opioid crisis

Impact of Stakeholders

As with any intervention, stakeholders must be considered. For population health programs and interventions, the stakeholder group is large. If you are providing care to an individual patient, you may only consider the needs of the patient, family, and healthcare team.  In population health, stakeholders may include the city, state, and national governments, along with the population and community impacted. In population health programs and interventions the goal is achieve the "greatest good for the greatest number" (Bentham, 1996). The focus of population health is broad and the needs of all stakeholders must be considered.

Primary Prevention

Primary prevention targets disease or disability prevention. These interventions focus on health promotion and address a universal population. Primary prevention interventions occur across settings, including healthcare organizations, school-based health clinics, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) clinics, social media, as well as private homes (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2018). One example of a  primary prevention intervention is a program to promote breastfeeding to reduce the occurrence of childhood obesity and comorbidities. Another example is vaccination programs to reduce the occurrence of infectious diseases.

Secondary Prevention

Secondary prevention focuses on identifying already occurring health problems or conditions prior to the onset of serious or long-term problems. These interventions address selected or targeted symptomatic populations. The objective of secondary prevention is early diagnosis and initial treatment or stabilization of disease in the early stages before it causes significant morbidity and mortality. These interventions can occur in all the some venues as primary interventions, as well as in emergency departments and retail-based clinics, such as Walgreen's (Moreland & Curran, 2018).

Tertiary Prevention

Tertiary prevention aims to slow or stop the progression of disease. These interventions target individuals who are already diagnosed with a disease condition and work to restore function and reduce disease-related complications (Moreland & Curran, 2018).

The third level of prevention is tertiary prevention, which is the act of managing a disease after diagnosis. Let's return to Kevin to see how this level of prevention relates to him. During Kevin's colonoscopy, the provider discovered polyps. The polyps were removed. And the pathology report reveals cancer. Tertiary prevention is the process of intervention and treatment. It involves managing the disease post-diagnosis to slow or stop disease progression. Kevin's story illustrates an example of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, including interventions for each level of prevention.

Latest evidence suggests that therapeutic intervention strategies for Alzheimer's disease must be reconsidered as pathogenesis is now known to vary at different stages of the disease (Bu et al., 2016). What tertiary prevention intervention is helpful for the effective prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease?

Preterm birth is a leading contributor of perinatal morbidity and mortality (Matei et al., 2019). What tertiary prevention intervention is needed to help reduce the occurrence of preterm birth?

Population Health Interventions

Population health interventions typically address one of the three levels of prevention and target the population as a whole. For example, an intervention may encompass individuals who are at risk for breast cancer, influenza, or impacted by a tornado. These interventions are not free. Funding plays a significant role in the creation and management of population health interventions, and health policy informs the type of interventions as well as the resource allocation.