Health care needs assessment

Health care needs assessment

Executive summary

Health needs assessment is generally used to explain development and refinement of a well-established approaches which are used in understanding local population needs. Health needs assessment in today’s society has come to mean an objective and valid criterion of tailoring health services which is an evidence based approach to health commissioning and good planning for health care services. Health care needs assessment involves a systematic methods of evaluating unmet health and health care needs within a population and initiating some changes which will make these unmet demands be met. It incorporates what is to be done, what can be afforded and what can be done. This paper will seek to evaluate pan American health organization, its staffing procedure, jib redesign, employee’s retention, recruitment and training. It will also focus on the facilities in the organization such as space planning, construction, redesign and relocation. Finally, it will focus on PAHO operations such as delivery of services and care, access, wait times, equipment usage, process improvement and resource optimization.

Introduction

The purpose of profiling nutrients would be to provide a tool that would be used to categorize food and drinks products that are said to be in excess of sugar, salt, total fats and saturated fats free PAHO (2016). The paper will seek to address the issue of health assessment by use of Pan American health organization. PAHO would be used as a tool in designing and implementing various regulatory strategies which would be related to the prevention and control obesity. Needs assessment which is undertaken by providers of health services are used to identify the real need based on criteria that they select. While taking needs assessment, there should be an assumption that, there are common problems facing the different groups of people.  According to Gillam, Yates & padmanabhan (2012), through health assessment, it would be possible to plan and deliver the most effective care to those in need, apply the principles of equity and social justice in practice and make sure scarce resources are given to where they can give maximum benefits to health.

Pan America health organization and HRM

The human resource department gives support to Pan America health organization by providing required services to promote conducive work environment that would offer best working conditions of services that can retain and attract highly qualified and devoted individuals to supporting organization’s missions and goals (Mitchell, 2016). Human resource management is said to be a strategic partner with pan America health organization. Its mission is to give service to the organization and its working personnel through; timely decisions and its actions, equitable, clear and its innovative processes, respectful communication and work environment and aligning of human resource and business strategy of an organization.

Pan America health organization provides an opportunity to willing people to join and work with them (Mitchell, 2016). The pan America health organization gives its preferences to candidates who are both fluent in English and Spanish. Its other official languages used are French and Portuguese. All professionals’ vacancies and positions require candidates with who are university degree holder and with senior positions within pan America health, they require post- graduate degree from recognized university. The support personnel in PAHO are required to have high school diploma and post-secondary training in the relevant field of the related work. Some positions like administrative and support positions in Washington DC are usually filled by local candidates (Mitchell, 2016).

PAHO make some special offers to recruit qualified women into the some of its professional ranks. The organization also focuses on achieving a broad representation of the nationals from all its member states and other countries. The selection of staff is done on competitive basis with the objective of getting the highest standards efficiency, integrity and competency. In order for Pan American health organization to retain its employees, it’s staffing professional helps in keeping new employees after they are hired. Pan America health organization have well-structured retention program which is meant to improve employees satisfaction (“Staffing Manager”, 2016). For PAHO to come with these well- designed programs, human resource managers have to discuss job satisfaction with employees, understand how incentives work and implement the strategies to keep all employees engaged. Apart from recruitment and retention, PAHO staffing managers have many other duties in relation to administrative duties (“Staffing Manager”, 2016). They relate to writing and disseminating job descriptions, filling hiring paper work and keeping accurate records of all the job applicants.

Operations

Delivery of the service and regulative compliance

Due to increased cases of obesity among children and adolescents, the Pan American Health Organization Directing Council approved to take a Plan of Action towards the control of recorded high cases of obesity problems in American countries in whole. The mission of PAHO in its process of service delivery is to provide an evidence –based information for the development of fiscal policies and regulations to prevent increased consumption of unhealthy food (Andrus et. al, 2014). In addition, PAHO proves its readiness to fight obesity among children by providing clear regional and labeling guidelines for food and beverages that are offered in schools. Significantly, the mandate taken by PAHO provides regional criteria that incorporates the recommended amounts of salts, sugars and saturated fats in foods.

PAHO provides various principles and rationale that can be used to fight obesity and enhance nutrition among all the citizens in America. According to Andrus et.al, (2014), PAHO addresses Nutrition Model based on WHO population Nutrient Intake Goals to prevent the increased incidences of nutritional infection and obesity in particular. This recommends on the amount of nutrients to be used and the maximum amount of food to be taken. The rationale addresses that continuous intake of sugary flavors promotes consumption of sweet foods. The PAHO NP Model considers food product to be excessive if the nutrient content in that food is higher than the recommended in the WHO’s PNIGs (“World Health Organization. (2014). Guidance For Establishing A National Health Laboratory System – Google Search”).PAHO improves their services delivery by going hand in hand with the updates of PNIGs and the recent guidelines of WHO about the maximum amount of critical nutrient content recommended.

