Health Assessment Essays (Examples)

Health Assessment of Environmental Processes

Assessment of environmental processes includes agents and factors that may cause injury, illness, or death. Choose one of the following age groups: toddler, preschool, and school-age child. List some of the most frequent causes of injuries, illness, or death at the age level. Discuss and describe safety concerns specific to the age, listing the most common causes of injury, illness (acute or chronic), trauma, and death for the age level. Describe how health promotion and health prevention interventions can be incorporated into parent and child teaching.

Among the various age cohorts which are most susceptible to the adverse health consequences of environmental processes, the demographical data indicates that school-age children are especially prone to the effects of external factors. Within a collection of scholarly articles entitled Children's Special Vulnerability to Environmental Health isks, researchers William Toscano, Jr. And Erica L. Fishman begin by stating conclusively…

MI however, should be avoided in patients that may have implants in the brain or cranium (NGI, 2006). While unlikely in a pediatric patient, if evidence that such a device cannot be confirmed through conversation with relatives, CT imaging and X-ay imaging may be the best tools to assess damage to the brain and surrounding regions. adio imaging will also provide assessment and evaluation of cervical spine fractures should they exist.

The risk factors in this patient's condition include possible concussion and internal bleeding, in and around the head, but also of internal organs that may have experienced damage on impact during the car accident. For example, the patient may start vomiting due to excitement or abdominal injury (NICE, 2003). Assessment should include diagnoses of irrational behavior. While fear and distress are likely to be present, other emotions that seem out of the ordinary should be noted during assessment when…

The child of this age often has a strong desire to feel independent and competent, and while the dependence on insulin may be frustrating, showing the child how to administer his or her medication with adult supervision (using an orange or a doll) may be one important way to create a reinforcing sense of autonomy.

A child of this age is likely to be interested in understanding why things are right and wrong, and making the child understand that the diabetes is not a 'punishment' is important.

Social development

Children of this age have an intense need to feel a sense of belonging, including playing with others as part of a group. Eating and food issues will invariably arise at times. The child's different dietary needs may make him or her feel less a part of a group, and less like everyone else. Children of this age are often impatient…

She has mentioned that she has a lot of friends at school, which signifies that she has created a relationship with her new world of school -- including friends, teachers, and the school activities and culture. She is very independent at school and at home. She is sometimes defiant with her mother and she has made some unkind remarks to her father, which he appears to ignore. She isn't afraid to say what is on her mind.

Renata 34 years old. Renata misses her life in Mexico as well as her family. She is missing the relationships with her mother and father and the rest of her extended family. She is happy to give her children a better life here in the States, but she says she thinks that they are missing out on other important familial relationships. She is not sure if this is worth it, but her husband…

Nutritional Assessment

The two identified patients are a child, ten years old, and an adult, 81 years old. Good health is a necessity in all ages and for all people today. It is necessary to have an account of awareness and practice that ensures the body is in a good state of health, sustainable at all times.

Even with the differences in the age differences, good health requires a good state of nutrition, regular check, and activity for sustainability.

Nutritional assessment for a ten-year-old boy

The boy is ten years old. He does not show complete signs of good health. He is malnourished n some way, and depicting signs of physical and mental weakness. The boy has an overall weight lower than the expected, with a height lower than the expected. The boy has a body mass index lower than the calculated within the Z score. There is the presence…

Health Assessment

Family Health Assessment

This paper reflects upon the wellness diagnosis of my uncle's family. There are four family members in this family, consisting of parents (2 individuals), son and daughter. The report includes a questionnaire based upon the 11 health patterns and an analysis of their overall family health with nursing diagnosis.

The summary of the findings of the 11 heath patterns is described below:

The values and health perception of the family is below the standards healthy criteria since the mother of the family is suffering from severe defining of Vitamin D, the father suffers from diabetes and severe stomach problem and none of the children go to the gym.

The family does not consume alcohol but the father smokes on a regular basis. The family cannot be considered as 'healthy eaters' since they eat junk food twice or thrice a week. The mother considers herself a…

Health Assessment Skills

The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty (NONPF, 2013) notes that one vital competency for nurse practitioners to obtain is the ability to use advanced health assessment skills in order to differentiate between normal, variations of normal, and abnormal findings. This is a vital competency for nurse practitioners in primary care nursing because it is part of the leadership approach that an NP is expected to practice. Obtaining this competency ensures that the NP is able to practice independently and manage patients accordingly.

Douglas, Osborne, eid et al. (2014) point out the importance of using advanced health assessment skills in their study of the barriers that nurses face when applying assessment scales. What they find is that nurses can both help patients and the nursing organization by applying accurate assessments, as these assist the patient in obtaining the right type of care and they support the overall…

Community Health Assessment

Major risk factors identified in the assessment

A close look at the assessment reveals that there is no formal cardiology, oncology, and orthopedic programs alhough a couple of orthopedic cardiologists and surgeons maintain privileges at the health facility. While the clinic lacks cancer specialists, a team made out of eight medicinal oncologists, and two radiation oncologists have demonstrated interest to affiliate and create a new cancer program. The premier orthopedic groups of the community are found truly near rival facilities making it awkward for them to perform more than infrequent surgeries at Community Hospital, yet a few practices intend to open branch work places close to the hospital (Hospital blue book 2010). Cardiologists on staff confine their action to performing consultations for doctors whose patients have been admitted to the hospital. Because of the absence of a diagnostic lab laboratory, they request just noninvasive examinations like echocardiograms,…

Community Health Assessment for Los Angeles County California

The Selected Community

The state of California is geographically divided into three coastal regions. Southern California is bounded by Mexico in the South and the central valley to the North. Los Angeles county is in the middle portion of the region and it has features that also define its boundaries. The county is situated in a large valley that resides along the Pacific coast and is surrounded by mountain ranges. Though a relatively small area geographically, it contains a large and diverse population.

