Addressing Health Disparities

Addressing Health Disparities

Addressing Health Disparities in the Population

The Hispanic population has one of the highest disease burden in the United States. The elderly in particular are faced with major challenges related to their poor access to information, language barrier and the widespread discrimination in the healthcare sector. According to Velasco-Mondragon et al., (2016), this dipsarity can be solved through the use of Health in All policy framework that works through collaborative policymaking. Through such an initiative, the specific needs and characteristics of the population will be considered in the development of the policies and in implementation of the necessary guidelines towards equity in healthcare which is in line with the Principal Standard (CLAS Standards). From a professional perspective, working with any community requires that ione understands and respect where they are coming from in terms of their behavior, beliefs and practices. Only then can a caregiver interact freely, learn about and help the community.

References

Velasco-Mondragon, E., Jimenez, A., Palladino-Davis, A. G., Davis, D., & Escamilla-Cejudo, J. A. (2016). Hispanic health in the USA: a scoping review of the literature. Public health reviews, 37, 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-016-0043-2

WEEK 2- Diabetes Prevalence and Incidence

Article: Diabetes Prevalence and Incidence Among Medicare Beneficiaries — United States, 2001–2015

Epidemiological concept and procedures used in the surveillance and investigations for the prevalence and incidence of diabetes among elderly population in the U.S is the Medicare national data. The primary goal of epidemiology study in this report is to find the effectiveness of using both hospital insurance and fee-for-service programs to prevent and manage diabetes. The report has found that despite the use of Medicare programs in the use, cases of diabetes are still at a steady increase (Zheng, Ley & Hu, 2018). The report has found that the use of fee-for-service approach can help reduce the prevalence of diabetes. There are two broad categories of epidemiology that have been used in this report; descriptive and analytic epidemiology. Descriptive epidemiology is a branch of epidemiology that deals with studies to generate hypotheses and address the questions that tend to identify the people or population of the people infected, how the people were infected and where they are infected. The report compares the prevalence of diabetes when hospital insurance is used alone and when patients are enrolled in both hospital insurance and fee-for-service programs.

The main purpose of analytic epidemiology is to identify the causes of disease and possible epidemiological interventions. Diabetes prevention and incidence among Medicare beneficiaries increased until 2015 when it started to decline while the prevalence and incidence among Medicare-fee-for-service for elderly population also decreased. The study found that some important risk factors, including total dietary intake, added sugar and sugar-sweetened beverage intakes and physical inactivity must have influenced diabetes prevalence and incidence between 2009 and 2017 (Andes et al., 2019). The report further established that the national survey data found that the prevalence of self-reported diabetes diagnosed by healthcare providers among Americans aged 65 was 20 percent in 2017. The incidence was 0.9 percent. The report has used national survey data to present the burden of diabetes. It has recommended that the data is an important source for future diabetes surveillance in the older population for disease prevention and management.

Enrolling all the older adults into Medicare insurance programs can reduce diabetes prevalence and incidence among the elderly population. With the increase in medical cost and high demand for healthcare services, all older adults eligible for Medicare programs should be enrolled in insurance programs for the proper medication if they become sick. This will help reduce the prevalence of diabetes, and it will also ensure that all patients receive standard healthcare services (Andes et al., 2019). Additional measures to preventing diabetes and incidence include eating a balanced diet, avoiding sugary foods and drinks and engaging in physical exercise. These measures will reduce the prevalence of diabetes, and they will also facilitate the integration of quality healthcare through Medicare programs to all diabetes patients.

My experience with the topic is that it helps healthcare workers or students to understand how epidemiology is used to identify and find solutions to national practice problems (Zheng, Ley & Hu, 2018). Epidemiology measurement also helps students to analyze national practice problems through engaging in descriptive and analytic epidemiology. It helps to generate measures for preventing and managing chronic diseases.

References

Andes, L. J., Li, Y., Srinivasan, M., Benoit, S. R., Gregg, E., & Rolka, D. B. (2019). Diabetes prevalence and incidence among Medicare beneficiaries—United States, 2001–2015. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68(43), 961.

Zheng, Y., Ley, S. H., & Hu, F. B. (2018). Global aetiology and epidemiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 14(2), 88.