Process improvements

PAHO recommends processed and utra-processed foods and beverages that contains defined amounts of sodium salts, free sugars, trans- fatty acids added by the manufacturer. Of the examples of processed foods by PAHO are vegetables such as carrots, peas and onions. In addition, the organization recommends utra-processed foods such as ice creams and sweetened juices. On its efforts to reduce obesity, PAHO prohibits direct access of nutrients in foods that are meant to add flavor in other foods. These foods are; salt, plant oils, sugar, butter and honey. The principles dictate that taking these foods directly to the body does not contribute any additional nutrient content in that food. In order to realize their essence in the body, they must be taken with other foods.

Access

Health authorities, representatives and pharmaceutical industry in general launces a new venue where an information about new access of medical products and cooperation is shared. This places PAHO in a better on how its location, products and their delivery services can be accessed in general. PAHO collaborates with health organizations of other countries such WHO, Ministry of Health Brazil and the USA Food and Drug Administration. In addition, it links networks, information resources and communities of practice in order to promote technology transfer and improve governance and capacity ion pharmaceutical industry. The groups that require information about access of PAHO are; government agencies, scientists, researchers and research institutions (Flores et al, 2014). The tools that support access are; communities practice, annotated medicine observatory and repository.

Equipment usage

PAHO considers the use of sterilization system which plays a very important role in the prevention of hospital acquired infections. Initially, 30% to 50% patients dies because of poor stylization system used. Sterilization plant services are responsible for collecting and receiving the objects and devices already used during patient care and then processing and distributing them throughout the hospital. PAHO has simplified everything through publishing a manual that outlines protocols and procedures that have been put forward to prevent hospital related infections. PAHO recommends for the use of Personal Protective Equipment in hospitals by the doctors or any other people when handling patients (Ordunez et al, 2015). It is one of the ways through which one can practice to prevent infections.

Facilities

Pan American Organization addresses redesigning, relocation and space planning in favor of drug storage in all health centers and homes. Storage affects the quality, product and cost of drug (Davenport, 2015). Preservation of drugs is aimed at achieving the pharmacological quality which demands for maintenance of suitable environmental conditions as per the requirements of each drug. Upon consideration of this critical issues, PAHO recommends guidelines to be followed during construction and design of storerooms. The organization recommends that all the equipment used in process and designing should be smooth to avoid touch with the product (Carrie et al, 2015). On top of that, they must be easily and completely cleanable and need not be reactive, absorbent or addictive. Space must be designed in such a way that rooms are wide enough for traffic movement in order to separate equipment from each other for contamination control within rooms.

Conclusion

It is clearly evident that, in order to prevent and cure most of the diseases affecting people in the current world, various health practices must be revised and upgraded to the latest requirements of PAHO and other health organizations’ principles and guidelines. This entails the use of recommended health care equipment, methods of building design, access and process delivery as provided by PAHO among others.

References

Andrus, J. K., Benjamin, G. C., & Wilson, J. (2014). Expanding access to Spanish-speaking          communities: a critical partnership. American journal of public health, 104(S2), S198-         S199.

Carrie, H., Mackey, T. K., & Laird, S. N. (2015). Integrating traditional indigenous medicine and             western biomedicine into health systems: a review of Nicaraguan health policies and           miskitu health services. International journal for equity in health, 14(1), 1.

Davenport, T. H. (2013). Process innovation: reengineering work through information       technology. Harvard Business Press.

Flores, E. C., Lluque, M. E., Chiappe, M., Lino, R., & Bayer, A. M. (2014). Operations research   study to implement HIV and syphilis point-of-care tests and assess client perceptions in a         marginalized area of Lima, Peru. International journal of STD & AIDS,            0956462414552696.

Mitchell, C. (2016). PAHO WHO | Welcome to PAHO’S Career Opportunities. Pan American     Health Organization / World Health Organization.

Ordunez, P., Luciani, S., Barojas, A., Fitzgerald, J., & Hennis, A. J. (2015). A public health          approach to hypertension. The Lancet, 385(9980), 1833.

PAHO (2016). Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Pro­le Model. 1-34

PAHO (2016). Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Pro­le Model. 1-34

Staffing Manager. (2016). Recruiter. Retrieved 10 September 2016, from    https://www.recruiter.com/i/staffing-manager/

Stephen Gillam, Jan Yates & padmanabhan (2012). Essential Public Health: Theory and practice.             1-326

World Health Organization. (2014). Guidance for Establishing a National Health Laboratory        System.