The people of Los Angeles county are among the most culturally and ethnically diverse groups in the country and their healthcare and safety needs reflect this. Nearly 10 million people live in the area which equates to almost 2,500 people per square mile. Of course, this is an urban area, which presents specific problems, and it is a densely…

Gordon's Functional Health Assessment for Children & Erickson's Developmental Stages

This study will use Gordon's Functional Health Assessment for Children and Erickson's Developmental Stages and list normal findings in an assessment and potential problems a nurse would discover in an assessment of the ages groups including toddlers, preschool age and school age children. This work will compare and contrast identified similarities and differences in expected assessment across the childhood age groups and will summarize how a nurse would handle physical assessments, examinations, education, and communication differently with children vs. adults. Considered will be spirituality and cultural differences.

Gordon's Functional Health Assessment

Gordon's functional health patterns are described as "an expression of the bio-psychosocial integration." (Nursing Guide, 2012) Functional patterns are influenced by "biological, developmental, cultural, social, and spiritual factors." (Nursing Guide, 2012) Patterns that are dysfunctional may indicate disease or potentially developing disease. Included in Gordon's functional health patterns are…

Fifth, the person admits his or her faults to the higher power and to others, usually through the group meetings of the twelve-step program. The sixth step simply asks the person to "become ready" to release the "defects of character" discovered through Step Four, while the seventh step entails humbly petitioning the higher power to remove the defects of character.

Step Eight is similar to Step Four: the person makes another inventory, this time a list of persons he or she had wronged in the past. Included in step eight also is becoming willing to make amends to those people listed. While working through step nine the person actually makes amends, except in extreme circumstances when to do so would cause the other harm. In other words, making amends should not be done out of self-interest but out of a genuine need for forgiveness. Tenth, the individual commits to a…

A sampling of 32 adult unmarried women aged 18 to 39, not currently pregnant or desiring to be and who recently engaged in sexual intercourse without the use of effective contraception. Half of them were white and half were African-American. Young adult women belonged to this broad age-range group. The 146 reasons given were categorized into four, namely method-related, user-related, partner-related, and cost/access-related. This result suggested the need for multidimensional interventions in effectively reducing the rate of unintended pregnancy (Nettleman et al.).

Side effects and health-related concerns deterred contraceptive use in many respondents (Nettleman et al., 2007). They experienced these side effects themselves or related to them by friends or family. They avoided a particular method because it did not work for them or for someone they knew. Their erroneous perception needs to be corrected by accurate information not only on an individual level but also through social networks of…

Evident diaphoresis would further support the CHF diagnosis.

The nurse should then concentrate her physical examination on the heart itself. Ausculation of the heart should be performed carefully with a stethoscope. In performing the assessment, the nurse should listen to normal heart sounds first before trying to identify murmurs on the patient (Anon., 2010). The aortic, pulmonic, tricuspid and mitral valves should be ausculated to identify the rate and rhythm of any murmurs or other irregularities.

While these primary assessments help to provide a general view of the patient's symptoms, the real severity of CHF is measured according to the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). This measures the fraction of blood that is pumped out of the left ventricle of the heart and determines the degree of congestion (Karapolat et al., 2008). This measurement can be determined by performing a transthoracic echocardiography. A normal ejection fraction lies between 50 --…

Community Health Assessment: Corinth/Alcorn County, Mississippi

Community Health Assessment

Description of the Core Community

The lowest temperature ever recorded in Mississippi - a quite brisk -19° -- was recorded on January 30, 1966, in Corinth. But except for this rather anomalous example of extreme conditions, this city in Alcorn County is not particularly extreme. It is, in fact representative of other small cities across Mississippi and indeed across the entire South.

According to statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the city spans slightly over 30 square miles in area, with over 99.5% of the territory being land and the rest (.43%) water.

Corinth is a city that to some extent lives on the glory (and the tragedy) of its past, for its position at the juncture of a number of different railroads during the Civil War made it an important site during that terrible conflict and hundreds of thousands…

Family Health Assessment

The development of appropriate health care plans for a person and his/her family sometimes require the use of family health assessment, which is an important component in the nursing process. Family health assessment is significant in the nursing or health care process because it helps in upholding family health. One of the most commonly used methods for family health assessment is a functional health pattern assessment that was introduced by Gordon. This model provides a holistic mechanism for family health assessment given that health patterns are classified in 11 categories (Hooper, 1996, p.238). The summary presented in this paper is a family health assessment based on questions listed in the previous pages across the 11 health patterns. The health assessment was carried out on Martin's family, which consists of a 50-year-old father, 46-year-old mother, and 4 children named Amos, Josh, Maureen, and Victor. The summary of findings…

Donna

Genogram

The purpose of this genogram is to carry out the health assessment of the client health and wellness. The name of the client is Donna. M, a female patient, aged 49. The patient is a registered nurse, however, her father was no more living, and had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when he was 60 years and older before he died. Fig 1 reveals the genogram of the patient.

