Q7.1Core Service Delivery and Value Based Care What distinguishes the primary healthcare approach from primary care?
Within the field of healthcare, primary care and the primary healthcare approach are two separate but related ideas. The scopes, goals, and consequences of these methods vary with respect to how health services are delivered.
Approach to Primary Healthcare:
1. All-encompassing Medical Care: Primary healthcare is a comprehensive and all-encompassing strategy that concentrates on providing the population with a wide range of vital health services. It covers preventative, promotional, and rehabilitative services in addition to curative treatment (Magnussen et al., 2004). It highlights the significance of addressing the social determinants of health and attempts to meet the requirements of the general public (Rasanathan et al., 2011).
2. Community-Centered: In primary healthcare, community involvement and participation in health decision-making are highly valued. It aims to create a sense of ownership by involving communities in the management of their own health and well-being (UNICEF & World Health Organization, 1978).
3. Intersectoral Collaboration: This strategy acknowledges that a number of areas, including housing, sanitation, and education, have an impact on health. Consequently, it promotes working together across sectors to address the root causes of health inequalities (Rispel, 2016).
Primary Care:
1. Individual and Clinical Services: The main focus of primary care is on the clinical requirements of the individual patient. It entails treating and diagnosing specific patients, frequently with the assistance of specialists, family doctors, or general practitioners (Burger & Christian, 2020).
2. Patient-Centered: The goal of the primary care approach is to establish a solid rapport between the physician and the patient. It focuses on treating each patient's unique health issues and controlling their medical ailments.
3. Curative Services: Treating acute medical conditions and offering medical care for wounds or diseases is the main emphasis of primary care. Compared to primary healthcare, it lacks the same comprehensive preventive and health promotion viewpoint (Thomas, 2008).
The primary healthcare approach is essentially a more comprehensive plan that includes primary care. basic healthcare include basic care services, but goes beyond them to incorporate communities and address socioeconomic factors as part of a larger public health viewpoint. Although primary care is a crucial part of basic healthcare, it functions at a more specialized clinical level, concentrating on the diagnosis and treatment of individual patients' health problems. Primary care and primary healthcare are essential components of an efficient healthcare system, with basic healthcare serving as the cornerstone. Primary healthcare serves as the cornerstone for a more comprehensive and egalitarian approach to health, and both primary healthcare and primary care are essential to a well-functioning healthcare system.
Q7.3 Complementary COPC How would you describe the COPC process?
In order to address the unique health requirements of a specified community, Community-Oriented basic Care (COPC) is a healthcare method that combines basic medical care with community health. It places a strong emphasis on holistic and preventative healthcare, with an emphasis on managing the community's overall health as well as encouraging wellbeing and avoiding sickness. Key components of the COPC process include the following:
1. A community-focused strategy The community is the primary component of COPC. It acknowledges the value of community engagement and participation in the formulation, selection, and application of health policies. In partnership with locals, the community's health needs and priorities are determined.
2. Integrated Services: COPC mixes community health services with primary medical care services, which are normally provided by medical professionals. Through integration, healthcare is guaranteed to be all-inclusive and to address concerns related to both individual and community health.
3. Preventive Health: Promoting health and preventing illness is one of COPC's main areas of attention. This includes programs to lower the community's risk of sickness, such as immunizations, health education, and lifestyle changes.
4. Holistic Care: By addressing the larger socioeconomic determinants of health, such as access to hygienic housing, clean water, and nutrition, COPC provides healthcare in a holistic manner. It acknowledges that these elements are important in defining one's general health.
5. Community-Based Health Planning (COPC): This involves determining the needs for community health, creating plans to meet those needs, and putting health initiatives into action based on these plans. The planning process guarantees that medical services are customized to meet the unique needs of the community.
6. Community Health Workers: In many cases, lay health educators or community health workers are essential to COPC. They serve as a bridge between the community and healthcare professionals, helping with outreach, follow-up treatment, and health education.
7. Ongoing Assessment and Adaptation: COPC is a dynamic process that entails an ongoing assessment of health services and initiatives. This assessment enables modification and enhancement in response to the community's changing demands.
The efforts of Sidney Kark and his crew in the Pholela district of Natal in the 1940s gave rise to the notion of COPC in South Africa. Later, COPC's tenets were standardized and organized. Even though COPC was widely implemented in South Africa, political upheavals caused it to be discontinued early. Many team members relocated to Jerusalem in the 1960s, when COPC's theoretical foundation was expanded.
With an increasing amount of expertise, COPC has also been used in the US and other countries. The practice of COPC is continuously improved and refined by reviewing, evaluating, and criticizing this experience.
In conclusion, COPC is a community-driven method of providing healthcare that combines community health services with primary medical care, with an emphasis on prevention, community engagement, and all-encompassing treatment. It is an ever-changing, dynamic process that strives to enhance a specific community's general health and well-being.
Q7.4 Cross-cutting Health Advocacy What is the difference between health advocacy and activism?
Although they share the goal of bringing about beneficial changes in the healthcare industry, health activism and advocacy take different approaches and have different scopes. Speaking out for specific patients or communities within the current healthcare system to make sure they receive the best care possible is the main goal of health advocacy. Conversely, health activism focuses more on questioning the current state of the healthcare system and pursuing more extensive structural reform.
According to the CanMEDS framework (Frank, 2001), health advocacy is a crucial responsibility for medical practitioners. It include medical professionals speaking out for their patients' interests, assisting them in getting the treatments they require, educating them about their illnesses, and assisting them in making decisions. Advocates help patients navigate the complicated healthcare system and make sure their voices are heard throughout their healthcare experience. In patient-centered care, this type of advocacy is crucial (Hubinette et al., 2017).
According to Laverack (2013), health activism extends beyond specific patient situations. It includes initiatives to improve public health, deal with systemic problems, and alter healthcare regulations. Activists strive to end health inequities, increase access to treatment, and confront healthcare disparities (Gallagher, 2017). In order to address the underlying causes of health problems, health activists frequently take part in public awareness campaigns, community organizing, and lobbying for legislative reforms.
The magnitude of the two's respective impacts is one important difference between them. While health activism aims to overhaul the whole healthcare system for the benefit of society as a whole, health advocacy focuses on improving the experiences of specific patients or communities (Frank and Danoff, 2007). (Pinto, 2008).
The way that change is approached also differs. In order to help patients receive care, advocates work with institutions and healthcare providers inside the current system (Thomas, 2008). To bring about systemic changes, activists, on the other hand, may adopt a more aggressive stance by planning rallies, pushing for new laws, and occasionally even taking the healthcare system to task (Teasdale, 1998).
As highlighted in the CanMEDS framework (Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, 2015), health advocacy is, in essence, assisting specific individuals or communities in gaining access to and navigating the healthcare system as it now exists. Conversely, health activism aims to enhance public health by addressing structural problems and bringing about larger reforms within the healthcare system (PATH, 2014).
Health activism aims for larger-scale change, while health advocacy concentrates on individual treatment. Both play crucial roles in the healthcare system. Everybody has a role to play in building a healthcare system that is more efficient and equitable (Dobson et al., 2012).
Comments