Health Needs Assessment Case Study

INTRODUCTION

Medical education in the United States has been deemed inadequate to properly train health care professionals in public health and prevention (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016). Current medical education systems focus on the treatment of acute medical conditions versus the prevention of diseases (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016). Experts agree that, to improve population health in our country, medical education programs must be redesigned to include new skills and approaches in preventative care; however, the same experts disagree on the best way to do this (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016).The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has developed and proposed a set of core competencies for all health care providers to ensure adequate care and address the health care needs of our communities. These competencies include: providing patient-centered care, working in interdisciplinary teams, employing evidence-based practices, applying quality improvement, and utilizing informatics (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016). Other recommendations have been put forward; however, adoption of these recommendations has been slow to emerge.In the past, the typical patient care model comprised:

• A patient seeking services.
• A provider diagnosing and treating an acute concern.
• The patient complying with the treatment recommendations or not.

Today, patient engagement and advocacy are increasing in focus. As provider reimbursement methodologies shift to pay for performance and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and patients demand higher-quality services at a lower cost, patient engagement is a critical variable to improved patient outcomes.The patient engagement framework was developed to assist in the study of patient engagement. The framework consists of five steps and will be examined in this unit (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016):

1. Inform Me: providers educate patients and help them understand care information.
2. Engage Me: providers interact with patients to improve care.
3. Empower Me: patients become a part of the care team.
4. Partner with Me: the provider and patient partner in shared care planning.
5. Support my E-Community: the community is included in the network of patient support.

The above framework illustrates one way in which population health strives to shift our focus from a reactive treatment model to a proactive wellness model (Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, & Clarke, 2016). For your future reference, each type of model can be briefly defined as:

• Treatment models provide care to patients who exhibit a problem.
• Wellness models take proactive steps to prevent development of a problem.

Reference

Nash, D. B., Fabius, R. J., Skoufalos, A., & Clarke, J. L. (2016). Population health: Creating a culture of wellness (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

DEMONSTRATION OF PROFICIENCY

• Competency 1: Integrate principles of epidemiology, population health, and community engagement to plan interventions.
  • Assess how social determinants affect individuals in relation to a specific health problem.
• Competency 2: Differentiate and evaluate evidence-based treatment models and prevention models designed to promote wellness and disease management for population health.
  • Assess an evidence-based treatment model that addresses a health need.
  • Assess an evidence-based wellness model for preventing development of a future health problem.
• Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and respectful of the diversity, dignity, and integrity of others and is consistent with expectations for health care professionals.
  • Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.
  • Write following APA style for in-text citation, quotes, and references.

Note: It is recommended that you complete the assessments in this course in the order they are presented.

PREPARATION

For this assessment, select one of the three specific health-improvement needs you identified in the Analyze Community Health Needs assessment.Once you have selected the health-improvement need you want to focus on, complete the following:

• Conduct research on your chosen health improvement need and identify two possible approaches to address the problem in your community.
  • One approach may be the same one that you identified in your Analyze Community Health Needs assessment, or you can select two new approaches.
• Research how other communities are addressing your chosen need and locate relevant data.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be a good place to start.
• Complete the suggested Community Health Strategies activity if you want to check your knowledge about specific models and strategies for community health initiatives such as education, intervention, prevention, and treatment.

INSTRUCTIONS

Examine potential interventions for the health-improvement need you selected during your preparation and compile a 4–6-page analysis. As previously stated, you must report on two possible approaches, one of which may be from those you identified in your Analyze Community Health Needs assessment.For the purposes of this assessment, each intervention approach must be evidence based. Also, one intervention must be based on a treatment model and the other, a wellness model. For the purposes of this assessment, use these brief definitions when determining which model an intervention would be categorized as:

• Treatment models provide care to patients who exhibit a problem.
• Wellness models take proactive steps to prevent development of a problem.

Consult the scoring guide to ensure that you are addressing all criteria at the level to which you desire. Include the following in your analysis:

• Assess how social determinants affect individuals in relation to a specific health problem.
  • Restate the specific health-improvement need that you are researching.
  • Restate the relevant characteristics of the affected community with regards to your chosen health improvement need.
  • Identify the most relevant social determinants with regards to your chosen health need.
    • How do they impact individuals in the community?
      • How do these impacts affect the health and ability to seek out treatment of individuals?
    • What inequities with regards to social determinants exist between specific populations in the community?
      • Why is it important to acknowledge these inequities when determining interventions to improve a population health issue?
• Assess an evidence-based treatment model that addresses a population health need.
  • Describe an evidence-based treatment model to address the health need.
  • Be explicit in your descriptions, pointing out the identifying characteristics of the model.
    • How can you tell that the model belongs in the treatment model category?
  • Explain why the treatment-based model is a potentially effective intervention for your identified health need.
  • Comment on advantages and disadvantages of the treatment model.
• Assess an evidence-based wellness model for preventing development of a future population-health problem.
  • Describe an evidence-based wellness model to prevent future development of the health problem.
  • Be explicit in your descriptions, pointing out the identifying characteristics of the model.
    • How can you tell that the model belongs in the wellness model category?
  • Explain why the wellness-based model is a potentially effective intervention for your identified health need.
  • Comment on advantages and disadvantages of the wellness model.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Written communication: Ensure writing is clear, with correct spelling, grammar, and syntax, and well organized to support orderly exposition of content.
• Length: Compose 4–6 typed and double-spaced content pages set in 12-point Times New Roman, not including title page and reference page.
• References: Cite at least three current scholarly or professional resources.
• APA formatting: Use APA style for references and citations. You may wish to refer to the following APA resources to help with your structure, formatting, and style:
  • APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX].
  • APA Style Paper Template [DOCX].