Health Care and Disease

¶ … home health care services in extending care delivery to the home setting is increasing in contemporary times. Home health care aims to shorten hospitalization and reduce the frequency of visits to the hospital for patients recuperating from a surgical operation or disease, or living with a chronic illness such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes (Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS], n.d.). It enables patients to have more independent living and a better quality of life. The author's organisation specialises in home health care.

In conjunction with hospitals and physicians, the organisation delivers a wide range of individualised care services to patients at their own homes. Whereas the organisation has performed impressively in terms of patient satisfaction, there is still room for improvement. In cognizance of increased demand for home health care due to the underlying greater demand for healthcare in general, it is imperative for the organisation to design and implement an educational program for patients.

A significant proportion of medication errors, hospital readmissions, patient falls, and medication non-compliance amongst home care patients can be attributed to lack of adequate information about disease and risk factors on the part of patients (Ellenbecker et al., 2008). This problem is further compounded by poor literacy skills, which sometimes make it difficult for patients to understand the information provided to them (Ellenbecker et al., 2008). Indeed, the organisation has recorded a greater occurrence of these incidences in the last few years.

An educational program tailored to the specific needs of patients can be effective in improving health outcomes amongst home health care patients. It can enhance self-care on the part of patients, thereby minimising or avoiding unnecessary rehospitalisation. Target Population Older adults aged 65 and above comprise the target population for the educational program. Senior citizens are the major consumers of home health care services, with the consumption being highest in individuals with low incomes (Ellenbecker et al., 2008).

Common health care services received by the elderly in the home setting revolve around pain management, injury, heart disease, circulatory disease, respiratory disease, as well as musculoskeletal disease. These conditions are more pronounced amongst the elderly compared to the rest of the population (Ellenbecker et al., 2008). Due to aging, a substantial number of older adults grapple with reduced cognitive ability, weak reading skill, and diminished functional strength, which may limit their ability to comply with medication or comprehend health information provided to them by home caregivers (Ellenbecker et al., 2008).

This justifies the need for an educational intervention for this population. Benefits of the Program An educational program for patients will have important benefits for both the patients and the organisation. The program will seek to increase patient's understanding of the risk factors associated with their disease, especially in terms of diet, physical activity, air quality, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

It will also focus on increasing patients' familiarity with fall risk factors at home, self-care approaches, the importance of adhering to prescribed medication, as well as channels and ways of communicating with home care practitioners. Better understanding of these aspects can significantly improve health outcomes amongst older adults receiving health care while at home. It can reduce the incidence of medication errors and their associated adverse events, falls, injuries, as well as preventable morbidities and hospital readmissions (Ellenbecker et al., 2008).

This can in turn reduce the cost of health care, which can often be a significant burden for most patients. Improved health outcomes can positively affect patient satisfaction to the benefit of the organisation. The organisation would then be able to attract and retain more customers. Cost/Budget Justification The educational program will specifically involve providing disease-specific educational resources to patients in various formats as per the unique needs or learning the use of technological devices amongst the target population.

These include mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, and laptops), email, dashboards, printed materials, videos, as well as one-on-one education. This means that the program will involve a number of costs. The costs will mainly be incurred in designing and printing leaflets, acquiring or producing educational videos, as well as designing and packaging online information. The estimated training costs would be $20,000. Program Evaluation An evaluation will be necessary to determine the effectiveness of the program.

Any quality improvement initiative program seeks to achieve a certain objective, which in this case is to increase patients' self-care ability while at home. Three metrics will be used to monitor the effectiveness of the program: patient falls, medication compliance, and hospital readmission. As mentioned earlier, the organisation has seen increased incidences in these outcomes in the last few years, with poor patient.