Healthcare Delivery Systems, Essay Example

The United States, despite lacking a universal healthcare system, offers one of the most modern healthcare systems to its citizens through its multifarious agencies such as the US Department for Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the US Food & Drugs Administration (FDA), etc. Besides these major agencies responsible for healthcare in the US, regional and state agencies address the peculiar health concerns attributable to their geographical locations and ethnic identities.

Healthcare is a dynamic system requiring updates and an ever vigilant structure to identify new threats and risks inherent in a population in a generalized as well as local setting. Basic hygiene, availability of nutritious food, maintenance of sanitation, healthy lifestyle inculcation in people and the delivery of required vaccination procedures are the myriad functions which go hand in hand to provide a total healthcare platform. Health education and disease prevention programs are run by multifarious organizations at the school, community and workplace levels according to the requirements in general as well as specific areas according to the age, sex and state of the population under focus. Grave dangers like pandemics, natural disasters and emergent diseases are handled at the national level through focused campaigns such as the current campaign on the global flu pandemic (www.flu.gov).

There are three types’ measures which are used for evaluation of any health policy (Gilson et al, 1975). They include ‘measures of structure, measures of process and measure of outcomes’. Measures of structure and process evaluate the strategies behind the policy while the measures of outcome assess the effects of the policy on the affected population. Community participation in the evaluation of any health policy is of prime importance and deliberative approaches when used by the concerned authorities are successful in yielding information which leads to the development of effective and appropriate modifications in any health programme (Gregory et al, 2008). A specific health intervention which has definite end points like the success of Polio immunization can be simply evaluated by taking the total figures of immunization doses administered (process measure) and demonstrable data of less occurrence of  Polio (outcome measure) (Gilson et al, 1975). On the other hand more complicated policies like evaluating the outcome of preventive strategies for Alzheimer’s disease might need more through data collection, research and analytical procedures.

Evaluation of a health programme involves the general processes like audit and quality assurance to determine whether predetermined standards have been met (Bowling, 2002). It may be directly focussed on patients in relation to treatment and care, evaluation of specific biochemical indicators or on the measurement of broader quality of life of the patients. Outcome of medical interventions from social, psychological, physical and economic perspectives are measured (Bowling, 2002).

Any population is directly affected by the local and the national health education policies and people modify their behaviours on the basis of the current knowledge being provided as well as personal health concerns on the basis of the peculiarities specific to their age group and sex. Children, adolescents and young people adopt healthy lifestyles according to the inputs they receive at school and the community level. Adults and older people have their own health concerns which are handled by personal insights as well as assistance from the local health authorities which guide them according to the emergent problems encountered by them. The government identifies and provides adequate assistance from time to time in the form of Acts and laws which assist people in making appropriate use of the fruits of medical progress and research.

References

Bowling A. (2002) Research Methods in Health: Investigating Health and Health Services, Second Edition, Open University Press, Buckingham/Philadelphia, Pgs. 6-8

Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation, online document accessed Jan. 20, 2009 at: http://www.flu.gov/professional/community/commitigation.html

Gilson B.S., Gilson J.S., Bergner M. et al, (1975) The Sickness Impact Profile – Development of an Outcome Measure of Health Care, AJPH, Vol. 65, No. 12

Gregory J., Hartz-Karp J. & Watson R (2008) Using deliberative techniques to engage the community in policy development, Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 2008, 5:16, retrieved online September 17, 2009 from http://www.anzhealthpolicy.com/content/5/1/16