Reflection on learning 08/14-2021

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Week 7 Discussion: Global Healthcare Leadership

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Week 7 Discussion: Global Healthcare Leadership

Q1: Regarding the social boundary between people, this aspect has the potential to have a significant impact on my practice. According to Hicken et al. (2018), social boundaries present themselves when the social differences in the community result in unequal access to opportunities and resources. Examples of the related issues, in this case, are physical abilities, gender, and race. As a professional health practitioner, I need to serve all my patients equally and ensure each one of them has access to the best care and treatment available. However, a social boundary on the basis of race can lead to institutionalized racism where people from minority groups are prevented from accessing certain services at my workplace. Also, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds may be unable to afford the healthcare services I offer due to the government’s inability to provide universal healthcare to all citizens of the country. Consequently, there will be poor health outcomes in the community where certain groups of people are at risk of higher morbidity and mortality rates compared to the privileged ones.

Q2: As a leader, there are certain actions I can take to have an impact on overcoming the social boundary. For starters, I can raise provider and public awareness of the current disparities in healthcare. Hamal et al. (2018) assert that the public’s perceptions about a problem tend to significantly influence policy changes and subsequent solutions. Therefore, by raising awareness, I will ensure people have the knowledge regarding the social boundary in society and help ignite the necessary changes to reduce or eradicate it. Second, I can push for the expansion of health insurance coverage. In the US, health insurance is vital in determining how people access healthcare services (Gong et al., 2019). Uninsured individuals have a lower likelihood of getting routine and timely care compared to the insured. Thus, a significant expansion of health insurance coverage will reduce the social boundary and help improve how minority groups access healthcare services. Finally, I can work with various stakeholders to enhance the number and capacity of providers in marginalized communities. For instance, I can push for rural communities to have more healthcare institutions to meet their needs adequately. Also, I can play an instrumental role in ensuring that things like language and cultural barriers are reduced in order to ensure minority races have better access to healthcare services.

Q3: There are three inter-professional relationships, which I can foster to contribute to overcoming the social boundary. The first one is between healthcare practitioners and lawmakers. These two parties need to work together to create laws and policies, which adequately serve the needs of society. Healthcare practitioners will ensure that the policies adopted by lawmakers are founded on evidence from the grassroots (Oliver et al., 2019). The second one is between healthcare practitioners and patients. Patients can provide valuable information on the specific needs, which they feel are not appropriately met by their healthcare providers. This information will be essential in enhancing healthcare services in society. The final one is amongst healthcare practitioners. They can regularly brainstorm on ways to overcome problems to ensure all communities have equal access to healthcare services.

Q4: I can leverage resources to overcome the selected boundary. This will entail concentrating the funds on key strategic goals. For example, I can leverage resources from various sponsors and donors in order to purchase medical supplies that can be used to provide healthcare services to marginalized communities. Such resources can be used for specific tasks such as maternal care or any other objective that suits a particular community. Also, there is the option of "complementing one kind of resource with another to create higher-order value" (Ertz & Patrick, 2020, p. 1). In this case, I can recruit volunteers to help the healthcare practitioners handle low-level tasks, which will free up the professionals to serve more clients as necessary.

References

Ertz, M., & Patrick, K. (2020). The future of sustainable healthcare: Extending product lifecycles. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 153, 1-39.

Gong, G., Phillips, S. G., Hudson, C., Curti, D., & Philips, B. U. (2019). Higher US rural mortality rates linked to socioeconomic status, physician shortages, and lack of health insurance. Health Affairs, 38(12), 2003-2010.

Hamal, M., de Cock Buning, T., De Brouwere, V., Bardají, A., & Dieleman, M. (2018). How does social accountability contribute to better maternal health outcomes? A qualitative study on perceived changes with government and civil society actors in Gujarat, India. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 1-15.

Hicken, M. T., Kravitz-Wirtz, N., Durkee, M., & Jackson, J. S. (2018). Racial inequalities in health: Framing future research. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 199, 11.

Oliver, K., Innvar, S., Lorenc, T., Woodman, J., & Thomas, J. (2019). A systematic review of barriers to and facilitators of the use of evidence by policymakers. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 1-12.

Porter-O’Grady T., & Malloch K. (2018). Quantum leadership. Creating sustainable value in health care (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.