Essays on Health AND Human Services

Community health nursing is a critical area of nursing as it focuses on the community as the client thus giving the nurse a chance to determine the impacts of the prevailing socioeconomic and sociocultural aspects on the health status of the individuals in that community. Ultimately, the community health nurse has to devise ways and methods to improve the apparent health status by offering tailored solutions to the target community. The role of the faith-based nurse or the parish nurse is founded on the concepts of holistic care which posit that the care planning aspects must take into consideration ...

Abstract

Numerous attempts to reform health care in the United States on the federal level have been made since the 1930s, but differences between each state represent a significant barrier to every previous federal health care reform. In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law, but the current implementation and effects of the law are not the same across different states. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the effects of the health care reform in California and Florida, as well as the positions of the two states. It was found that the insurance ...

Fear messages have been of importance within the nursing profession over the years and were even responsible for the reduction of the use of substance abuse in communities. Substances abuse is discouraged in many communities owing to their negative effects on the general health of an individual (DiBello, Neighbors, & Ammar, 2015). It is because of these adverse consequences that the nursing and health sector, in general, decided to come up with creative ideas to curb the menace. One of the commonly used strategies in this field is the formulation of fear messages to scare away the drug users from ...

Abstract

For decades, Afro-American have been facing higher incarceration, higher poverty rate and lower income in the United States as compared to White American. In every city of U.S, Afro-American face similar problem, although such problems are worse in some part of the state. The Afro-American in the city of Miami also face problems such mental illness, poverty, poor access to health services, crimes, accidents, violence and others which impact their way of life negatively. Mental health is linked to socioeconomic status as the people who are homeless, or have the problem of substance abuse have a higher risk of ...

Q1 For the purpose of the paper five additive found in food were chosen. The chosen food additives belong to different types of additives. First picked was corn syrup, which was chosen since it is usually the additive added in soft drinks, which are being consumed in large quantities especially in the United States. The additive belongs to the group of sweeteners. It can be found in processed food, sweets, non-diet drinks, cereals, breads, pastries, candies, cookies, cakes, syrups, crackers, fruits, vegetables, ice creams, meat, salad dressings, sauces, snacks, and soups. The high-fructose corn syrup has been correlated with ...

The institutional affiliation

The XXX health care state program enhances the well-being of people by delivering the efficient medical services and by maintaining the sustained technical advances within the health care sector of the United States (HHS.gov, 2014). The budget priorities correspond to the objectives raised in Healthy People 2020 for improving the health state of the American society (Healthypeople.gov, 2017).To be precise, the program of Health People 2020 sets the following targets which are to be taken into account while planning the annual budget 2017:

• gaining the high-quality services serving as a certain prevention method of disease, injury and death;

• developing social and physical environments which guarantee good health for all citizens; • developing the life ...

Problem Statement

Nurse residency programs prove to be an effective means of facilitating the smoother transition of the qualified nurse professionals to clinical practice. This critical analysis explores the systematic requirement of developing the nurse residency programs with the objective of helping the nurse graduates in joining nurse residency following the successful accomplishment of their advanced practice degree program.

Recommendation

The configuration of multiple stages of a nurse residency program requires the systematic development of the program infrastructure in the context of evidence-based literature. Consistent execution of the nurse residency program requires its periodic evaluation and dissemination of the findings between the ...

Diabetes has become a major health problem in the 21st century and this is something that is majorly blamed on the rise of unhealthy lifestyles that annotated by increased inclination to unhealthy diets (fast foods) and lack of physical activity/exercise (Haas et al., 2013). The risk of developing diabetes increases with aging due to the physiological alterations that accompany the aging process. While genes and aging constitute the pathophysiology of diabetes, unhealthy diets and lack of physical exercise play a major role in increasing the overall risk of predisposition. Elderly people form a unique health group in as far ...

Outbreaks of infectious disease is a problem that has existed throughout the history of the United States of America with three influenza outbreaks in the 20th century killing approximately 604,000 Americans between 1918-1968 (Johnstone, 2008, p. 1). While pandemics are quite noticeable, a biological weapon attack may be less noticeable. This is a huge issue when it comes to Anthrax which can remain dormant and undetected within an area for a number of years before finding a host to contaminate (Johnstone, 2008, p. 2). Another issue with Anthrax is that it is near indestructible. However, the United States ...

Introduction

First, they suspected the food prepared for the birthday party to be the cause of the outbreak. It turned out that it was a waterborne disease, a norovirus. Waterborne disease can easily affect children who come in contact with the contaminated water. The swim club manager seemed not very much cooperative during the initial outbreak; but the VHD investigators needed the cooperation of the swim club manager in identifying the real cause of the outbreak. Later, the manager told them that other persons not invited to the February 1 birthday party (members of an infant-mother swim class) got sick ...

