therapy. Most of the literature sources reviewed when the study was being undertaken provided minimal information related to the preventive or the efficient use of the antiretroviral medication. Observational studies also affirmed that there is little information related to measures necessary for reducing the incidences of disease among vulnerable groups. According to the study, some of the strategies necessary for eliminating the barriers include application of health information technology, addressing the social level factors such as the HIV related stigma and enhancement of research related to identification of the preventive directions related to operations, cost effectiveness and compliance to treatment. The findings provide efficient strategies necessary for health promotion in resource-limited situations. Vest, J. R. (2012). Health information exchange: national and international approaches. Adv Health Care Manag. 12:3-24. The article defines health information exchange as the process of electronic transfer of patient information through the health care organisations and departments. Health information exchange is viewed as the remedy to information fragmentation that currently faces the health care delivery. The review focuses on current situation of seven states and three health care intervention exchange efforts in relation to the national health care systems, international information sharing, and the challenges faced. The review found out that efficient functioning health information exchange system has not yet been adopted. However, participants from all the seven countries agreed on the importance of enhancing health information sharing. The study views this as the reason that led to adoption of national and international strategies for promoting information exchange. The potential of the health information exchange efforts to overcome most challenges related to information dissemination has made it to be popular among many health stake holders. This strategy has attracted many stakeholders who have enhanced sharing information related to health care; thus, enhancing the efficiency of the healthcare delivery. However, seven states and three health care institutions is not a representative sample for a the review focusing on a global perspective. Zohoori, F. V., Shah, K., Mason, J., & Shucksmith, J. (2012). Identifying factors to improve oral cancer screening uptake: A qualitative study. Health and Social Care Institute, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom The research engaged high risk groups for acquiring more information on the awareness of the oral cancer signs and symptoms and the factors capable of improving the effectiveness of screening. The information from the focus groups, mainly men, showed extreme lack of awareness of oral cancer, especially its signs and symptoms. The provision of leaflets containing information about cancer created a sense of awareness with the participants promising that they would seek help on identifying such symptoms. The participants also confirmed that they would visit a mouth specialist rather than a dentist because they would be provided with extra help related to psychological and physical health. The study shows that the use of cancer medication can be improved through increasing awareness. Other measures that can improve the level of uptake of medication includes diversifying the role of the dentists in the diagnosis of cancer, promoting the efficiency of the cancer screening and including general health checks while diagnosing a certain ailment to ensure that long-lasting solutions are identified. The study mainly focused on male participants, implying that the opinions of the women were not fully included. Read More