Facilitating nursing students’ acquisition of knowledge about the public health perspective in nursing: Experiences from a pilot project

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-86
Author(s):  
Elsebeth Krøger ◽  
Hans Inge Sævareid ◽  
Åshild Slettebø

Knowledge about public health and public health work is important for meeting current and future health challenges. A group of nursing students in a cohort participated in a practicum programme pertaining to the study of the academic subject ‘Nursing and Society’. The municipality’s public healthcare services were the learning arena. The purpose of this pilot project was to explore whether participation in the municipality’s public healthcare services is a pedagogical approach that enhances nursing students’ acquisition of knowledge about the public health perspective in nursing. Combined methods were used in the evaluation. Data were collected through focus-group interviews and questionnaire surveys. The results reveal that participation in the municipality’s public healthcare services while studying the subject contributed towards enabling the students enrolled in the practical study to visualize the public health perspective in nursing.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3415
Author(s):  
Priya Gauttam ◽  
Nitesh Patel ◽  
Bawa Singh ◽  
Jaspal Kaur ◽  
Vijay Kumar Chattu ◽  
...  

(1) Background: Society and public policy have been remained interwoven since the inception of the modern state. Public health policy has been one of the important elements of the public administration of the Government of India (GOI). In order to universalize healthcare facilities for all, the GOI has formulated and implemented the national health policy (NHP). The latest NHP (2017) has been focused on the “Health in All” approach. On the other hand, the ongoing pandemic COVID-19 had left critical impacts on India’s health, healthcare system, and human security. The paper’s main focus is to critically examine the existing healthcare facilities and the GOI’s response to combat the COVID-19 apropos the NHP 2017. The paper suggests policy options that can be adopted to prevent the further expansion of the pandemic and prepare the country for future health emergency-like situations. (2) Methods: Extensive literature search was done in various databases, such as Scopus, Web of Science, Medline/PubMed, and google scholar search engines to gather relevant information in the Indian context. (3) Results: Notwithstanding the several combatting steps on a war-footing level, COVID-19 has placed an extra burden over the already overstretched healthcare infrastructure. Consequently, infected cases and deaths have been growing exponentially, making India stand in second place among the top ten COVID-19-infected countries. (4) Conclusions: India needs to expand the public healthcare system and enhance the expenditure as per the set goals in NHP-17 and WHO standards. The private healthcare system has not been proved reliable during the emergency. Only the public health system is suitable for the country wherein the population’s substantial size is rural and poor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mustapha Namadi

Corruption is pervasive in Nigeria at all levels. Thus, despite recent gains in healthcare provision, the health sector faces numerous corruption related challenges. This study aims at examining areas of corruption in the health sector with specific focus on its types and nature. A sample size of 480 respondents aged 18 years and above was drawn from the eight Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, using the multistage sampling technique. The results revealed evidence of corrupt practices including those related to unnecessary-absenteeism, diversion of patients from the public health facilities to the private sector, diverting money meant for the purchase of equipment, fuel and diesel, bribery, stealing of medications, fraud, misappropriation of medications and unjustifiable reimbursement claims. In order to resolve the problem of corrupt practices in the healthcare sector, the study recommended the need for enforcement of appropriate code of ethics guiding the conduct of the health professionals, adoption of anti-corruption strategies, and strengthening the government monitoring system to check corruption in public health sector in order to ensure equitable access to healthcare services among the under-privileged people in the society.


Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Khan ◽  
Tusha Sharma ◽  
Basu Dev Banerjee ◽  
Scotty Branch ◽  
Shea Harrelson

: Currently, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has transformed into a severe public health crisis and wreaking havoc worldwide. The ongoing pandemic has exposed the public healthcare system's weaknesses and highlighted the urgent need for investments in scientific programs and policies. A comprehensive program utilizing the science and technologydriven strategies combined with well-resourced healthcare organizations appears to be essential for current and future outbreak management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Vivas ◽  
M Duarte ◽  
A Pitta ◽  
B Christovam

Abstract Background The government investments in quality primary healthcare are the basis to strengthening the health systems and monitoring the public expenditure in this area is a way to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the public health policies. The Brazil Ministry of Health changed, in 2017, the method of onlending federal resources to states and cities seeking to make the public funds management more flexible. This change, however, suppressed mandatory investments in primary healthcare. This research aims to determine the difference of expenditures on primary healthcare in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil metropolitan area before and after this funding reform, seeking to verify how it can impact the quality of primary healthcare services and programs. Methods This is an ecological time-series study that used data obtained in the Brazil Ministry of Health budget reports. The median and interquartile range of expenditures on primary healthcare (set as the percentage of total public health budget applied in primary care services and programs) of the 13 cities in the Salvador metropolitan area were compared two years before and after the reform. Results The median of expenditures on primary healthcare in Salvador metropolitan area was 25.5% (13,9% - 32,2%) of total public health budget before and 24.8% (20.8% - 30.0%) of total public health budget after the reform (-0.7% difference). Seven cities decreased the expenditures on primary healthcare after the reform, ranging from 1.2% to 10.8% reduction in the primary healthcare budget in five years. Conclusions Expenditures on primary healthcare in Salvador metropolitan area decreased after the 2017 funding reform. Seven of 13 cities reduced the government investments on primary healthcare services and programs in this scenario. Although the overall difference was -0.7%, the budget cuts ranged from 1.2% to 10.8% in the analyzed period and sample. More studies should assess these events in wide areas and with long time ranges. Key messages Public health funding models can impact the primary healthcare settings regardless of the health policy. Reforms in the funding models should consider the possible benefits before implementation. Funding models and methods that require mandatory investments in primary healthcare may be considered over more flexible ones.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Ese ◽  
C Ihlebak