Fig 1: Donna's Genogram

Her mother is still alive and has been diagnosed with high cholesterol. Moreover, the patient has a living two brothers, two sisters, a son, and two daughters. Her son has been diagnosed with ADHD during her childhood and her daughter has been diagnosed with brain cancer and depression when she was an adolescence.

The maternal grandfather was no more living and had kidney disease when he was 60 years of age. The maternal grandmother…

Community Assessment Project

Gore, Oklahoma is like any small town. Located in the Eastern part of the state it is known for the tremendous amounts of fishing and outdoor activities. The city currently has a median age of 46 years old. It has a total of 496 males and 454 females. However, like all areas, the city is facing considerable challenges related to the health of the community. To fully understand what is happening requires focusing on evaluating its health status and the current / future needs for planning. Together, these elements will illustrate the trends inside the community and the best way to address them. ("Gore Oklahoma," 2014) ("Town of Gore," 2014)

The Health Status of Gore, Oklahoma

The health statistics of Gore are showing how they are mirroring the same kinds of trends impacting the state and the nation when it comes to obesity rates. In this case,…

Developmental and Cultural Comprehensive Healthcare Analysis

The Garcia's are a Cuban American family who have been making regular visits for healthcare. The family of four presents with different persistent problems that require that they see a doctor frequently. Nursing care for the family must be consistent with both their stage-of-life needs and respect their culture at the same time. this paper is a view of the cultural and developmental aspects of each member of the family that must be considered by the nurse during each visit.

Gerardo Garcia

Gerardo is a 25-year-old male who is second first generation born in the United States. His presenting issue have been strep and tonsillitis. Gerardo has also informed the nurse that he is gay and that this has caused a rift between himself and his father.

As a 25-year he is trying to work through intimacy vs. isolation. This means that he is…

A 2006 study that examined the rates of depression and other mental health disorders following the December 2004 tsunami found that large numbers of people still faced significant health impairment from the event, and that treatment had been negligible when compared to relief and rebuilding efforts in other areas (CDC 2006). These efforts would likely be made far more effective and efficient, however, if mental health issues were dealt with. Addressing the depression and other mental health maladies that the people suffered from following the tsunami would have led to a better adjusted and more productive (as well as healthier) population.

There was an effective degree of trauma care provided immediately after the tsunami struck, but preventative care measures could have been stepped up during this time to forestall and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases that often comes after a major disaster event (WHO 2005). Obviously, trauma care was…

Healthcare Team Members

HEALTH CARE TEAM

The healthcare team is assembled and trained to meet the special needs of patients and their families (Ezziane, et al., 2012). A skilled health care team can consist of doctors, nurses and many other health care professionals. A patient may encounter many different team members, each playing a special role in delivering quality care (Allen, 2009).

Attending Physicians (M.D., Doctor of Medicine) are experts in very specialized areas such as obstetrics or pediatrics. Most physicians treat injuries and illnesses in patients by giving exams, taking medical histories, prescribing medications, and ordering, performing, and interpreting diagnostic tests. They oversee and lead the healthcare team.

Education - Physicians complete at least 4 years of undergraduate school, 4 years of medical school, and 3 to 8 years of internship and residency, depending on their specialty.

Anesthesiologists (M.D., Doctor of Medicine or D.O., Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) administer…

Health Assessment -- Older Adult

SBAR TEMPLATE

The SBAR (Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation) technique provides a framework for communication between members of the health care team. Although this technique was original developed to target a patient-centered condition, the NNLC will implement this technique to communicate and address critical issues to support immediate attention and action by the committee. This SBAR tool was developed by Kaiser Permanente.

Situation:

The patient is a 75-year-old Navaho woman who lives with her family on the reservation. She has not ever been hospitalized, has not had any major or minor surgery, and does get annual check-ups and immunizations. She presents today with complaints of joint pains in her hands that are keeping her from working on the handicrafts that she makes to supplement her income.

B

Physical Exam

Nutritional / Metabolic: The patient does not take any supplements and reports that she does not consume much meat, other…

Health Promotion Case Study

In this scenario the individual has been asked by a local law firm to come into the organization and establish a wellness program to promote the health of its employees. The firm includes a team of 20 lawyers, 3 managers, 45 paralegals, 5 administrative assistants, 2 information technologists and 4 part-time housekeeping and maintenance staff. The partners agreed last year to install a fully equipped gym in their building because otherwise they would receive a discount on the health insurance if 85% of the employees were participating in the gym at least an average of 90 minutes a week. At the time of renewal of the health care benefits package, the organization was disqualified from the discount because only approximately 10% of the employees were participating in the gym. This case involves a solution for engaging more of the law firm employees in health promotion activities…

Health Care eform Effecting Public Health United States

Healthcare reform is an integral part of the United States healthcare system. Below is an evaluation of the effects healthcare reform has had on healthcare in the U.S. Internet sources as well as peer-reviewed journals will be looked at so as to see the effects.

