Influences on Health Care Delivery and Population-Centered Nursing

POPULATION-CENTERED NURSING 1

Influenceson Health Care Delivery and Population-Centered Nursing

Influenceson Health Care Delivery and Population-Centered Nursing

As a registerednurse working in a cardiology department as a triage and an advisor,my main career roles and specialties involves brief assessment of thepatient’s mental and physical condition as well as their medicalhistory with the aim of determining the urgency of their treatment.High-risk complaints are sent to the ER immediately, or arrangementsfor ambulatory services are made.

I have adoptedthe population-focused health care practice, which ensures thatevaluation of a particular population’s healthcare needs andhealthcare decisions are done in a holistic manner for the entirepopulation rather than for an individual. Treatment focuses on apopulation that is characterized by shared traits such asdemographic, environmental, and personal traits (Stanhope &ampLancaster, 2015). The three populations that form my major concernsinvolves the newborns with heart defects, the elderly suffering fromprogressed stage heart disease, and pregnant women with heartcomplications. This paper will only focus on the population ofpregnant women who have complications related to cardiovasculardisease.

Gore, Warade, &ampBramhapurikar (2016) observed that approximately one to four percentof pregnant women suffered from the cardiovascular disease inAmerica. Various factors that have led to an increase in the maternalCVD incidence such as risk factors for cardiovascular disease(hypertension, obesity, and diabetes), CHD patient’s lifespan, andmaternal age increase. Maternal CVD is not only associated withdifferent potential complications, but also it is associated withincreased mortality (Gore et al., 2016). Therefore, the following areprimary, secondary, and tertiary preventive actions that can promoteoptimal health for this population.

First, primaryprevention action might include the formulation of counseling andeducation policies that talks about the risk factors ofcardiovascular disease during pregnancy and encourages engagement inhealthy lifestyles. Provision of this information is aimed atprevention of any risk factors that might lead to CVD in pregnancy.Moreover, campaign on cardiovascular risk assessment and geneticscreening in asymptomatic pregnant women is also important inassisting the healthcare practitioners to know who is at risk, andconsequently, develop prior strategies to keep this condition fromhappening. The healthcare professionals should also urge thegovernment to regulate the distribution of high fat and processedfoods, and ban or increase the taxes on things like tobacco andalcohol.

Second,secondary prevention involves actions like persuading people toengage in recurrent screening tests to unearth CVD in its earlystages, giving medication, and enforcing exercise and diet programsaimed at preventing additional complications like strokes and heartattacks in pregnancy. These secondary prevention actions work to stopor slow the progress of CVD in the affected population (Gore et al.,2016). Therefore, the affected population can get back to itsoriginal functionality.

Third, actions intertiary prevention are meant to reduce the impact of diseases thathave long lasting effects such as chronic illnesses. At this level,maternal CVD can be managed through various actions such asdevelopment and implementation of community rehabilitation andmanagement programs, and development and enforcement of supportgroups.

Stanhope et al.,(2015) suggested that population-focused practice not only ensuresequal distribution of health care within the population, but alsoensures that the entire population gets vital information on overallhealth preventative measures. As a whole, communities come togetherto learn and discuss various individual healthcare problems thataffect the whole community. Wolff (2010) observed that communityproblems could be solved efficiently by a community collaborativeapproach that ensures that all healthcare stakeholders are involvedin the decision-making, formulation, and implementation of healthcarepolicies. Most importantly, to succeed in population-based healthcare, the health sector should ensure that the communityproblem-solving systems are connected to the affected population, arefree from competition, do not focus on crisis orientation, are notfragmented, and are culturally competent (Wolff, 2010).

References

Gore, S., Warade,S., &amp Bramhapurikar, R. (2016). A study to assess cardiacdiseases in pregnancy outcome. International Journal ofReproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, 5(9),2960-2964.

Stanhope, M., &ampLancaster, J. (2015). Public Health Nursing: Population-centeredhealth care in the community (9th ed.). Atlanta, GA: ElsevierHealth Sciences.

Wolff, T. (2010).The Power of Collaborative Solutions: Six Principles and EffectiveTools for Building Healthy Communities. San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass/ John Wiley.