Abstract Background Public health problems often constitute so called “wicked problems”, and the importance of involving multiple stakeholders in order to address such problems is acknowledged, for instance through the SDG17 guidelines. Partnerships between academia and the public sector have been deemed especially promising. However, sustainable partnerships might be difficult due to divergent understandings and interests. Although there is a substantial research literature on academic-public partnerships in general, partnerships addressing public health specifically are less investigated. The aim of the project was therefore to identify enablers for sustainable public health partnerships between academia and the public sector. Methods A mixed methods design was used. A survey regarding partnerships was sent to 41 European, Asian and American regions, with a response rate of 72 %. Based on survey data, an interview guide was developed and four best cases (Canada, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Norway) were identified. Site visits and group interviews with representatives from stakeholders of the partnerships were conducted. Interview data and answers to open ended questions from questionnaires were analysed. Results Three main findings became apparent through the analysis. Important enablers were: 1) person-to-person fit between individuals, 2) national incentive schemes for collaboration, and 3) formal partnership agreements that provided a framework that allowed for manoeuvring. The enablers identified are on a macro, miso and micro level. Furthermore, they can be categorised as political, organisational, and social. Conclusions The data support the notion that partnerships are complex social structures that need to be initiated and managed on different levels and with different measures. At the same time, data demonstrate that across different geographical, political, and social contexts the same enablers are reappearing as important for sustaining public health partnerships. Key messages Similar enablers for sustaining public health partnerships are found across geographical, political, and social contexts. Important enablers for partnerships are person-to-person fit, national incentive schemes, and formal agreements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 45-76
Author(s):  
Richard Pankomera ◽  
Darelle Van Greunen

Although Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the healthcare sector are extensively deployed globally, they are not used effectively in developing countries. Many resource poor countries face numerous challenges in implementing the ICT interventions. For instance, many health applications that have been deployed are not user-centric. As a result, such ICT interventions do not benefit many health consumers. The lack of an ICT framework to support patient-centric healthcare services in Malawi renders the e-health and mhealth interventions less sustainable and less cost effective. The aim of the study was therefore to develop an ICT Framework that could support patient-centric healthcare services in the public health sector in Malawi. The comprehensive literature review and semi-structured interviews highlighted many challenges underlying ICT development in Malawi. An ICT framework for patient-centric healthcare services is therefore proposed to ensure that eHealth and mobile health interventions are more sustainable and cost effective. The framework was validated by five experts selected from different areas of expertise including mhealth application developers, ICT policy makers and public health practitioners. Results show that the framework is relevant, useful and applicable within the setting of Malawi. The framework can also be implemented in various countries with similar settings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanghamitra Das ◽  
Samhita Das

Media reports of the COVID-19 pandemic in India have highlighted the important role that India’s female community health workers, the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), have played in managing COVID infections in India. This paper explores the epistemic basis of ASHA work to understand the significance of their role. Through a discourse analysis of textual media articles, we show that the ASHAs’ routine and COVID-related caregiving practices are a form of embodied, intimate labor rooted in their situated, community-oriented knowledge. This labor is devalued as emotional and feminized care work, which denies the ASHAs professional status in the public healthcare system of India and, in turn, reflects a hierarchy among health practitioners that stems from the status of objectivity/disembodiment in biomedicine. We find that, despite their low status in the public health system, ASHA workers develop a self-concept that enables them to self-identify as healthcare professionals, motivating them to continue providing essential healthcare services during the pandemic. We argue that an official recognition of the epistemic value of ASHA work would help to overcome the age-old nature/culture dichotomy that informs what counts as valuable, legitimate, formal medical knowledge. Furthermore, our analysis provides a critique of the gendered devaluation of care work within a political economy of health increasingly dictated by a neoliberal logic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Nguyễn Trọng cơ ◽  
Ngô Thanh Hoàng

In the renovation of the public non-business sector, the financial renovation is a particularly important content, which is a key condition for autonomous non-business units to improve the quality of public services as well as the efficiency of state budget spending. Renovating the financial mechanism of public non-business units has been identified as one of the breakthroughs of the Vietnam Finance Strategy until 2020 [Prime Minister, (2012)]. Implementing the financial autonomy mechanism has created the initiative for non-business units to manage financial expenditures effectively and mobilize the contribution of society for the development of non-business activities. In this process, public healthcare has been and will be an area focused in Vietnam and most provinces of Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City. Base on the theoretical framework for the autonomy mechanism, this article focuses on analyzing the actual situation of implementing the financial autonomy mechanism of the public health service units in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for the period 2012-2018. Since then, it indicates the achieved results, limitations, causes, and some recommendations to promote the implementation of the financial autonomy mechanism of public health service units in the context of world economic integration.


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