Executive Brief:Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Executive Brief:Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Abstract

The health care industry has revolutionized significantly over the past decade or so. New, innovative advancements and technological efforts have made the delivery of care more accessible and seamless. Implementing change, reforming current practice, and moving toward more comprehensive, interdisciplinary care is typically achieved through the proper coordination of care in which technology has had the opportunity to offer (Fagerström, 2012). Rendering better care that is meaningful and life changing requires active participation of not just those involved in the healthcare system but of the person receiving the care. Thus, technology closes many gaps between healthcare providers and/or practitioners and patients with the ultimate goal of making essential lifestyle and behavioral changes aimed at promoting better health.

Executive Brief

Developing an executive brief is ideal for presenting a concise synopsis for others to use as a guide to better understand a particular topic of interest. For purposes of this assignment, the target population to educate are patients suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) and currently on dialysis treatment. Through this target population, a particular behavior identified is fluid overload. Finding a technological program as an effective approach to help these patients prevent the progression of the disease as well as to engage in health promotion efforts is the goals. The benefits of technology have revolutionized life, hence its incorporation into the health care industry has significant positive aids. Nonetheless, considering barriers to technological programs, identifying the effectiveness of the programs and its benefits to the target population, and the ways it can be tailored for desirable interventions forms part of the challenge to promoting health programs. Furthermore, identifying cost, stakeholders, and the Diffusion of Innovation theory will serve to create a comprehensive health promotion program supported by informatics.

Target Audience: Dialysis Patients

Chronic kidney disease is a worldwide concern requiring better education modalities to improve the adherence to self-management techniques and strategies which will slow the progression of CKD. Thus, incorporating technological modalities to help patients track daily health interventions would significantly help patients on dialysis (Bonner, Gillespie, Campbell, Corones-Watkins, Hayes, Harvie, … Havas, 2018). Patients who are on dialysis receive treatment three times a week as a means to obtain renal replacement therapy (RRT) as a result of the kidneys not functioning properly (Bonner, et. al., 2018). People on dialysis are unable to regulate the body’s levels of water and minerals and remove waste appropriately. As a result of such failure of the kidneys, which typically is the loss of 85 to 90 percent of the kidney’s function, requires the ongoing treatment of dialysis (Bonner, et. al., 2018). Approximately, 14 percent of the population of the United States is documented to have CKD (Bonner, et. al., 2018). This is an alarming percent considering that other comorbidities are linked to such kidney deterioration – hypertension, mal-nutrition, dehydration, diabetes, etc.

Benefits of Technology

The incorporation of technology into health care has significantly augmented cohesion across the spectrum of care. Technology is easily accessible as almost everyone has access or owns technology, such as a smartphone or tablet. Engaging in technology literacy is perhaps an effort that organizations should engage in as it can truly result in better health outcomes (Bonner, et. al., 2018). Healthcare has transformed through the use of technology development as the dissemination of new information has become increasingly possible using social media as well as phone applications (apps). Such technology brings together patients and healthcare professionals to achieve desirable health goals and outcomes.

Targeted Behavior: Technology

A particular benefit of using technology and incorporating it into the daily life and behavior transformation of a person on dialysis because of CKD is a daily water tracking application. The daily water tracking application (app), helps dialysis patients maintain and track their daily water intake progress. The app lets a person convert liquid ounces to a spoonful of liquid to cups, etc. This will help anyone, regardless of the conversion system known to the person to easily determine the amount of fluid consumed in one day. Simplifying the patient’s daily fluid intake using a tracking fluid log makes such a task very simplistic as it even adds each input and delineates a total at the top of the app. Through properly tracking water or any other fluid intake, the person can avoid passing their daily fluid intake limit. This is important because dialysis patients cannot excrete urine which includes any and all fluid the person intakes because the body does not properly eliminate fluid via the kidneys. Lack of fluid output puts this target population at risk of developing other health problems like congestive heart failure (CHF) due to fluid overload in the lungs and its transference to the heart (Bonner, et. al., 2018).). Therefore, by logging into this app the person can better monitor his or her daily liquid consumption to maintain fluid restrictions appropriately.

