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Over several years, there have been changes, which have taken place in various aspects of human life. Among them, change in the Agricultural sectors, the hospitality sectors, the education sector, the welfare, and housing sector and even key among them, the healthcare sector. Back in the day, there used to be so much mortality rates across the world because of so many reasons, ones, which could be avoided at all costs, were there the required resources and services. For instance, the healthcare sector has grown in the last two centuries. Various services have been introduced and well integrated into the facility setups, which help in the management of some conditions, which could never be handled before. These key services include; the oncological centers, the hospice centers among other key aspects, which have helped in saving the population at large and by a greater extent.
The KVH Hospital is one example of the many hospitals which have been well and adequately equipped in readiness to handle various conditions that help in ensuring that the people have been well treated and cared for at all times they present with body dysfunctions and even before they get diseases (Choudhury & Prathima, 2016). There is a range of services, which are offered at the KVH Hospital. They range from; the family medical care which is composed of a family doctor for each family at any point in time, the performance of major surgeries such as craniotomies, exploratory laparotomies among others. Offering Geriatric nursing care services, the KVH home care services, the KVH hospice services which are geared towards ensuring the elderly are well taken care of at all times, the KVH internal medical services which are provided within the facility’s premises. The KVH Occupational Medicine which works to help people handle the different compromising situations they face at their work areas such as work area stresses, the KVH Orthopedic services which help in ensuring that people with issues to do with bone fractures and even those with disabilities as a result of bone fractures that have healed and left the patient maybe limping, the KVH Physical therapy which deals with the helping of people with chronic diseases such as Hypertension work out regularly by showing them how to conduct the aerobic exercises, the KVH Speech therapy which works by helping those people with speech difficulties to try and make their communication more meaningful such as children born with developmental problems. The KVH Urgent care services which are offered to those patients who are critical states, it comprises of the Intensive Care Unit and the High Dependent Unit (Choudhury & Prathima, 2016). The KVH Women’s Health, which specifically deals with the Gynecological, issues which affect women such as infertility, abortions, and cervical cancers among other conditions.
Apart from these services, the KVH Hospital also offers special clinics and services. Many more hospitals have joined the KVH Hospital to make up a family of one. This has occurred since the year 2005, the clinics that joined are so far seven in numbers. These clinics offer services such as; Gynecological consultation clinics which target only those women with such issues such as the incompetent cervix, infertility, Pelvic inflammatory diseases, and even cancers which affect the reproductive tracts. They also provide surgical services, which operate almost every time to handle conditions such as tumor resections, and even borne repairs (Choudhury & Prathima, 2016). They also offer primary care services, which usually focus on moving around to the communities, and providing them with the information they require on so many conditions and how to prevent them by living in healthy environments and also ensuring their hygiene is of high standards. They usually carry out the community diagnosis strategies, which help the community in staying healthy.
The KVH Hospital has got the mission of providing high-quality standards of care which aims at ensuring that the patient, healthcare provider, and family are of good understanding to help them cooperate in the provision of better care services. They work together to ensure that the services they offer usually meet the community demands at all levels of care that the community people require. The KVH Hospital has got their Outpatient services which include; colonoscopy services, cataract removals, endoscopic surgeries, tonsillectomy removal and even adenoidectomy, excision of breast lesions, dilatation and curettage and rotator cuff muscle repairs (Oliveira & Sampaio, 2015). All these services are integrated in such a way that their clients are satisfied because they receive everything they require at one point. It is like a one-stop shop for the people who go seeking the care services at the KVH Hospital. The common surgeries which are performed at KVH are; cesarean sections, total knee replacements, colon resections, cholecystectomies, wound debridement, Open Reduction Internal Fixations among other major surgeries.
COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Community needs assessment is the determination of the real/ actual needs that people in a certain locality require at that point in time (Thomas & Jackson, 2017). The needs the people may need vary from different sectors of their lives, among them; agricultural needs, social welfare need, economic needs among others. For a successful community needs assessment to be conducted, then a survey must first be done to ensure the whole process yields fruits. The survey the KVH staff will successfully be able to get the data they require is the cross-sectional type of survey. The reason why they are to use the cross-sectional type is because they are going to collect the data at one point in time (Posavac, 2015). Before the actual process is undertaken, a pre-test of the survey should be carried out. Depending on the kind of data the healthcare workers need, they will conduct the relevant survey that will benefit them. In a community assessment about their health status concerning certain diseases, then health workers need to first visit the specific community before the actual date. They first have to go and familiarize themselves with the community environment, get to interact with a few people in the community, find out how they answer questions, how they react to some sensitive questions, find out their ways of life and how easily they can be accessed. All these help in ensuring the survey becomes a success. Then on the actual date, they will have to go around the community and ask them questions relevant to their study. If it were an assessment concerning a communicable disease such as cholera, then their questions will be such as; where do you access your water for cooking and drinking? Where do you store your water for domestic use? How do you treat your water before cooking and drinking? How do you ensure your home environment is clean at all times? All these questions will guide the whole process since the data that is needed is just geared towards that specific objective (Posavac, 2015). By doing this then, relevant data will be sought which will aid in coming up with ways and interventions of controlling and eradicating cholera from that locality.