Abstract

In healthcare financial management, health insurance contributes in determining the healthcare services. The fee schedule provides a list of charges reimbursed for service providers and suppliers. Center for Medicare services, CMS, uses the fee schedule to determine the facilities and non-facility in healthcare provisions. Physicians, ambulance and medical equipment services among others help in the determination of the fee schedule by Medicare Physician Fee Structure (MPFS). The study focuses on CPT code 99214-office visit as the reference in the service delivery by the center of Medicare services. The Medicare and Medicaid rates are essential in determination the fee schedule. ...

Currently, the United States health care system is struggling with an acute shortage of health practitioners especially nurses who are the major and significant primary health providers and close allies of the patients on their journey to full recovery and enhancement of their well-being. Thus, there is a need to boost and support the effort that will increase the number of health care practitioners in the country. On the other hand, just like the rest of the world, United States is also an aging society and the general population keeps increasing. Notably, during the 21st century, persons of the ...

The Case of the Wandering Eyes

The Case of the Wandering Eyes is a good representation of a breach of privacy, regardless of who the patient is. Apparently, the patient specifically requested that his privacy must be kept confidential, to which the only person who must enter his room are the ones who are assigned to him. Apparently, Pat clearly violated not only the request, but also the HIPAA’s protected health information. According to this rule, patient’s information must be protected, including the past and present medical or mental condition, and even the past or future payment of the patient for the provision ...

Description

The Rett syndrome is originally known as cerebroatrophic hyperammonemia. It is a rare genetic disorder which commonly affects women although there are cases where it could be found in male patients. It is considered as a postnatal neurological disorder which affects the grey matter of the brain. Rett syndrome is also considered as a progressive disorder which affects the development of the brain. It is also considered as one of the common cause of mental disorders among women. It occur about 1 in 10,000 births and it typically develops at age 6 to 18 months. The signs or ...

(Institute/University)

Introduction

It can be indisputably averred that human trafficking is on track to become a major social and criminal issue in the United States. Commonly known as slavery, human trafficking is a criminal offense that involves “the exploitation of a person for the purpose of compelled labor or a commercial sex act.” With the adoption of the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, various personnel in the criminal justice system, from prosecutors and community leaders, have reported instances of slavery, debt enslavement, and being trafficked into the commercial sex work industry that have affected a wide range of American citizens-men, ...

Detailed Outline

I. Abstract

A. Brief summary of the project

What is Ebola Where Ebola originated and the causes for it In this respect, J. Boulton states that Ebola was “up until now a little known tropical disease”. (Boulton, 2015) The purpose is to show why the Ebola has evolved from the unknown disease to an epidemic that swept all over Africa and threatened the rest of the world.

Studies conducted on Ebola and why they are important.

II. Introduction Ebola is a dangerous disease, also known as Ebola virus disease(EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever. It is caused in humans by ebolaviruses. The main symptoms of the disease involve vomiting and diarrhea as well as ...

Introduction

McGonigle & Mastrian (2012) define a flowchart as a blueprint of all the steps involved in a process, which are arranged in a sequential order with the inclusion of the units and persons participating in the task. It is a visual representation of activity from the beginning to the end. Process charts are useful in standardizing activities, exposing redundancies, and getting rid of wastes (Huser, Rasmusen, Oberg, & Starren, 2011). They are also helpful in identifying areas that need modification and providing effective communication of the steps to relevant staff, which enhances safety and care in the delivery of services. In ...

Health Care Privacy and Security Law: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA)

Introduction Every citizen is required to achieve and maintain privacy and security of healthcare information as stated by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT). It provides resources assisting citizens to succeed in achieving their responsibilities concerning privacy and security of electronic health care data. Thus, electronic health care records concerning data storage and transmittal is a sensitive and serious issue. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) offers a guide to health care privacy and security. It was enacted on August 1996 encompassing administrative simplification provisions requiring the United States Department of Health ...

A. Community health nursing is a concept that seeks to identify and analyze all vital data in relation to a community or a group of people to assist in the development of appropriate interventions that can improve the health status of the community or group. It is a concept that recognizes the importance of the social-health determinants and their influence on the quality of health and be quality of life depicted by the community (Stanhope, Lancaster & Stanhope, 2014). If applied, the community health nurse has to focus on the needs of the community across the economic, social, cultural and ...

Introduction

With the passage of time, development and increasing concerns for the patient care and safety requires attention. Healthcare institutions are constantly engaged in improving healthcare quality through inducing innovative healthcare practices for the provision of patient safety. For the delivery of improving quality healthcare services, it is important to ensure that the working conditions and working environment is equipped with the standard needs of the healthcare institution. Nursing remains to be core area in the healthcare organization for patient care and safety (Patricia, Mooney-Kane, & Larson, 2007). In contemporary times, with the healthcare worker shortage and reported errors in the ...

