Health Illness Continuum Health-illness continuum is a well-being concept credited to John.W.Travis which he posted in 1972. It is a graphical representation which indicates that patients are moving towards the right direction, they can be taken to be moving towards wellness. Conversely, as they move further to the left direction they are taken to be moving towards illness and as they move much further to the left, they are assumed to be nearing death. At the middle of the right and the left direction of the continuum is a point referred to as the neutral point which medics interpret as a state of non-illness. It is worthy to emphasize that members of the medical fraternity use this crucial tool to advice and offer prompt council to their patients to plan for their health. In this context, this paper seeks to critically explain health illness continuum and its relevance to patient care. Health illness continuum is important in patient care due to the fact that it does not only focus on the treatment focus but it also draws attention…
Health Informatics for Home Healthcare Technological transformations have had an evolutionary impact on health care. Patient care has improved over the years as a result of improved information technology and communications. Health informatics has also improved home health care since patients and caretakers can easily get the right information. This has helped in delivering effective health care for most patients. Lowers the Expense and Time for Sharing Knowledge Health informatics help in eliminating the costs associated with errors and delays in health care delivery. This improves home healthcare by reducing errors, driving efficiency, and increasing communication. Sharing information to patients and caretakers about medicines, therapies, and diseases has become easy. This has made the practice of medicine better and more effective for all people in the chain of care. Improved Patient Participation Most patients can easily access their health history and recommendation through health informatics. This enables them to take their health care seriously. Most patients can learn about their diagnoses and prognoses through care portals. This is also an effective way of tracking medications and symptoms. Most patients using…
Screening for Healthcare Disparities Disparities in most healthcare systems are a result of Complex healthcare quality, access to healthcare, which stem from historical injustices. The prevalent disparities in many healthcare systems include socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2020). Healthy people 2020 has therefore tried to make sense on how to eliminate healthcare disparities and promoting equity. Over the years, various health assessment tool has been developed and used to assess access to healthcare. In developing a screening tool, I would keenly review existing literature and consult primary care staff to understand factors that need urgent intervention to ensure equal access to healthcare. My screening tool would include theoretical frameworks. The first section would consist of a patient and interviewer background information (name, age sex, and occupation) this information would be essential for coding purpose in data analyses. I would assess population financial capabilities to understand how financial constraints have led to poor access to healthcare. I would include Employment status, access to healthcare insurance, and level of income. I would also include a section…
Health Inequalities in Social Class Health inequalities can be defined as unfair and avoidable differences in an individual’s health across the globe. In the US, health inequality is used to describe racial disparities in healthcare. Health inequalities go against various principles of social justice since they are preventable. Disparities in health do not occur by chance or haphazardly. However, they are socially determined by conditions and other circumstances that an individual cannot control. Health bias issues will later affect people and limit them from accessing healthy lives or even living longer. In a nutshell, the existence of health inequalities implies the right of every individual to obtain an attainable mental and physical health is not equally enjoyed across the globe (Reid, Colleen, 2017). The primary purposes of this essay are to address the health inequalities that exist in the social class. Firstly, it has been revealed that people in the lower class are disadvantaged from accessing health facilities. Families that live in extreme poverty lack the financial power to cater to the medical bills, both for themselves and the kids…
Hepatitis C disease Introduction Hepatitis C disease causes human liver infection and inflammation. The condition occurs after an individual is affected by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The disease is highly contagious, and a huge number of people have the disease. The condition can be serious and lead to either liver cancer or liver disease if not treated appropriately. Hepatitis C is found in the entire world. There are about 71 million people chronically infected with hepatitis C globally, wherein 2013, an estimate of 400,000 died with liver disease. The disease prevalence varies across the world and various regions. Most developed countries have a 4-05 prevalence while it is higher in some Eastern European countries like Russia 2.2%, some African countries like Egypt 7.7% ad the Middle East like Syria 3.0%. In the United States, there are more than 3.5 million who have chronic hepatitis C (DNDi, 2018). Even though hepatitis C is found anywhere in the globe, which makes an interesting heath study topic, it has six dissimilar HPV genotypes distributed across the world. GT1 is common in developed…