Week 3 Cancer

Medical data mining analyzes different sets of data to identify patterns and use the patterns to predict the likelihood of events occurring in the future. Data mining in medicine can be used to save more patients’ lives by improving the quality of life. It can be used in measuring how a particular treatment is effective in treating a certain disease. It can also be used in detecting fraud and abuse in certain medical institutions by identifying patterns of complaints and medical claims. In this case, data mining will be used in comparing the cancer disease at the state and national levels and determining the organization that addresses the burden of cancer.

The information hub used to identify data on cancer cases around the nation and in different states is the CDC Surveillance Resource Centre and Interactive Database Systems. Cancer is a disease that is caused when cells divide uncontrollably and spread to the surrounding cells (“Cancer Prevention and Control,” 2020). There are different kinds of cancer, which can either be ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, bone cancer, among other kinds. This disease normally causes tumors and known as cancerous tumors. In 2017, there were 124,804 new cancer cases in Florida alone, and 45129 died of this disease (“USCS Data Visualizations,” 2020). The data shows that for every 100,000 people, 426 new cases are reported, and 145 people die. At the national level, a total of 1,701,315 people discovered they had this disease, and approximately 600000 succumbed to this condition. However, the number of new cases reported for every 100,000 compared to Florida decreased by 12 and increased by 8 for every  100,000 people who died nationwide. As compared to other states, Florida was the second highest with an incidence rate of 457.1 cases per 100,000 people (“USCS Data Visualizations,” 2020). In fact, there were 1,268,900 Florida people who had been diagnosed with cancer.

In America, the American Cancer Society is an organization that helps people diagnosed with cancer and their family members. The organization provides daily help and emotional support to all those who are affected. The services they offer are free for everyone who needs access to them. The American Cancer Society was very instrumental in ensuring more money is awarded for cancer research in the National Cancer Institute; 296 million dollars increased the money(Epstein,1999). It has also contributed to the decrease in the number of deaths by 29 percent in the US due to the services they provide. Professionally speaking, I have seen several people diagnosed with cancer, including myself.  The emotional toll it had on them is too much to bear (“Cancer Prevention and Control,” 2020). This condition is very dangerous, and unless we change our lifestyles, many people will succumb to this disease. Also, early detection of cancer can help in the early treatment of this disease. It is therefore advisable for people to go through regular screening to identify any new cases of cancer.

Cancer is dangerous due to its ability to spread across the affected individual’s body and the second leading cause of death in America’s united states. As discussed, this disease’s incidence rate in Florida alone is 457.1 per 100 000 cases. That is very high as compared to other states. Several organizations in the United States have been formed to help people who have been affected by this disease around the world, such as the American Cancer Society. Therefore it is our responsibility to change our lifestyles for the better.

References

Epstein, S. (1999). AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: THE WORLD’S WEALTHIEST “NONPROFIT” INSTITUTION. International Journal of Health Services, 29(3), 565-578. Retrieved January 21, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/45131803 (Links to an external site.)

Cancer Prevention and Control. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Retrieved January 21, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/ (Links to an external site.) .

WEEK 4 The Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis involves the addiction to opioid drugs due to misuse. Some of the side effects of opioids include nausea, physical dependence, vomiting, physical dependence, and sedation. The opioid crisis is a national crisis that has a negative impact on public health. According to data collected in 2018, approximately 128 people die daily due to overdose of opioids in America (Olfson, 2018). Over the last three years, opioids have increased the mortality rate in the United States.  This paper aims at analyzing the opioid crisis in America.

For the past four years, Nevada has recorded a lower opioid-related overdose rate compared to the United States rate. In 2020, the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths per 100,000 residents in Nevada decreased from 16.2 to 12.2 (Olfson, 2018). Hence the rates reduced by approximately 24%. The benzodiazepine-related overdose deaths which involved opioids were 85%. Due to the pandemic, the overdose death rates increased tremendously. Covid-19 had a negative impact on the lives of most individuals causing mental health issues. Anxiety, stress, and depression increased the probability of opioid-related overdose. In 2020, opioid-related overdose increased by 137% in America. Overall, the opioid-related overdose death rate in the United States is higher compared to Nevada.

Nevada can implement primary prevention to reduce misuse of opioids by focusing on community settings such as the school setup. Through schools, the community can campaign against opioids (Meadowcrof & Whitacre, 2020). A secondary prevention intervention that can be deployed is prescription drug monitoring, for instance, reducing opioid prescribing and the number of providers. The tertiary prevention method that Nevada can implement includes medication-assisted treatment,which will reduce illicit opioid use. Overall, primary, tertiary and secondary prevention interventions will play a critical role in reducing the misuse of opioids in Nevada.