Introduction

Transparency is critical in conducting clinical research. Transparency is a fundamental value regardless of the department or organization. The issue concerns the need to ensure transparency is maintained when conducting clinical research. The policy that was recently initiated calls for the restoration of transparency that will benefit health care providers, parents and health systems. The lack of transparency in clinical findings puts the patients’ lives at risk (Health Affairs 21). This will mean that inventories will not be accredited better standards due to lack of accountability. It is paramount that such a policy in health care be implemented to ...

The purpose of this paper is to outline a six-week program intended to deliver a basic heart health education program to adult Syrian Refugees. A well-delivered health education program supports preventive medicine, reduces health care costs, and helps save lives (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.) . The reason for choosing Syrian refugees is because at this point in time, they represent a vulnerable population (Strong, Varady, Chahda, Doocy, & Burnham, 2015). As a group they have been under the stress of civil war for at least five years and are likely to have been displaced internally or externally. ...

Introduction

Pandemic influenza poses a great risk to the entire world. The disease originates from the emergence and quick spread of influenza viruses. In essence, these viruses can spread rapidly and explosively in numerous nations, thus, affecting billions of individuals. The pandemic can affect the country’s critical infrastructure as well as social and economic security if there is no adequate preparedness for as well as response to it. The pandemic affects the countries’ economies through raising their health care costs as well as causing significant loss of productivity. It is vital to note that successful preparedness for and response ...

The promotion and disease prevention practice and policies continue to increase with the primary aim of supporting reasonable and sensible decision-making in health sectors. In most cases, they merge research findings with information that meets the wishes and needs of the targeted populations (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Diabetes affects over 26 million people in the United States. The National Diabetes Prevention Program is a program in the U.S. that is largely aimed at addressing the problem of diabetes through prevention measures. According to the CDC estimates, nearly 1 in 10 American adults has diabetes and ...

[Due Date] The first analyzed webpage in this paper is the article “19 Natural Remedies for Anxiety” by Robert A. Barnett published in 2013 on the Fox News website, which is a part of the Fox News Network. The second webpage is the article “Anxiety Disorders” on the official website of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which is a part of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The purpose of this essay is to critically evaluate the two webpages and gain understanding of their credibility and if any of ...

Introduction

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops because of exposure to a traumatic experience. According to the Institute of Medicine (2012), the vital element of PTSD is the development of the characteristic symptoms that follow exposure to extreme traumatic stressors, including personal experiences. For an event to cause PTSD, it has should have had an actual or implied dire injury or near death experience to the victim. Such events could also threaten one’s physical and psychological integrity. The most common traumatic events happen during military combat, hostage situations, violent assault, torture, terrorist attacks, and disasters. While PSTD is most common ...

Abstract

Smoking and nicotine addiction is one of the issues that has been widely discussed and blogged globally. There are several divisive issues with regard to the effects smoking and how the problem should be dealt with globally. The public health officials use empirical evidence to prove that smoking causes problems like lung cancer, sexual impairment, and depression. The cigarette manufacturers on the other end oppose the idea that smoking can be directly linked to any of the three mentioned problems. The responses to such issues include various empirical studies trying to prove the health implications of smoking. This paper ...

The nutritional needs of a pregnant mother and a developing fetus are essential to the human development process. The key question that may come to mind, in thinking of the health and wellness of an unborn baby, is as follows: How can a mother-to-be obtain the correct nutritional source for the developing fetus? In answering this question it is helpful to understand the nutritional needs by identifying the correct amount of nutrition intake. The nutrition needed for the mother and developing fetus is Calcium, Folic acid, Iron, Protein, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D. These nutritional needs can be met ...

It is estimated that one out of every five deaths in America is thought to be associated with the use of tobacco and smoking is believed to be the leading cause of premature death in this country (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). Aside from the emotional trauma, the monetary cost for the years between 2009 and 2012 are believed to be between $289 billion and $332.5 billion which include figures for lost productivity of workers in addition to expenses for medical care. Smoking, drinking alcohol, and the inappropriate use of legal and illegal drugs impacts society ...

Health disparities refer to variations that exist in the health status of diverse groups of people. The different groups can be classified based on sex or gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, race, disability, geographic area of residence and income (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). Based on this classification, it is normally evident that some groups of people record higher rates of suffering and deaths from some diseases when compared to other groups (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). The disparities and the effects they have on healthcare outcomes are outlined below.

Question 1

Race or ethnicity ...

