Health Management (Discussion Questions) a Health Plan

Health Management (Discussion questions)

A health plan is gradually devised in four main stages. The first step is to assess the current situation, and what needs to be changed in terms of a given health setting. Secondly, a set of solutions is designed to bridge the cap between what is, and what is desirable. Thirdly, the measures that were agreed upon are implemented in the targeted environment. Lastly, a process of evaluation determines how effectively the health measures made the transition from what was to what was demanded to be changed.

During the initial phase, it is the general identification of health in a population sector that morphs. The redefining of health justifies enacting a new health plan; in other words, the new plan has to accommodate the effects of this redefinition of society's health goals. After the goals are set, the devised measures ought to take into consideration existing health, social, economical, or even political conditions (The Health Planner's Toolkit, 2006). In fact, the second stage can be split into four mini-stages. Thus, after establishing the initial directions, a process of analyzing potential challenges ensues. Then, a vast array of solutions is proposed that could transcend the current setting for the desirable one, and out of their multitude, a select few are chosen as the best solutions.

The third stage is comprised of actually implementing the established solutions. This is done by devising a separate implementation plan. Finally, during evaluation, the solutions are being tested for their effectiveness in implementation. In addition, the environment where these solutions were applied is also screened for any modification that might be correlated to the solutions by rendering them less effective, more effective, or irrelevant (The Health Planner's Toolkit, 2006). The evaluation plan has to be effective in the sense that it has to capture both foreseen and involuntary consequences of the implementation process.

2) A health plan is composed of four principal types of activities. The first and foremost step in health planning is assessment. From the very beginning, those devising a health plan must place focus on a targeted group, and then quantify its localized needs, by using all the available data and evidence of "health inequality" (National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, 2011). Starting from the acquired evidence, adequate solutions are sought and prioritized to complement the needs of the target population.

The subsequent phase of a health plan is program development. During this stage, logic models are enacted and then evaluated in order to reach a superior amount of data concerning the measures proposed for application. This process serves to revise and optimize the solutions drafted thus far, and pave the way for an efficient and adequate implementation.