Health Care Field Research Draft

Expanding the population health for future impact is very crucial. Many techniques can be used to improve population health, such as promoting treatments which have a scientific and evidence-based. Also, ensuring there is well-coordinated healthcare, and this will lead to improved health outcomes. The influence is usually limited because of factors beyond the health practitioner's control, such as patient employment, education, and social support. Both economic and social factors need to be addressed as they can affect population health, and hence the initiatives for quality improvement should reach beyond boundaries that are traditional regarding the health care system. There should be the use of community-based partnerships that will bring many stakeholders such as medical practitioners, business leaders, community organizations, social service providers and clergy to promote and improve health behavior and this will improve access to preventive and primary health care hence reducing morbidities and mortalities associated with poor health.

There have been many struggles with population health in the past because of many barriers. One of the most significant challenges to having successful management of population health is the change management needed to implement new ways of working. It is essential to work in multidisciplinary teams, give care remotely, and deploy pathways that are well-defined across healthcare settings. Having adaptive changes is a challenge as it needs shifting processes, responsibilities, and roles and starting new curves for learning. The healthcare sector mostly depends on tried and tested evidence-based practices to be able to safeguard patients and have high-quality care (Swarthout & Bishop, 2017). Even if these practices have been valuable in the past, they need to improve and evolve hence embracing the digital era if any substantial progress is to be made.

Many opportunities are present today in the United States to a person who studies population health. Someone can be a population health doctor and help provide high-quality healthcare to the general population. Also, a person can be a tropical disease expert where he or she will be very instrumental in making policies that involve the prevention and management of tropical diseases, which are of public health importance. Another opportunity is to become a medical director and management policy advisor, which both are equally amazing positions to hold as a result of studying population health.

Medical practitioners work hard to provide care to patients in an environment that is stressful and becoming more complex. However, the culture, incentives, and structures in which they usually work are mostly not aligned well to support the health workers' efforts as they respond to patient health needs, which is their main priority. By recognizing the imperative center regarding the patient, a healthcare system that is learning is one in which the families of the patient and the patient are the main drivers of the design and the operations for the learning process (Tsai, et al., 2017). There can be a significant improvement in health, care experience, and economic outcomes when the patient, caregivers, and public are full.

Patient activation takes patient education and responsibilities to the next level. Many patients require health education to know what they are supposed to do and not to improve their health. Many of the patients who are being managed for chronic diseases such as diabetes need to be educated more about the disease they suffer from and how to manage it at home and be compliant with medication. This makes the patient feel that they have a role to play for their health and be connected to their health provider by following instructions which they are given. When doctors and other health providers provide tools for the patient they are supposed to use and follow, it becomes easy for the patient to be cared for, leading to better patient outcomes. This is very important in patient care, especially in the future where patients may be managed from home setup, and hence the patient will avoid unnecessary hospital visits. To be ready to embrace these changes, health practitioners need to be educated on how to use patient activation to manage the patient.

One goal that can help with the current shortage of healthcare professionals is to increase the admission to schools that train health care practitioners. Increasing the number of trainees means that after a few years, the number of health care practitioners will go high, so they will be able to provide excellent healthcare to the patients. It is essential to pay them well as this will prevent the brain drain of health practitioners to other countries, and hence their number will continue to remain high. High school students should be mentored well and advised on the importance of pursuing health-related courses, as this will motivate them to pursue health-related courses. This, in return, will ensure there is a continuous production of the health care workforce throughout (Tsai, et al., 2017).

In conclusion, population health is very crucial to ensure a people are healthy and this will ensure they are productive in all aspect of life. Different ways should be implemented to improve the population health in the country.

References

Keyes, K. M., & Galea, S. (2016). Population health science. Oxford University Press.

Swarthout, M., & Bishop, M. A. (2017). Population health management: Review of concepts and definitions. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 74(18), 1405-1411.

Tsai, A. C., Mendenhall, E., Trostle, J. A., & Kawachi, I. (2017). Co-occurring epidemics, syndemics, and population health. The Lancet, 389(10072), 978-982.