Healthcare Emergency Emergencies in the healthcare environment are frequent. They pose an often unprecedented challenge for hospitals and other critical stakeholders. Proper practices and emergency management principles must be adopted to enhance the various fundamental processes that are characteristic of the healthcare emergency environment. These most important aspects of the operation lie in identifying the challenges. It leads to the processes of instituting plans and, finally, the implementation and evaluation stage. It is vital to understand the role of the emergency department on the broader healthcare system and within the hospital itself. Various challenges stand out. These include the surge capacity, planning, and coordination – critical factors. The complexity of the response system often creates multiple problems. It should be guided by an evidence-based approach to enhancing the preparedness and implementation of these exercises. Across the globe, different approaches to emergency management exist. Research has identified more significant shortcomings in the operational aspect compared to its technical counterpart. Behavioral and social knowledge gaps have been identified as vital elements (Lee, Phillips, Challen & Goodacre, 2012). They have an impactful…
healthcare fraud Fraud remains to be a significant issue affecting the healthcare system because of the impact they have on both public and private healthcare systems. Healthcare fraud is not a new issue but a problem that has always been there and stemming from both the healthcare providers and the patients as well. Healthcare fraud can be defined as an occurrence where a person offers false facts associated with healthcare services to increase or receive payment from a given health plan. This also occurs when someone gives false details associated with care services or supplies. Healthcare abuse, on the other hand, is what happens when there is an activity that abuses the healthcare system, but at the same time, it does not meet the definition of fraud or rather is not medically necessary. The key difference between the two lies in the capacity to prove intent. One of the forms of healthcare fraud is when billing for services is not performed. Any service that has been offered to the clients must be accounted for, as this helps in the management…
HEALTHCARE PRIORITY ISSUE The priority Areas for Nation Action recommended 20 priority areas that should be focused on improving the quality of health care provided to all Americans. The priority areas selected represented the whole continuum of health care from preventive care to termination of lifespan. It also encompasses all age groups, healthcare settings, and health care providers, and collective action is needed to transform the entire health care system (Corrigan & Adams, 2013). Identifying priority areas of care in a country helps in planning and allocation of resources and also know where the national effort is directed. Immunization is a healthcare priority issue among children and adults. Immunization among children is aimed at increasing the coverage levels to reduce health disparities, especially in metropolitan areas with high populations and low incomes (Bowling, 2018). Vaccines are biological substances that produce immune responses identical to those caused by a natural infection. The current vaccines administered to children between birth and 10years in the U.S. include BCG, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, Haemophilus influenza type b and hepatitis B, measles, rubella, and smallpox. According to the…
Healthcare should be Universal The inquiry regarding whether healthcare should be universal or not requires balancing between the healthcare needs of the country and costs. In a country where cancer cases among men and women will increase by 24% and 21% respectively by 2020, getting a balance between the proposing and opposing ends of universal healthcare will be essential (CDC Expected). Requiring that those who are likely to be sick such as the elderly and those with chronic illness pay more, will alleviate the unfair weight on healthy persons who seem mandated to pay for others. Background The debate on universal healthcare proves significant as it advocates for health insurance for all citizens in a country. The healthcare debate gained rise amid rising health issues among the population. Most health issues get attributed to modern lifestyles and pollution. Notably, 4.8% of the US population do not access healthcare due to its associated costs (CDC Access). The population is significant when one looks into the implementation of the ACA in 2010 that got pioneered as improving healthcare coverage in the…
Christ-centered theory The concept of nurse caring and its underlying principles are evolving each day. The primary duty of nurses is seen as caring for the patient physically, in other words, treating one’s ailment to the point of recovery. However, new theories have come up on what the nursing profession should entail, one of them being the Christ-centered theory. The present-day nurse caring theories are based on scientific and philosophical findings. The new theories focus mainly on holism, which is the viewing of an entity as a whole and not a collective result of its parts. In this case, human beings are thought of as more than just their physical and mental aspect, but also their emotional and social well-being. In the nursing field, holistic thinking is applied, as they are taught not to treat just the physical ailments of a person, but focus, also, on the patient’s spiritual and emotional wellness. Nurses are taught to always be readily available for service to all manner of patients regardless of how the nurse fee (Carrie, 2011). This suggests that nurses should…