Discover: What Is Public Health? Term Paper Example

Public health offers a means of bringing health professionals together from different circles in an effort to improve health across population groups in many ways, from health promotion to disease prevention and in other areas where there are significant opportunities to address health concerns that affect persons at the community, national, and global levels (Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health, 2015). Public health is largely representative of groups of people in different communities and populations in order to address problems that affect people on a much larger scale. On the contrary, personal health is representative of the challenges and considerations regarding health matters which affect individuals on a more personal level that require further analysis and discovery through guidance from healthcare organizations. These individual cases may serve as contributing factors to the work that is performed within the public health sector but remain a separate entity on their own and require a more individualized approach to managing healthcare concerns that will impact health outcomes.

Public health assessments offer a means of data collection and analysis that will determine a specific community or population’s current health status with the intent to identify critical priorities and to facilitate effective resource allocation to the appropriate areas in response to the outcomes of the data collection process (Minnesota Department of Health, 2015). In addition, this process identifies the need for additional areas of focus that will have lasting implications on the health and wellbeing of the communities which are identified, while also supporting initiatives or activities that will enhance and promote the public health and wellbeing of the community as a whole (Minnesota Department of Health, 2015). It is imperative that those who work in the public health sector are prepared to better manage the needs and expectations of a given group of community members through their actions and must determine what is required to ensure that there are significant strides made to support communities who experience different types of health concerns that impact larger groups of people within communities and within specific populations (Minnesota Department of Public Health, 2015). There are primary advantages to this process, but there may also be disadvantages in some cases where collective resources at the community level are not used wisely and create new challenges for a population when they are not available for use in addressing the problems that have been identified. This reflects a need to establish critical priorities and to make sense of the realities of healthcare needs within specific communities who require different resources as a form of survival.

Within some communities, conflicts may emerge, for example, when resources are limited and children and older adults are competing for the same pool of resources due to lack of funding or other limitations. Therefore, making the decision between children and older adults is very difficult and unethical, yet it requires a delicate balance in order to determine which groups will best benefit from the resources that are available and how to best manage these without limiting the actions of other groups. Public health advocates and policy makers must be practical regarding the allocation of resources in these areas and provide sufficient support so that persons across different populations will benefit from these tools and will demonstrate the importance of balance in public health to address many different priorities in a fair and equitable manner.

Public health assessments are able to identify specific trends and problems within specific communities or populations that are grounded in factual data and information that will have an impact on decision-making at the public policy level. When trends are identified that influence areas of need, it is necessary to develop a more effective approach to determining where policies are necessary to ensure that persons within a given community are given an opportunity to obtain support and resources to meet their needs in a timely manner. There must be a greater emphasis on the development of new policies that will have a direct impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals in different communities and provide high levels of support that will influence decision-making in this regard. A significant emphasis must be placed upon developing priorities that will impact quality of care and also support individuals who possess specific needs within the community who are unable to access these resources on their own. Therefore, advocates for their causes must be identified that will enhance their quality of life in different ways through public policy measures.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act included provisions regarding the Elder Justice Act of 2010, which was specifically created to address neglect, exploitation, and the abuse of older adults (National Center on Elder Abuse, 2015). This Act demonstrates the importance of advancing the objectives associated with the protection of older adults from different types of abuse that may impact their quality of life and for which grant funding has been allocated to improve services for older adults, increase staffing for long-term care facilities, and the development of mandatory regulations to report crimes against older adults (National Center on Elder Abuse, 2015). This Act reflects the increased level of attention and focus on older adults, particularly as they struggle to survive under a variety of conditions where their health and/or mental capacity may be compromised (National Center on Elder Abuse, 2015). When patients experience these limitations, it is necessary to address them in a timely manner and to have support and resources available that will have a positive impact on their health and wellbeing. This federal law supports different initiatives to protect older adults from abuse and supports the need for further research, guidance, and resources for this group that will impact their lives in a manner that is consistent with protecting the quality of life of all persons, regardless of their age.

References

Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health. Discover: What is public health? Retrieved from http://www.aspph.org/discover/

Minnesota Department of Health (2015). Community health assessment. Retrieved from http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/opi/pm/lphap/cha/

National Center on Elder Abuse (2015). Federal laws. Retrieved from http://www.ncea.aoa.gov/Library/Policy/Law/Federal/index.aspx