The cost of healthcare has been on the rise. Issues of healthcare quality ought to be paid attention to and healthcare access equity improved upon (Health Care Transformation). Given these causes, while some differences exist on what reforms to carry out, a majority of Americans hold the belief that the U.S. Healthcare delivery systems need some improving. For a long time ANA has been advocating for reforms in healthcare and several of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions are in line with the Health System eform Agenda of the ANA. The ANA gave a chart that gives…

Health Promotion and Preventative Care Plan

The purpose of this paper is provide information about the process of conducting a health assessment and a care plan based on the findings of the several assessments that were conducted for the benefit of the patient. The paper will describe the health history consisting of a review of systems, and will provide information about the assessment and its relevance to the plan of care developed for the patient.

The patient (CM) is a 24-year-old single black female who was born in the Democratic epublic of Congo (DC) and arrived in the United States three years ago to pursue an education. CM lives at home with her siblings, nieces and nephews, and her parents who just moved to the U.S. five months ago from the DC. CM works in retail and has been working extra shifts in order to help with the expenses of…

Health Unit Coordinator Description

A health unit coordinator may also be known as a unit clerk, ward clerk, or unit secretary (Health Unit Coordinator). They help maintain the facility's service and performance. One of the main responsibilities is acting as a liaison between patients and staff, which includes communicating with doctors, nurses, patients, other departments, patients, and visitors that visit the patients.

Prospects of health unit coordinator positions are in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, health maintenance organizations, and home health agencies all across the nation. Employment opportunities for this position are expected to grow in demand as agencies require more help to coordinate services and performance. The start salary can range from $21,600 to over $24,000. The health unit coordinator may specialize in several different areas, such as reception, scheduling, safety protocols, or patient interaction.

High school courses of algebra, biology, chemistry, computer skills, data processing, psychology, English, composition, social…

Health

Psychosocial Model of Health

Use questions 2, 3, 5, 11, and 12

Many times a health professional will look at a health issue and see only the problem at hand. The difficulty with this approach is that most health problems affect the entire person whether or not the issue is localized or not. The psychosocial model of health looks at more than an individual's physical state to determine how they will respond to treatments in the short- and long-term. A patient's psychological well-being and their support system are as important as a willingness to see a treatment through to the end. The following paper looks at two patients and whether they were well-served from a psychosocial perspective, and, if not, what improvements could be made to serve the patient better.

In the documentaries, two of the patient interviews stood out as especially relevant to this discussion. One of these…

097

United States

0.109

0.093808

0.036112

0.068

Utah

0.1071

0.1401

0.035696

0.073

Vermont

0.1326

0.0988

0.040851

0.114

Virgin Islands

NA

NA

NA

Virginia

0.1048

0.0829

0.080009

0.092

Washington

0.1229

0.0669

0.027831

0.068

West Virginia

0.1293

0.0774

0.036499

0.055

Wisconsin

0.0954

0.0357

0.032367

0.097

Wyoming

0.1251

0.1453

0.053867

0.075

Notes

All spending includes state and federal expenditures. Growth figures reflect increases in benefit payments and disproportionate share hospital payments; growth figures do not include administrative costs, accounting adjustments, or costs for the U.S. Territories.

Definitions

Federal Fiscal Year: Unless otherwise noted, years preceded by "FY" on statehealthfacts.org refer to the Federal Fiscal Year, which runs from October 1 through September 30.  for example, FY 2009 refers to the period from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009.

Sources

Urban Institute estimates based on data from CMS (Form 64) (as of 12/21/11).

From this entire chart, the entire increase in expenditure of…

The idea with this part of the strategy is to be able to form some kind of a partnership with these individuals. This will help to push for a transformation inside the organization. As, these people will help to provide everyone with: a reason for adapting and pushing others to do so (indirectly). (Turner, 1999, pp. 162 -- 163)

Once this occurs, you could then have these individuals become a part of a committee. They will have the responsibility for making specific recommendations about how this can be implemented. This is important, because this will help everyone to realize that some kind of change is occurring inside the facility. Over the course of time, this will lead to shifts in the operating environment by giving people reason for embracing these changes. (Turner, 1999, pp. 162 -- 163)

The Effectiveness of the Plan

To determine the effectiveness of the plan the…

The reason why, is because this is a sign that the quality of care that is being provided in declining. What normally happens is staff members, will often become frustrated with: health care environments that are inefficient and where management has an attitude of indifference. This is problematic, because it can spread through the organization like cancer by: eating away at the fundamentals that made the facility great.

Once this occurs, it will have an impact on: the costs, efficiency and profitability of the hospital. This is the point that this could undermine the reputation of facility and it could have an impact on the brand. When this takes place, it is a sign that many hospitals are falling into a downward spiral of: declining quality of care and increasing costs. At which point, it only becomes a matter of time until: some kind of major restructuring must occur or…

The expectations for these kinds of changes will be to see gradual shifts at first. Where, it may not seem like anything is changing at the facility. However, over the course of time, these kinds of changes will be obvious in the quality of treatment that is being provided will improve. As a result, the strategy will take approximately one year to fully implement a change in the atmosphere of the operating environment.