Prescription opioid misuse is increasing drastically and has become a major challenge in public health (Merrick et al., 2020). Opioid consumers are increasing daily, and opioid overdose is a national emergency. One evidence-based strategy involves promoting the safe and appropriate prescription of opioids. Hence, the number of opioid addiction and misuse will decrease. Some of the victims of opioid abuse did not get the right prescription, and end up overdosing or being addicted to the drug. Approximately 40% of individuals who die from opioids were not appropriately prescribed by clinicians (Merricket al., 2020).

There are various stakeholders that can address the opioid crisis such as the federal government, and agencies supporting drug treatments. The community should have campaigns that address and educate society on opioid misuse and addiction. While working, my colleague got into an accident and had to undergo two surgeries to recover. After he was prescribed opioids, he overdosed and fell into addiction. Later on, he passed on due to the opioid overdose, and we lost an important individual in our department. The stakeholders who address the crisis should ensure that they create awareness and educate people on opioids.

The rate of opioid overdose drugs keeps increasing daily,which negatively affects the state and the country largely. The opioid-related overdose death rate in America is higher compared to Nevada. Primary, tertiary, and secondary prevention interventions have to be implemented to curb opioid-related overdose deaths in Nevada.

Meadowcroft, D., & Whitacre, B. (2020). Community Meetings on the Rural Opioid Crisis: Setting a Path Forward by Learning from Others. Substance abuse: research and treatment, 14, 1178221820920651.

Merrick, M. T., Ford, D. C., Haegerich, T. M., & Simon, T. (2020). Adverse childhood experiences increase risk for prescription opioid misuse. The journal of primary prevention, 41(2), 139-152.

Olfson, M., Wall, M., Wang, S., Crystal, S., & Blanco, C. (2018). Service use preceding opioid-related fatality. American journal of psychiatry, 175(6), 538-544.

WEEK 5 Military and Care For Veterans

Military service members and veterans suffer from varied combat injuries and mental-related problems while on and off the field. These service members are highly exposed to situations that can lead to severe body injuries due to the severity of their difficult working conditions. Additionally, people who are and have been in the military encounter situations that can negatively impact their psychological health. This can lead to mental health problems such as depression, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress (Brenner et al., 2018). Consequently, population-based health intervention for military and veterans calls for the provision of unique critical healthcare that tackles the social determinants and risk factors affecting their health.

An effective military and veteran health intervention requires an understanding of the social determinants and risk factors of health in the population setting. The social determinants of health for military service members are wide and varied including individual behavior and environmental factors. The common social determinants of health in the military include economic instability, deployment leading to lack of social systems, social isolation, poor housing, food insecurity, and broken care link (Duan-Porter et al., 2018). The healthcare intervention for the military service members and veterans is in line with the healthy people 2020 goals. According to the CDC (2019), the objective of the healthy people 2020 goals is to achieve longer and quality lives through various life-enhancing mechanisms.

One of the healthy people 2020 goal includes living a longer quality lives that are free from preventable diseases, injury, disability, and premature death. CDC’s occupational safety and health topic entails enhancing the health and safety of people in a working environment through early prevention and intervention. The aim is to prevent the occurrence of injuries, diseases, and deaths as a result of work-related situations. The different workplace settings, employees’ demographic differences, and distinct healthcare practices contribute to a great diversity in the safety and health risks in each section thus calls for customized healthcare interventions (CDC, 2019). The occupational safety and healthy people 2020 goals are implemented in the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA).

The implementation of the occupational safety and healthy people 2020 goal has been adopted through evidence-based practice. One such intervention includes implementing the occupational safety and healthy people 2020 goal by preventing workplace injuries, skin, lung, and musculoskeletal diseases, hearing problems, and unspecific diseases (Teufer et al., 2019). The process utilizes behavioral, relational, and combinations of other interventions to effectively reduce and prevent injuries and diseases occurring at the workplace. According to Teufer et al. (2019), the intervention demonstrated high efficacy in addressing individual health problems and diseases during the study. This intervention of preventing occupational individual diseases can be adopted by policymakers for making evidence-based decisions in a population-based healthcare program. For instance, the intervention can be utilized to make evidence-based decisions for military service members in the field. Ideally, the intervention can prevent personal injury, diseases, and other risks that military members in the field are exposed to.