There are various reasons why the community needs assessment can be conducted. Determining what the people need about a certain disease? What kind of interventions can be employed to help the save the community? Among many other reasons. The KVH Hospital during their community assessment program, they will have to go around the whole community, from house to house meeting the people and to get to acquire the information of their interest. As the KVH Hospital staff are going to conduct such a process, a committee will have to be selected for the whole exercise. A multi-disciplinary team will be selected, comprising of the; doctors who are going to see the actual happening on the ground, diagnose the community people depending on what they will see and come up with a report on the same. Nurses who are going to provide care immediately depending on the kind of situation they find on the ground, if they find patients who are already having symptoms of cholera such as diarrhea, the nurses are going to ensure the situation is controlled. Clinical officers, who are going to help the nurses and the doctors in providing all the kind of care that will be required at that moment (Posavac, 2015). The public health officers, who are going to see the actual happening on the ground and then see everything as it happens, how the patients are presenting, their lifestyle, their surroundings and all that is relevant to the condition, then come up with a full report on the case which they are going to disseminate to all the relevant stakeholders both at the ministry of health, the national government and even to international organizations such as the WHO, all these people are going to come up with ways to prevent such conditions. The laboratory technicians, who are going to collect the specimen from every patient and even the surrounding to take to the lab and do some tests which will help in the actual diagnosis of the condition and then the needed intervention and treatment to be administered. The students may also be taken to the field, to be able to see what is happening so that they can take up the roles of conducting researches which will come up with findings and results that will be relied on in curbing such a situation if it ever happens again. Researchers will also be taken to be part of the team to make write-ups which will be used for future references concerning the condition.
There are various types of community needs assessment. The familiarization needs assessment, problem-oriented needs assessment, community sub-system assessment, community assets assessment and even the comprehensive needs assessment (Thomas & Jackson, 2017). Depending on the kind of information one wants to get from the community, the kind of needs assessment he/ she will use will be dependent on that. In the plan of conducting a community needs assessment, there is the inclusion of; going to the community as the healthcare workers, meeting the community members and talking to them, assessing their living environment, assessing their homestead arrangement and the location of key areas such as the proximity of the house to the pit latrine, the dustbin and even the proximity of the water tanks to the house (Pennel & Wang, 2016). Conducting a study while comparing what is seen on the ground and what the set standards. Coming up with a written report on the findings, taking the information back to the key stakeholders and then the relevant measures and interventions taken immediately.
When doing a community needs assessment, the KVH healthcare staff will assess the people; they will randomly choose a few from each household they visit and then question them on several aspects such as the problems they have concerning health, how they boil their water, how they handle their wastes among others, how they use their toilets and handling food techniques. They will assess them both verbally and even by the use of questionnaires to get the information they need; they will go around the community especially on a weekend when most people are at home and not working, this is when they can get the relevant data. They will have to assess their living standards such as how they store their water for drinking, how they handle and dispose of their wastes, how they ensure hygiene in their homes is maintained. They will assess them in their homes, and anywhere they get to meet them, but they will also assess them at the water sources to see how they source the commodity. The reason for assessing them is to come up with information pertaining to the prevention levels of diseases such as cholera which the community has got since most people get infections due to lack of knowledge on the prevention of diseases.
By conducting a community needs assessment, then relevant information can be got which will help the care workers in knowing which areas to focus on and all in the focus of helping the people stay healthy and free of illnesses.
REFERENCES
Choudhury, G. K., Vadavadagi, S. V., Kumari, K. H., Mandokar, R. B., & Prathima, K. (2016). Prosthetic Status and Prosthetic Needs of Patients Attending the Prosthodontic Department of a Dental Teaching Institution, India. Journal of International Oral Health, 8(3), 338.
Oliveira, R. M., Leitao, I. M. T. D. A., Aguiar, L. L., Oliveira, A. C. D. S., Gazos, D. M., Silva, L. M. S. D., ... & Sampaio, R. L. (2015). Evaluating the intervening factors in patient safety: focusing on hospital nursing staff. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 49(1), 104-113.
Thomas, P., MacDonald, I., & Jackson, B. (2017). COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT STUDY.
Pennel, C. L., McLeroy, K. R., Burdine, J. N., Matarrita-Cascante, D., & Wang, J. (2016). Community health needs assessment: potential for population health improvement. Population health management, 19(3), 178-186.
Posavac, E. J. (2015). Program evaluation: Methods and case studies. Routledge.