Opportunities for Health Promotion using Technology

Programs to change behavior are effective in its ability to keep people highly engaged and held accountable. Many programs rely on technology to bring people with similar concerns together. This establishes support groups that offer everyone a safe place to access information, have questions answered, and log-in to report progress, what has worked and what areas help is still needed in, and motivation to remain on track toward better health (Ventola, 2014). Technology helps establish virtual rapport that is easily accessible to the public from the comfort of his or her home and not to mention it is free to download using a smartphone device. In essence, all that is required is for the person to have a smart phone or tablet to download the program. This program in particular, is made very accessible to the public because it is free to download. All that is required is for the person to have a smart phone or tablet to download the program. The effective use of the program has minimal stakeholder: developer and patient (user) as the main ones, but it also has room for the inclusion of healthcare providers or other health organizations

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Barriers to Technological Programs

One of the main barriers to using technological applications as well as online program is the fact that if the person does not actually log in daily progress then the person will not be able to track the fluid consumed throughout the day. Another possible barrier is access to technology because of Internet access resulting from living conditions or financial implications (Piwek, Ellis, Andrews, & Joinson, 2016). Even though many people currently have access to technology, some people may still not know how to fully take advantage of smart phones and other applications. Lack of knowledge also presents a limitation to the proper use of technology and its many benefits in targeting and/or aiding in the progression of health concerns by modulating lifestyle behaviors.

Diffusion of Innovation Theory

Technology has certainly gained momentum to transform and aid in the care process of patients through facilitating the dissemination of information by healthcare professionals. Adopting new ideas and modalities is typically a process that takes time and patience as change is a complex situation that people tend to resist (Pender, Murdaugh, & Parsons, 2011). Implementing change to achieve outcomes is done through this five-phase adoption category process which includes: Innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards (Diffusion of Innovation Theory, 2019). Most people fall into the early and late majority as seeing the benefits is crucial to fully understanding the benefits and usefulness of the change. People must see how the innovative change is a better idea, program or product than what they already know (Diffusion of Innovation Theory, 2019). Furthermore, the person has to gain trust in the program to if there is a cost to attaining it.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Technology Application

An effective way to use this behavioral approach revamp is to pair it with the treatment the patient is receiving at his or her dialysis clinic. The application can be downloaded at the clinic the patient receives dialysis and the fluid intake restriction can be programmed by the healthcare professional at the clinic. This will build a sense of commitment to adhering to the fluid intake restriction goal and upon the following treatment, the health care professional reviews the application and inputs the fluid intake. This will help establish a better idea of the areas in which are causing fluid overload and better interventions to ensure the patient maintains optimum health.

Conclusion

Technology offers an array of benefits to enhance health care outcomes. The revamping of the healthcare system has truly taken a turn and has great potential in the hands of advanced nursing professionals incorporating technological programs supporting the health goals of patients (Stange, 2009). Accessibility to care is perhaps one of the most daunting issues the healthcare system has and continues to face, yet the inclusion of technology mirroring and almost reaching a parallelism with medical interventions makes patient-centered care as well as caring for the person much more feasible and cost effective. Considering that a particular aspect of the healthcare system that still requires attention is the fragmentation of care, focusing on informatics and its surplus of benefits seems like a reasonable approach to addressing health promotion in a well-rounded manner.

References

Bonner, A., Gillespie, K., Campbell, K. L., Corones-Watkins, K., Hayes, B., Harvie, B., … Havas, K. (2018). Evaluating the prevalence and opportunity for technology use in chronic kidney disease patients: a cross-sectional study. BMC nephrology, 19(1), 28. doi:10.1186/s12882-018-0830-8

Diffusion of Innovation Theory (2019). In Boston University School of Public Health. Retrieved from http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories4.html

Fagerström L. (2012). The impact of advanced practice nursing in healthcare: recipe for developing countries. Annals of neurosciences, 19(1), 1–2. doi:10.5214/ans.0972.7531.180401

Pender, N., Murdaugh, C., & Parsons, M. A. (2011). Health promotion in nursing practice (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Piwek, L., Ellis, D. A., Andrews, S., & Joinson, A. (2016). The Rise of Consumer Health Wearables: Promises and Barriers. PLoS medicine, 13(2), e1001953. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001953

Stange K. C. (2009). The problem of fragmentation and the need for integrative solutions. Annals of family medicine, 7(2), 100–103. doi:10.1370/afm.971

Thimbleby H. (2013). Technology and the future of healthcare. Journal of public health research, 2(3), e28. doi:10.4081/jphr.2013.e28

Ventola C. L. (2014). Mobile devices and apps for health care professionals: uses and benefits. P & T: a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management, 39(5), 356–364.