Public Health Workforce

The healthcare sector offers a variety of professional opportunities that include pediatric, geriatrics, public policy and many other areas in which I hope to make a impact towards. I have always been intrigued by medicine and continue to gain more interest in public health. In the future, I desire to combine both medicine and public health by participating in an MD and MPH program. My experiences and education provide me with constant motivation in achieving my goals.

3) Which one of those below is not used to define a profession? A profession

For second part of reading response, I choose to report on Promoting public understanding of public health article by our professor Stephen Bezruchka. I really enjoyed reading the article he wrote about how people in the America are being less healthy than those people in other rich nations. Promoting public awareness about this topic should be high priority for all Public Health majors. Health is the most important part of human life and it surprising to me that people in America are not really doing anything to change it. Solving this problem need individual supports and public supports.

In some areas of population health, technology in enhanced patient information is utilized to perform risk stratification to identify the high risk patients. These patient’s often have uncontrolled BP, diabetes with an HgbA1c over 9, COPD, etc. Once identified as high risk or potential high risk, these patients receive additional care or patient outreach to help manage their condition. Some organizations employee RN Health Coaches and Care Coordination teams to help these patients and identify gaps in care. The primary care physician assumes care of the patient along with striving for the patient to become active in their overall health thereby keeping them out of the hospital (Sanford, 2013). One enhanced area of population management is the PCMH model. PCMH practices increase patient’s engagement in shared decision making while providing compensation for care coordination, care management and medical consultation outside of traditional face-to-face visits (Berryman, Palmer, Kohl &Parham, 2013). A patient centered approach pushes for changes not only in the delivery of medicine but in traditional encounters. In addition, PCMH encourages increased access to the patient’s primary care physicians and improved patient satisfaction scores. PCMH and population health encourages providers to increase after hours care to decrease emergency department visits and/or hospitalizations. Thereby reducing cost and improving the patient’s

While interacting with current medical students pursuing the MD/MPH dual degree at a UTHSCSA student panel, I realized that obtaining an MPH would align greatly with my interests and career goals, allowing me to expand the scope of my medical education and enhance my critical thinking skills. I enjoy how public health combines various aspects needed to treat disease and improve health outcomes, and I know that integrating the MPH core concepts with my medical degree, will help me to become a well-rounded and better physician who approaches healthcare through both an individual and population-based perspective. An education in public health will provide me with various opportunities ranging from the creation and development of community health projects, to contributing to the modification of current health policies. I will seize the opportunity to work with professionals from all occupations including educators, clinicians, executives, and I will become an advocate and a credible voice for positive change through a better understanding of the healthcare system that is in place

The Institute for Healthcare Framework developed the Triple Aim. The framework of this model is an approach for change. Within this framework there are five concepts to focus one when implementing in different organizations. These include: “Focus on individuals and families, Redesign of primary care services and structures, Population health management, Cost control platform and System integration and execution”(Institute for healthcare Improvement, 2016). The goal of the Triple Aim is for organizations to have healthy populations while reducing per capita cost of care.

There are 2,157 Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA’s) in rural and frontier areas of all states and US territories compared to 910 in urban areas.**

Americans will have insurance coverage. The US has an unequal distribution of the primary care, thus; the rural areas have been left with only few physicians. Many physicians prefer practicing in urban areas because of the lucrative advantage, better technology or demographic preference. Many sources including Green et al, of Anita Phigpen Perry School of nursing confirms that the reason for the shortage of physicians in the rural areas is due to the tendency of people in the rural areas being poorer, sicker and older . This segment of people tends to be uninsured, and physicians are attracted to urban and suburb areas where revenues are. Today with the ACA policies, people in the underserved area have better access to physicians, although the shortage persists. The US Department of Health and Human Services, states that to help strengthen access to the primary care workforce, the Affordable Care Act invests in health work force training, including: a $ 1.5 billion investment in National Health Service Corps Scholarship and loan repayment programs and $ 230 million over five years to primarily train medical residents in community-bases. However, do we have enough experts?

The debate continues as to whether or not America is really experiencing a healthcare workforce shortage. This debate continues to rage as commercial areas experience an overflow of healthcare professionals with the option to offer per diem employment to job seekers in these areas. However, rural areas continue to suffer from a lack of professional healthcare workers; specifically, those who specialize in specialist areas. The Alliance for Healthcare Reform (2011) has highlighted the following points as the factors which will be deemed responsible for this shortage:

The American Public Health Association (APHA) is made up of 31 basic sections which represent key public health disciplines. Through these sections, members with mutual interests are able to combine efforts and develop scientific program content as well as policy papers in their areas of practice or areas where they are interested. In addition, these basic sections provide for social and professional networking, mentoring and career development. The sections are APHA’s key professional units and they help in promoting the mission and fulfilling the Association’s goals. Through these sections, a variety of opportunities for the involvement of the members, thus making a richer experience for the professionals who decide on interacting with the Association’s primary sections. In order to become an active member in this section, a person ought to be a current member of the Association and any professional who is already a member of the Association may become a section member (American Public Health

The ARC-PA Accreditation Standards for Physician Assistant Education, 4th Edition, states: “The program curriculum must include instruction in concepts of public health as they relate to the role of the practicing PA.” The annotation further states that “Instruction in concepts of public health includes an appreciation of the public health system and the role of health care providers in the prevention of disease and maintenance of population health. It includes participating in disease surveillance, reporting, and

Quality training will help significantly in reducing anxieties about using Health Matters. There are multiple audiences to be considered when planning training associated with CPOE Health Matters implementation along with tailoring training strategies and plans to different subgroups physicians, nurses, practice managers, receptionists, and physician extenders. The availability of technical and training support during the initial implementation is essential. Timing of training is also critical. Training that is either too early or too late will waste resources and raise frustrations. The technology introduces the required tools to transform daily work, and training introduces the requisite skills to do it. The nature of technology will

There are five core competencies needed for health care professionals and they are provide patient centered care, work in interdisciplinary teams, employ evidence based practice, apply quality improvement, and utilizing informatics. In this paper, I will go into further detail how providing patient centered care is challenging, how to overcome the challenges, how it relates to my chosen profession, and how this competency can impact delivery of care to patients.

After finishing my Undergraduate, I have seen it wise to purse masters in public health, an area that I have much interest in. Having pursed a Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences, minor in psychology, expanding my knowledge in the field of public health has been my next option. The vast knowledge that I have gained learning and working can help me while pursuing this program. Given the chance I would be able to fulfill my career goals.

Shortage of healthcare workers in US is a well-known phenomenon. With the baby-boomer generation coming to its retirement the acute shortage of talented workforce is a major challenge before the US health care. There are a number of trends in health care that are currently affecting the workforce dynamics. The use of technology in health care has increased over time and increasingly health care organizations are adopting new technologies to make their services better. It is an important trend that has also affected the health care workforce. Increased use of Information Technology in the health care organizations has led to related changes in the composition of the workforce too. But not just this, there are also a number of other