The evidence-based intervention discussed above has several measurable objectives in addressing the occupational safety and healthy people 2020 goal. One such measurable objective is the number of individual diseases prevented by the intervention in the workplace. The objective should show a finite number of occupational individual diseases and injuries that the intervention has prevented. Also, the measurable intervention should show the number of risks that the intervention has successfully eliminated at the workplace.

References

Brenner, L. A., Hoisington, A. J., Stearns-Yoder, K. A., Stamper, C. E., Heinze, J. D., Postolache, T. T., Hadidi, D. A., Hoffmire, C. A., Stanislawski, M. A., & Lowry, C. A. (2018). Military-Related Exposures, Social Determinants of Health, and Dysbiosis: The United States-Veteran Microbiome Project (US-VMP). Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2018.00400

CDC. (2019). Healthy People – Healthy People 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/healthy_people/hp2020.htm

Duan-Porter, W., Martinson, B. C., Greer, N., Taylor, B. C., Ullman, K., McKenzie, L., Rosebush, C., MacDonald, R., Falde, S., & Wilt, T. J. (2018). Evidence Review—Social Determinants of Health for Veterans. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 33(10), 1785–1795. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-018-4566-8

Teufer, B., Ebenberger, A., Affengruber, L., Kien, C., Klerings, I., Szelag, M., Grillich, L., & Griebler, U. (2019). Evidence-based occupational health and safety interventions: a comprehensive overview of reviews. BMJ Open, 9(12), e032528. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032528

WEEK 6 Leading Emergency Preparedness and Management

​There has been an alarming rate of disasters in the United States and worldwide over the years. The emergence of infectious diseases such as Ebola and Covid-19 and natural disasters such as landslide, drought, floods, fire, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, and terrorism has continued to place human and animal lives at risk. The emerging disasters have also caused threats to property loss and injuries in the country (Lo et al., 2017). DNP scholars play a significant role in emergency preparedness and management. In the United States, DNP scholars are responsible for developing an emergency management plan for an organization and also recommend effective ways that healthcare organizations should use to respond or plan for disasters. Therefore; this paper seeks to discuss the role of DNP scholars in emergency preparedness and management.

​The Healthy People 2020 evidence-based resource is a tool that is widely used by the U.S Department of Health and Human Resources for emergency preparedness and management in the United States. The Healthy People 2020 is a strategy for leading emergency preparedness and leadership in the United States. DNP nurses and other professionals use Healthy People 2020 evidence-based resources to develop an emergency management plan and prepare for a disaster.

​According to the previous World Health Organization report, the strategy that shapes the healthcare system outcome in a disaster is a holistic health system approach to all-hazards management. All- hazards management has been identified as an approach that reduces resource duplication at every stage of disaster management. The process maximizes human and capital investments. Additionally, the all-hazards approach optimizes long-term and immediate health outcomes. Finally, the all-hazards approach has also been reported to prevent set-backs in healthcare systems in the wake of the disaster.

​The disaster of losing data and cyber attacks are on the rise in my community. Sensitive data has been a top target for hackers, and the increasing data availability is increasing aggression incidents. My neighborhood is experiencing data vulnerability since the healthcare organizations in my community become more interconnected. Sharing of information to stakeholders involves using the Web, telemedicine, remote monitoring, and health information exchange. The use of these technologies predisposes the data to hackers, and this can lead to cyber-attacks (Ghafur, Grass, Jennings & Darzi, 2019). In my community, the risk of losing data from a disaster is significant. It can lead to HIPAA penalties, life-or-death consequences, litigation costs, and financial losses. The priority concern in my community is the safety and confidentiality of the patient data.

​Ensuring safety, security, and confidentiality is the priority concern in my community because my community is located in high-risk areas, making it possible to lose data due to disasters.The Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP) is a professional actor in emergency preparedness and response. AHEPP provides healthcare and other professionals with resource-sharing opportunities, scholarly exchange, continuing education, and networking.  AHEPP also allows information to preparedness professionals to help and guide them in refining disaster planning efforts(Rebmann, Gupta & Charney, 2020). The skills that are supplied by AHEPP help prepare professionals to advance their knowledge in emergency management. AHEPP provides networking opportunities to preparedness professionals and references, thereby ensuring that healthcare organizations and communities obtain the right information regarding disaster management. The mission of AHEPP is to move preparedness forward by providing quality services to preparedness professionals.

