Public Health emphasizes improving and protecting health by focusing on a whole population instead of individual or personal. The Affordable Care Act demands that healthcare professionals institute proper patient care management measures at practice levels – population-based population health. Improvement of the population’s health requires being able to measure the health programs. Public health interventions must use electronic reporting since it helps improve the accuracy and timeliness of the necessary data needed in disease outbreak identification and tracking disease trends over a long period.
Population health emphasizes refining health outcomes, particularly for large population groups, by identifying and monitoring every patient. Population health management tools are critical in helping health professionals analyze and aggregate patient data to create a broad, practical clinical image of every patient. When the tools generate such information, healthcare professionals can improve health outcomes, reducing healthcare costs (Massuda et al., 2018). The territories and states demand that every healthcare facility and professional must consistently report conditions and diseases to public health agencies using the available public health information and surveillance systems. Most systems are digitally managed and linked to electronic health records.
The records include an electronic lab information report, which reports data on public health and hospital laboratory findings and commercial data for both local and state health sectors and departments. It also includes syndromic assessment reporting through which hospitals, urgent care centers, and ambulatory healthcare providers transmit their symptomatic reports or data to healthcare organizations, likely resulting in the timely detection of possible health occurrences. Healthcare data also includes immunization information systems that give automatic immunization data and amalgamate this data into one source. Healthcare professionals also get information regarding immunization histories and forecasts from the immunization information system.
Healthcare professionals use healthcare data and information interchange functions needed for reporting. It is also clear that public health agencies rely upon receiving data from healthcare professionals through the system. The data greatly assist healthcare agencies in understanding and measuring disease incidence and prevalence and maintaining a high standard of disease response, including proper immunization strategies, disease outbreak investigations, and response and plans for healthcare emergencies.
Description of the selected country
In 2018, Essex had approximately 1.48 million people, representing an increase of about 1.54%ino the 2011 population census. Only 2% of the population can be considered as working. The percentage is relatively lower than the national average. Essex County has a high prevalence of premature death compared to the national and state average. There are 7,900 premature deaths in the country, against New Jersey’s 6,300 people and the Federal statics of 7,300. Based on the U.S. 2021 population census report, Essex has a large percentage of the white population, making up to 90% of the total population. The non-white people form the minority, which represents about 10%. The 10% of the non-white population comprises 3% black, 3% of Spanish origin people, and the remaining 4% of other races (U.S. statistics n.d.). The average age in the county, based on the 2021 population census, was about 42.5%, with about 82.5% comprising the population over those 18 years. The highest population of Essex speaks American English, comprising over 75% of the total population. The five most considerable ethnic diversities in Essex comprise 38% Non-Hispanic, 7.5% Hispanic, 10% Black Americans, and 8% Indians and Chinese.
In terms of education, an educated society makes a good and attractive workforce that can work in different sectors of the economy. Educated people are also better prepared to guide the next generation regarding the appropriate ways to improve their lives. Based on the 2021 population census report (U.S. Statistics, n.d.), there are about 41% of people from Essex County with a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. This is an increase of about 10% from the previous 31% in the last decade. The 41% of adults with degrees are also above the national average, which stood at 34%. About 10% of the adults in the county needed more high school education, whereas just 24% are college graduates. ImNotablythe county has higher bachelor’s degree graduates than the national average w, which is about 35%.
Regarding socioeconomic status, there are close to 1.5 million people in Essex, with an average age of 40 years. About 49% are males, and 51% are males. In the county, U.S.-born i,n fact, are about 68%, while non-American children make up 18.5%. Moreover, 14% of the inhabitants in Essex are represented by non-citizens. In terms of high-school completion, the county has 87% of children completing their high school education. This is, however, slightly below New Jersey’s 90% and the U.S.’s 89%. Regarding employment, the U.S., and the world at large, face the major challenge of unemployment (Blanchflower et al., 2021). Compared to New Jersey’s 9.8% and the U.S.’s 8.1%, Essex county has a relatively higher employment rate of 11%, which means that most of the country’s inhabitants have some income sources compared to other New Jersey’s total, and even the U.S.
Comparing Healthcare Outcomes: Length of Life and Quality of Life
In terms of length of life, and more precisely on premature death, Essex has the highest number of premature deaths, which stands at 7,900 people, compared to New Jersey’s 6,300, and the United States 7,300 people. The high premature rate in Essex county is due to the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as cancers, in the region. Moreover, premature deaths in Essex are also attributed to stroke, lung cancers, and heart diseases that have continued to ravage many people in the county. Lifestyle diseases caused by smoking and unhealthy eating habits are among Essex’s top causes of premature deaths (Karunarathne et al., 2020).