To ensure that these improvements can continue to be built upon a new system will be introduced of monitoring for shifts that are occurring. In this case, the committee that was established to implement these changes will become way of: monitoring the kinds of treatment that is being provided and the challenges that are facing the facility. This will be accomplished by having outside consultants conduct anonymous surveys of patients, staff members and within the community. They…

Health Policies Medicare

hen everyone in our country finally starts to reach the age of 65 years of age or older, then every person will become eligible for Medicare. It is clear that there are some elderly that are having minimum health concerns while others recurrently are dealing with medical issues for which they will have to seek out treatment by the doctor. However, research is starting to display that there are at least five top conditions that are enhancing on medical and drug spending. It is obvious that Heart disease circumstances are the number one medical issue that the those that are considered elderly are facing and that is becoming very costly to them. Most are unaware that the second one is the disease cancer and it could be internal or external for various elderly patients. Other issues such as joint ailments a lot of the times can cost…

Health Promotion Lesson Plan

The concept of health promotion is thought of as "the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health" (Dunphy et al., 2011, p 25). Serious heart conditions can be prevented, which is why it is so important to utilize community education techniques in order to help try to warn community members of the complications before they occur. This current lesson plan works to create three separate community lesson plans, based on specific age ranges. The age 18-29 focuses primarily on the use of social media and health advocacy efforts in association with the American Heart Association. For ages 30-49, there is also a focus on these two, combined with more community oriented issues, and for 50-60, there is much more of a focus on financial training along with community organized workshops.

Prevention has become a major issue…

In their move from a completely government-paid and -- operated healthcare system to a fees-based approach, the Chinese have greatly improved the efficiency, availability, and efficacy of their healthcare system (Wan & Wan 2010). This suggests that a combination of perspectives, rather than the market or single-payer perspectives that form so many healthcare systems, is most effective.

There are also, of course, healthcare systems that have developed in the same period as those mentioned above, but with far more negative results. The South African healthcare system, though effective in combating certain specific conditions, has many of the same failings as the United States' system, only on to a far more apparent degree. A lack of organization and responsiveness, exacerbated by an attempt to exert highly politicized and highly centralized control over healthcare provision, has plagued South African efforts to combat AIDS and many other problems the country -- and the…

Pender's is a theory of preventive medicine, for the healthy rather than the chronically ill. However, in an age where lifestyle-related disease are on the rise, it can provide an important function, particularly for nurses facing an epidemic of pre-diabetic and diabetic adolescents reared on poor diets and little physical activity. Some might protest that the genetic component to even Type II Diabetes, or obesity in general, might be unacknowledged in the model, but Pender would no doubt respond to her critics that although it is true that certain individuals have a greater predisposition to certain lifestyle diseases, everyone can act within those parameters to improve their life with preventative medicine, as counseled by her model.

orks Cited

McEwen & illis. (2007). "Chinn & Kramer Model." From Chapter 5 of Theoretical bases for nursing.

Pender, Nola J. (2003). "Most frequently asked questions about the Health Promotion

Model and my professional…

As a result, the Govt. has been eager to encourage self-medication, where probable, in an endeavor to save money and time as optimizing convenience for the consumer. (the UK OTC Pharmaceuticals Market: UK pharmaceutical market report)

E) Is there any one burning issue related to health care in this country that is undergoing extensive debate? What do you know about it?

Although Britain NHS has been a model for the rest of the world to emulate, however over the years, a persistent concern with cost constraints and market-defined efficiencies since the bygone twenty years has radically battered the core principles of universal healthcare in UK. The discouragement of proceeds of central taxation as the funding base has been coupled with Govt. passing the costs and dangers to patients and their families. The internal market launched by the Thatcher Govt. In 1980s showed the most prominent features of these modifications, however,…

Health Benchmarking

Discuss barriers to health and safety benchmarking

Barriers to carrying out a safety health bench marking exercise

"Health and safety benchmarking is a planned process by which an organization compares its health and safety processes and performance with others to learn how to: reduce accidents and ill-health; improve compliance with health and safety law; and/or cut compliance costs" (Health and safety benchmarking: Improving together, 1999, HSE: 1). Just like assessing one's competitors is an important component of improving productivity and quality standards, it is also important that the company gain a sense of 'where it is' in relation to the industry as a whole in terms of safety compliance.

However, there is often organizational resistance to carrying out such exercises. First and foremost, it must be understood that "benchmarking is not just about comparing data or copying your competitors. Benchmarking is more about continuously learning from others, learning…

Healthcare Budgetary Decision Making

With resources becoming increasingly limited in the healthcare industry, managers are continually challenged with devising effective strategies for dealing with budgetary concerns. The most prominent challenge comes in the form of decision making that results in striking a balance between cost reduction and the maintenance of high quality care and safety for patients. The following discussion outlines approaches that can be utilized by managers to effectively deal with budgetary concerns in healthcare settings, with an emphasis on the advantages of group decision making strategies.