References

Ghafur, S., Grass, E., Jennings, N. R., & Darzi, A. (2019). The challenges of cybersecurity in health care: the UK National Health Service as a case study. The Lancet Digital Health, 1(1), e10-e12.

Lo, S. T. T., Chan, E. Y. Y., Chan, G. K. W., Murray, V., Abrahams, J., Ardalan, A., … & Yau, J. C. W. (2017). Health emergency and disaster risk management (Health-EDRM): developing the research field within the Sendai framework paradigm. International journal of disaster risk science, 8(2), 145-149.

Rebmann, T., Gupta, N. K., & Charney, R. L. (2020). US Hospital Preparedness to Manage Unidentified Individuals and Reunite Unaccompanied Minors with Family Members During Disasters: Results from a Nationwide Survey. Health security.

WEEK 7 Social Media in Population Health

​Lack of enough healthcare providers to look after the growing elderly population

For the past few decades, America has experienced a drastic increase in the population of the elderly population. The introduction of long-term care services, baby boomers, Medicare, Obamacare, and Medicaid programs in the United States have prolonged lives in the United States (Kastner et al., 2018). According to the previous census report, the elderly population is the majority in the U.S. However, the increase in the elderly population has been characterized by challenges of chronic infections such as diabetes, cancer, stroke, obesity, heart disease, and hypertension. The increasing cases of chronic conditions among the elderly population have put much pressure on the healthcare sector due to the lack of enough nurses to look after the growing population of older adults with chronic infections.

​According to the previous American Nurses Association report, the nurse to patient ratio in the U.S is currently one to one-fifty. This is over and above the average rate that nurses are supposed to work. The report indicated that the situation is even worse in some states as some nurses serve over 200 patients per day (Mataxen & Webb, 2019). In marginalized areas, a nurse may help over 300 patients in a day. Other concerns were raised in the healthcare space because many healthcare organizations are congested, and some even share beds.

​The use of telenursing can be adopted to free space in healthcare organizations and lessen the workload in healthcare organizations. The use of technology such as phone calls and video calls can significantly reduce the nurse’s workload. Telenursing is a healthcare program that allows patients with chronic conditions to be discharged and continue with medication in their homes. Telenursing involves giving direction to the patient through a phone call or video call to the patient on the diagnosis and treatment process. Patients who may not be able to travel regularly to the hospital and those coming from far can be enrolled through a telenursing program. In some states such as Indiana, Florida, and California, where telenursing has been adopted, the hospitals have managed to reduce the hospital space and workload by half (Mataxen & Webb, 2019). The care outcome in these areas has improved, and the care services issued have also improved.

Information population health “Tweet” Protect the aging from challenges of chronic conditions

​There is at least one older adult in every family in America. When I say an older adult, I mean anyone above 60 years. We cherish, admire and love every moment we share with our grandparents and aging dads and mums. But have we ever considered their health and their wellbeing? Here I would like to share something unique about America. America is currently having the largest population of older people, and the number is threatening to increase in the future. The health of the elderly population is a primary concern in healthcare organizations because there is a significant increase in chronic infections among the elderly population—cases of diabetes, cancer, hypertension, stroke, obesity, and heart disease peak in America. Diabetes claims more than ten thousand lives every year. Cancer is the top killer disease, followed by diabetes and malaria. The elderly population contributes to 80 percent of these fatalities. The use of traditional intervention processes such as face-to-face methods is becoming noneffective. With the advancement in technology and the fact that over 60 percent of the U.S population have and can use computers and access the internet, I think healthcare organizations should adopt telehealth in supporting the elderly population with chronic conditions. Theuse of telenursing requires a high level of corporation and support from the community, family members, and friends. Let us support our healthcare providers to access and provide healthcare services through technology in remote areas. This will improve care services and also improve the care outcome. It will protect the aging people from moving from one place to another in search of healthcare services, and it is also efficient and convenient. Let us join hands in supporting healthcare providers in reaching older people with chronic conditions to enhance their wellbeing.

The tweet’s measurable outcome depends on the number of comments, likes, and the number of people who will share the tweet. This will show people’s reactions towards the tweet. The comments will also give recommendations on areas to adjust to and how best the program can be implemented. However, the measurable outcome from the tweet will be based on the reactions towards the program.