Regarding the quality of life, Essex has a high percentage of the fair of poor health compared to New Jersey and the United States since it has 21%, compared to 16% and 17% of New Jersey and the United States, respectively. Concerning poor physical health day, the county has about 4.3, compared to 3.8 and 4.5 in New Jersey and the United States, respectively. Essex also has a low birth weight of 10%, concerning the 8% for both the United States and New Jersey.
AIM statement and PDSA Cycle for the AIM
As an AIM statement, I aim to improve the quality of life in Essex county within three months by addressing issues like health outcomes, life quality, health factors, socioeconomic factors, and environmental factors or determinants of life. Essex county aims to ensure efficient life among its inhabitants and improve the economic and social aspects of the life of the people. As the new public health nurse for the county, I plan to use appropriate strategies that would be important in addressing health issues. After a critical look at the situation, the plan will use the Deming model to achieve excellence within three months (Aryanny, 2020). Therefore, urgent measures are needed to encourage public health campaigns to ensure healthy living and improve the Essex inhabitants’ socioeconomic conditions.
In the plan, do, study, and act four face model, there is a need to continuously improve steps and strategies which ensure the practical realization of health sector goals in the county. First, in the planning stage, the staff and employees in various health facilities within the county should make necessary prior plans to predict the outcomes of strategies aimed at enhancing health outcomes, socioeconomic issues, and environmental factors in the county. Planning should, therefore, be done on the origin of the crisis, using appropriate tools, and execution of the plans (Katowa-Mukwato et al., 2021).
The second stage is the doing process. This comprises of execution of the outlaid plans. Here, the actions comprise disintegrating the process into more miniature, manageable stages. The aim of this is to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the whole process. This stage would involve the subdivision of management and employees of health facilities in Essex into various subcommittees and then assigning them particular tasks. Here, accountability regarding the execution of roles to improve health outcomes in the county should be essential. Moreover, the teams’ efficiency would be evaluated at the end of the three-month stipulated process period.
The third step involves the staff and management of Essex healthcare facilities examining the quality improvement procedures and results. Here, the focus would be laid on the viability and efficiency of the plans and the fundamental role of every team member. This aims to help recognize weak areas and provide authentic information that can assist in making appropriate adjustments (Blais et al., 2021).
The fourth step, the action, is focused on study process analysis. The process involves making appropriate steps and actions in making appropriate improvements and standardizing the process in making changes to Essex healthcare parameters.
Measuring Community Metrics
This would be done using various parameters, including retention capacity. The retention capacity involves assessing community members who start the process and continue it up to the end. Another community assessment strategy is their activeness in participating in the change programs. This could be a daily, weekly, or even monthly assessment of their participation.
References
Aryanny, E. (2020, July). Analysis of Quality Management by Implementing Total Quality Management Based on Deming Prize. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1569, No. 3, p. 032015). IOP Publishing.
Blais, L. L., Montgomery, T. L., Amiel, E., Deming, P. B., & Krementsov, D. N. (2021). Probiotic and commensal gut microbial therapies in multiple sclerosis and its animal models: a comprehensive review. Gut Microbes, 13(1), 1943289.
Blanchflower, D. G., & Bryson, A. (2021). Unemployment and sleep: evidence from the United States and Europe. Economics & Human Biology, 43, 101042.
Karunarathne, A., Gunnell, D., Konradsen, F., & Eddleston, M. (2020). How many premature deaths from pesticide suicide have occurred since the agricultural Green Revolution? Clinical Toxicology, 58(4), 227–232.
Katowa-Mukwato, P., Mwiinga-Kalusopa, V., Chitundu, K., Kanyanta, M., Chanda, D., Mwelwa, M. M., … & Carrier, J. (2021). Implementing Evidence-Based Practice nursing using the PDSA model: Process, lessons, and implications. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 14, 100261.
Massuda, A., Hone, T., Leles, F. A. G., De Castro, M. C., & Atun, R. (2018). The Brazilian health system at crossroads: progress, crisis, and resilience. BMJ global health, 3(4), e000829.
United States Census Bureau (n.d.). The 2021 Census Report. United States. https://www.census.gov/
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