It is evident that there is often a struggle in the healthcare industry for managers to continually and effectively manage depleting resources, address the ever-changing needs of patients, and all the while provide a high level of patient care (Sibbald et al., 2010). This struggle has at its core a need for improvement in regards to the processes in which priorities are…

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…

Healthcare in the United States: Where We Have Been, Where We Are Going

The current healthcare crisis in America is not one that happened over night. It is one that has been building for more than a quarter century. There was a time in America when healthcare was a stellar institution: research, cures, technological advances, and treatments. The focus of healthcare was maintaining and improving the quality of life. Then, during the early 1980s, managed care became an entity between the physician, the patient, and the healthcare provider of hospital services. It began subtly, but has, today, become one of the most aggressive and successful business ventures of our time; and it has been the unmaking of a once stellar and progressive American institution.

Managed care is a "distinctly American" product (Birenbaum, 1997). It was legislation introduced by the Nixon Administration with the intent to regulate healthcare and to maintain…

Through the use of statistical modeling the researcher was able to arrive at the validation of their hypothesis.

Assessment of esearch Findings

Based on the results of the statistical modeling used in conjunction with the Household Component of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data set, it was found that tax subsidies do not have a differentially large or targeted effect on the prevalence of high burdens (Selden, 2008). Selden (2008) defines burdens as cash and wage equivalents of employer premium contributions. The results show that tax subsidies assist those above the poverty line more than those below it. The study is concluded prior to explaining why this is so, yet the author contends there are many other factors in addition to tax-based subsidies that have an impact on those below the poverty line being able to afford medical care even with tax-based subsidies.

Analysis

This research study shows that at…

Health and Nursing

eduction of bedsores through implementation of Hospital wide turntable

Does the implementation of a hospital-wide turntable team have a positive impact on the reduction of bedsores?

eduction of Bedsores

A pressure ulcer (PU) or bedsore can be defined as an injury to underlying tissue of the skin that occurs due to pressure or friction. In most cases, the injured tissue sores due to the pressure exerted over a prominent bone. PU has also been defined as areas of necrosis due to tissue compression amid the bony prominence and the extracorporeal surface for a prolonged time period (Gray & Krapfl, 2008). It is therefore apparent from these definitions that exposure to pressure for a lengthy time is the primary cause of bedsores.

To prevent or minimize bedsores therefore, it is imperative upon medical practitioners to put intervention measures in place that will reduce exposure to pressure. The human…

Nurses, who have first hand knowledge and understanding of how to live healthy and how to take proper care of themselves, are far better equipped to teach others about these concepts. Certain populations can benefit greatly from prevention, especially those who are prone to specific types of diseases or conditions.

One of the most common behaviors that leads to many chronic and often very damaging health conditions is smoking. Smoking can cause a multitude of diseases and conditions from emphysema to heart disease to lung cancer (Chapman, 2007). The list goes on and on. But smoking is 100% preventable and nurses need to understand not only how to treat these smoking-related diseases but how to more importantly discourage and prevent people from smoking in the first place. Many nurses agree that this behavior leads to many of the worst case scenarios for people with pre-existing chronic conditions. It is therefore…

A recent article touted the 6.1% growth of spending on medical care in 2007.

The same article cautioned however that, "most experts know that no matter what the numbers say, there is still a great deal of work ahead to reform a healthcare system that is still fundamentally broken -- and is facing one of the worst economic recessions in decades" (Lubell, 2009, pg. 6).

Government and industry officials have been working to reform the industry for more than a decade yet the problem seems to be getting worse rather than better. More and more individuals are finding that insurance takes too much of their income and are forced therefore to forego that expense. Government is leery of committing to the cost of such expense, and industry is reluctant to offer expanded coverage without the backing of the federal government. As the interested parties do the two-step the problem becomes…

"Studies of the relationship between managed care penetration in the health care market and expenditures for Medicare fee-for-service enrollees have demonstrated the existence of these types of spill over effects" (Bundorf et al., 2004).

Managed care organizations generate these types of spillover effects by increasing competition in the health care market, altering the arrangement of the health care delivery system, and altering physician practice patterns. Studies have found that higher levels of managed care infiltration are linked with lower rates of hospital cost inflation and lower physician fees are consistent with competitive effects. "Other studies demonstrate the impact of managed care on delivery system structure including hospital capacity, hospital admission patterns, the size and composition of the physician workforce and the adoption and use of medical equipment and technologies. More recent evidence has linked market-level managed care activity to the process, but not the outcomes of care" (Bundorf et al.,…

" (AAF, nd)

The Health Maintenance Organization further should "…negotiate with both public and private payers for adequate reimbursement or direct payment to cover the expenses of interpreter services so that they can establish services without burdening physicians…" and the private industry should be "…engaged by medical organizations, including the AAF, and patient advocacy groups to consider innovative ways to provide interpreter services to both employees and the medically underserved." (AAF, nd)

One example of the community healthcare organization is the CCO model is reported as a community cancer screening center model and is stated to be an effective mechanism for facilitating the linkage of investigators and their institutions with the clinical trials network. It is reported that the minority-based CCO was approved initially by the NCI, Division of Cancer revention Board of Scientific Counselors in January 1989. The implementation began in the fall of 1990 and the program was…

Health Care -- Regulatory Scheme and Licensure Requirements -- Operating a Health Care Organization

California's licensing process for health care organizations is governed by the State's Health and Safety Code, with responsibility for licensing, licensing, inspecting, regulating and/or certifying shouldered by State and Federal agencies. In a straightforward yet rigorous process aided by online application packets and checklists, these agencies are intent on ensuring compliance with State and Federal laws and regulations.