Bioethical Issues behind Gene Therapy Trials

Gene therapy is a prospective therapy for curing many genetic defects by correcting the mistakes happening at gene level. It can be somatic or germline targeting either blood or bone marrow in former and eggs or sperms in latter. Ethical issues prevail with the germline gene therapy and it has not been approved yet. Similarly, the gene therapy trials need to be regulated and is governed by many bioethical issues. In US, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulates the gene therapy clinical trials. This organization has further sub-divisions that regulate the human subjects under trials through ...

1) The main difference between the terrorist hazard and the natural and technological disasters is the issue of causation. All terrorist acts are deliberate and have the purpose. On the contrary, the natural and technological disasters are non-intended. Therefore, the terrorist acts may be prevented, if the government s and other organizations take the proper action. In the case of the natural and technological disasters one may reduce the risk of technological disasters, but cannot avoid the natural disasters. 2) The goal of the emergency management in regards to the terrorism threat is to increase security via five phases: ...

Introduction

Program evaluation is the gathering of all information of an ongoing program and measuring that information against the set targets and milestones for that particular program (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of the Director, Office of Strategy and Innovation, 2011). Every program carried out as a form of intervention geared towards solving a particular human issue always requires constant evaluation to ensure that all milestones are on track as planned in the initial program implementation plan. Assessing the performance of a health or human service program like nursing or hospitality ...

Abstract

Long-term care is rendered to people with varying levels of functional deficit. Depending on the type of the disability and the status of the wellbeing of the long-term care user, the needs vary. Some long-term care users need minimal assistance while others need maximum assistance. Long-term care is meant to help people with functional deficits to live a comfortable life as much as possible. There are various levels of long-term care options that people should select according to their needs. They include among others; nursing home, home care, home health care, assisted living facility, and community-based care settings. Each ...

1. Case Scenario Two Mental health problems contain the ones that affect a person’s thinking, feeling and behavior. The most usual mental diseases are depression and anxiety. The National Institute of Mental Health indicates that mental health problems are very common in the United States of America. The National Alliance on Mental Illness shows that one in four adult Americans had mental illnesses in 2013. Approximately 42 million of Americans have anxiety disorders. The mental health first aid act appropriated $20 million for this kind of help. It was designed for teaching staff, students, services personnel and police ...

Centers for Disease Control, FDA & Medicaid/Medicare Services

Introduction The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to impact millions of lives in the United States. Over sixty fiver percent of HIV diagnoses are African American individuals ages 13-24(Zanoni and Mayer, 2014). Additionally, 15-24-year-olds comprise 50% of recent HIV infection rates, which are 7-20 times higher among youth of color (CDC, 2013). The mortality rate among these groups is also higher(Fedeli et al., 2015). Currently, there is no medical treatment to cure HIV/AIDS, nor a vaccine for HIV contagion (Kurth, Celum, Baeten, Vermund, & Wasserheit, 2011). Thus making it very challenging for both community and public health leaders ...

Question 1

Testing alone cannot be used as the only measure of ensuring the quality of a product. The quality is based on the desired purity, strength, identity, and other characteristics. Hence, the FDA can only protect the average consumer by assuring the final good meets the criteria for effectiveness and safety. Otherwise, simply inspecting the international manufacturing facilities does not help the average buyer. The organization needs to establish a quality system that will oversee the measurements, evaluate and document the changes, and provide an action program that will address the issues that affect the product quality and performance (Buckley ...

Importance of interoperability to healthcare information

Interoperability refers to the extent to which devices and systems can exchange data and also interpret that data in a user-friendly manner (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). When used in healthcare it means that the data will be shared across laboratories, hospitals, patients, physicians and pharmacies regardless of the vendor each of these uses. Interoperability stands to reform the current chaotic manner in which information is shared among hospitals. The operability also allows one to access medical records from virtually anywhere in the world unlike in the past when it had to be obtained through financial accounts ...

Introduction

Quite often, people who smoke tobacco are perceived to be at a higher risk of lung cancer and other conditions associated with the smoking of tobacco than the people who though do not smoke, live with smokers. However, this perception is not necessarily accurate. Individuals who are exposed to the smoke from a burning tobacco have equal or higher chances of developing conditions associated with tobacco-smoking than their counterparts who are active tobacco smokers. The smoke from a burning tobacco can be inhaled by a non-tobacco smoker involuntarily. This kind of smoke is referred to as a secondhand smoke ( ...

While tobacco use among adolescents has reduced dramatically over the past four decades, its prevalence remains worryingly high. Nearly 90% of all smokers tried out cigarettes in adolescence and 99% first started by the age of 26. An estimated 3,800 youths aged 18 years or younger try out their first cigarette, and a further 2,100 young adults become daily smokers. In 2015, one in three high school seniors reported having smoked a cigarette, while 1 in 15 12th graders (or 7%) reported smoking regularly and on a daily basis. This translates to nearly 450,000 12- to ...