The process for becoming licensed to operate as a health care organization in California is governed by §1200 -- 1209 of the California Health and Safety Code (California State Legislature, 2003). These code sections broadly deem the term "clinic" or "primary care clinic" to mean an "organized outpatient health facility," whether a community clinic, free clinic, specialty clinic or clinic corporation required to be licensed (California State Legislature, 2003). The requirements and processes outlined in these code sections…

Health Care Finance

Greenwald engages in a discussion comparing the U.S. health care system to, well, other health care systems. An interesting methodological fault is that Greenwald cherry-picks his examples. In one paragraph, he compares the U.S. with Canada, in other the UK, and in another Spain. he problem, methodologically, is that he can cherry-pick data from whatever country best suits his argument. What this means, in terms of interpretation, is that Greenwald's findings need to be taken with a grain of salt. As an example, Greenwald notes higher wait times in three countries for urgent coronary artery bypass. Nobody likes high wait times, but Greenwald's U.S. figure doesn't factor in the uninsured, whose wait time is infinity. hey just die. he issue many have with the U.S. system is not that performance is poor; it is that performance is only good when you can afford it.

his cuts to…

Stated to be barriers in the current environment and responsible for the reporting that is inadequate in relation to medical errors are:

Lack of a common understanding about errors among health care professionals

Physicians generally think of errors as individual that resulted from patient morbidity or mortality.

Physicians report errors in medical records that have in turn been ignored by researchers.

Interestingly errors in medication occur in almost 1 of every 5 doses provided to patients in hospitals. It was stated by Kaushal, et al., (2001) that "the rate of medication errors per 100 admission was 55 in pediatric inpatients. Using their figure, we estimated that the sensitivity of using a keyword search on explicit error reports to detect medication errors in inpatients is about 0.7%. They also reported the 37.4% of medication errors were caused by wrong dose or frequency, which is not far away from our result of…

Figure 1 portrays the state of Maryland, the location for the focus of this DR.

Figure 1: Map of Maryland, the State (Google Maps, 2009)

1.3 Study Structure

Organization of the Study

The following five chapters constitute the body of Chapter I: Introduction

Chapter II: Review of the Literature

Chapter III: Methods and Results

Chapter IV: Chapter V: Conclusions, Recommendations, and Implications

Chapter I: Introduction

During Chapter I, the researcher presents this study's focus, as it relates to the background of the study's focus, the area of study, the four research questions, the significance of the study, and the research methodology the researcher utilized to complete this study.

Chapter II: Review of the Literature in Chapter II, the researcher explores information accessed from researched Web sites; articles; books; newspaper excerpts; etc., relevant to considerations of the disparity in access to health care services between rural and urban residence in Maryland…

Health Promotion

The absence of illness does not thoroughly explain "Health", it can as well be described as wellness of the body and mind. More technically, health can be defined from two perspectives -- bodily and psychological health. A state of well-being due to regular exercises, adequate nutrition, sufficient rest, sensitivity to signs of sickness and when to seek help is referred to as Physical health. A person's fitness is showcased by his/her body make-up, cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular stability, and adaptability. Mental wellness refers to psychological and emotional welfare.

As defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), mental health is "a state of wellness in which an individual discovers and harnesses his abilities, make headways regardless of stress encountered in life, can complete tasks adequately and profitably with substantial end product, and also contributes immensely to the uplift of his or her locality." (Nordqvist, 2015). A means of enabling people…

Unless the physicians can succinctly argue their case for care and services, the managed care entity will, for reasons of medical necessity, deny access to care and services.

What Cost-Added atio Based on Illegal Immigrant Population?

The argument by opponents that loopholes exist that would allow illegal immigrants to access Obama's proposed legislation on healthcare services is rendered moot in lieu of the fact that those illegal immigrants are currently receiving healthcare services Medicaid and through Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS). The Federal eimbursement of Emergency Health Services Furnished to Undocumented Aliens states:

"Section 1011 of the (Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) (P.L. 108-173)) MMA appropriated $250 million dollars in FY 2005 through 2008 for payments to eligible providers for emergency health services provided to undocumented aliens and other non-specified citizens who are not eligible for Medicaid (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2009, found online, p.…

Starbucks has committed to provide healthcare coverage to employees who work at least 20 hours a week. This year, the cost will add up to over 200 million dollars for coverage of its over 80,000 employees. Schultz's perspective, differing from G is that the company's healthcare accounts for its very low employee turnover and high productivity. However, their generosity is even now bringing down their bottom line, Starbucks is attracting older workers who no doubt join the company for its healthcare benefits. As a result, Shultz notes that Starbuck's future healthcare costs will dramatically increase. Starbucks has seen that their insurance costs have had double digit increases in each of the past four years, and that this growth is completely "non-sustainable." Part of the reason that Starbucks is able to maintain its current healthcare policy is the relative newness of the company and its current lack of retirement healthcare costs.…

Health and Safety Legislation in elation to Employee Protection for Accidents at Work

Every individual within a workplace environment has the legal rights to protection against any work related risk, which may arise on the course of duty performance. Generally, the employees' health and safety legislation impose a range of duties to both employers and employees. The employees' health and safety guides apply to the self-employed as well as the diverse categories of employees such as manufacturers, designers, and suppliers. In different states, the legislation expresses a wide-based duty guideline within the Health and Safety at Work Acts. These regulations or acts are further spelt out in details within the subsidiary regulations, including those dealing with health and safety management, accident and/or risk management (Johnson & Geraldine, 2013, p. 57), as well as other emerging issues specific to health and safety of employees at work. This paper aims at providing…

Health Maintenance Issues

Mrs. Gray is an 86-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with Type Two Diabetes. She has lived with the disease for three years. Mrs. Gray is single and lives in the area in a naturally occurring retirement community. Mrs. Gray, though 86, appears much younger than her stated age, which can be largely attributed to her active physical nature. Mrs. Gray boasts an exceedingly active social life, meeting her friends for lunch several times a week, and she strives to keep herself in good physical condition by going to the gym an average of four times a week. Mrs. Gray is further involved in the community through significant work in her church and as a member of the Senior Friends Program, which allows volunteers to interact with shut-ins by visiting with them and bringing them dinner once a week. Mrs. Gray's last A1C was 6.1%.

Health Maintenance…

I want to die knowing that I did everything I could with my life to feel and be as successful as possible.

During my golden years, I will continue to exercise as much as possible. The type of exercise I do will be varied, as it will be necessary to incorporate some cardiovascular activity using a gym or personal trainer. I will do yoga and meditate also, perhaps even more often than before. Turning inward for introspection will help me to reflect regularly on my life and how I hope to spend my later years. By the time I die, I will feel ready and at peace with myself.

My personal eulogy will be humble and reflect the fact that I did my best. I want to be remembered as someone who was intelligent and balanced in their approach to life. Being healthy is one of the most important things…

Health and Socio-Cultual Factors

Health and Socio-Cultural Factors

Health and Socio cultural Factors

Health and Socio-Cultural Factors

Health and Socio-Cultural Factors

The value of health being wealth is as old as the history of mankind. People of all times have their philosophies related to healthcare and they developed the precautions and treatment according to their specified theories. As the changes take place in every aspect of life, the theories of healthcare and causes of diseases were also developed and the new concepts were promoted to replace the old concepts and practices.

This paper casts light upon causes of disease and illness with regard to classical and modern concepts. The paper explains the differences between the two concepts and elaborates how the new concepts are better than the classical ones.

Classical Concepts about Health

The classical statement about health was 'Illness is simply a matter of bad luck, bad judgment, or…

Health Care Drugs

There are many ethical and moral decisions to be made with drugs are available in health care facility. As department manager, a set of procedures and protocols regarding the handling, storing and monitoring of drugs is necessary to ensure the safety of the patients and employees. Within this set of procedures, generic drugs, controlled drugs, and all charting is necessary so that all drugs can be documented in order to keep track of everything and to keep all employees honest (Pamela Anderson, 2010). This is because no medicine is without side effects and some are worse than others."In any situation where care-workers are responsible for the looking after and giving of medicines to other people, be they young or old, healthy or sick, it is important to follow a set of general principles to ensure that this is done safely. In some ways this is similar to…

The infant mortality rate is of 8.97 deaths per 1,000 live births. This rate places Kuwait on the 160th position on the chart of the CIA. The adult prevalence rate of HIV / AIDS is of 0.1 per cent.

In terms of economy, Kuwait is a relatively open, small and wealthy economy. It relies extensively on oil exports -- petroleum exports for instance account for 95 per cent of the total export revenues as well as for 95 per cent of the federal income. The Kuwaiti representatives have recently set the goal of increasing the oil production per day. Currently, Kuwait is facing the pressures of the internationalized economic crisis -- which however, due to recent economic surpluses in Kuwait, affects the economy to a lower extent.

Simultaneously with the increase in oil production, the Kuwaiti authorities are also focusing on diversifying the economic activities in the sense of supporting…

Healthcare: Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions: Healthcare

The author stated the major steps in the policy analysis process. Which stage do you think is the most important? State reasons using one policy analysis example

Policy analysis simply refers to the process of assessing policies to determine how effective they are, or would be in the resolution of economic and social issues in the population. It is carried out in a series of steps that include problem identification, problem definition, process analysis and qualitative analysis (McLaughlin & McLaughlin, 2014). The authors summarize the policy analysis process as follows -- the analyst ascertains that a problem indeed exists, analyses the policies that have already been formulated to address the same, assesses whether the policies already in existence have been effective in realizing their intended objectives, determines the new technologies or modifications that could be incorporated into these policies to make them more effective,…

Health Self-Assessment

Identify which three of the six dimensions of health you are strongest in.

According to this self-assessment instrument, my three strongest health dimensions are Social Health, Spiritual Health, and Intellectual Health. I scored a 4 out of 5 in each of those areas. By comparison, I scored a 3 in each of the other three measures (Physical Health, Emotional Health, and Environmental Health.

Describe why you think the identified three dimensions are your strongest.

I scored well in Social Health because I am comfortable with the impressions that I make on people and because I tend to get along well with others. I also participate in various social activities and genuinely enjoy interacting with others, including those who are different from me. My family relationships are healthy and fulfilling, I am fully present and available in my personal relationships, I am considerate of others, I contribute positively to…