Nursing Profession’s Contribution to Person- and People-Centered Primary Health Care

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 197-203
Author(s):  
Yukiko Kusano ◽  
Erica Ehrhardt
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Workforce Planning ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
Integration Of Care ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Strategic Role

Background: Equity and access to primary health care (PHC) services, particularly nursing services, are key to improving the health and well-being of all people. Nurses, as the largest group of healthcare professionals delivering services wherever people are, have a unique opportunity to put people at the centre of care, making services more effective, efficient and equitable.Objectives: To assess contributions of nurses to person and people-centered PHC. Methods: Analysis of nursing contributions under each of the four sets of the PHC reforms set by the World Health Organization.Results: Evidence and examples of nursing contributions are found in all of the four PHC reform areas. These include: expanding access;addressing problems through prevention; coordination and integration of care; and supporting the development of appropriate, effective and healthy public policies; and linking field-based innovations and policy development to inform evidence-based policy decision making.Conclusions:Nurses have significant contributions in each of the four PHC reform areas. The focus of nursing care on people-centeredness, continuity of care, comprehensiveness and integration of services, which are fundamental to holistic care, is an essential contribution of nurses to people-centered PHC. Nurses’ contributions can be optimised through positive practice environments, appropriate workforce planning and implementation andadequate education and quality control though strong regulatory principles and frameworks. People-centered approaches need to be considered both in health and non-health sectors as part of people-centered society. A strategic role of nurses as partners in services planning and decision-making is one of the key elements to achieve people-centered PHC.

Policy Development in Disaster Preparedness and Management: Lessons Learned from the January 2001 Earthquake in Gujarat, India

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rannveig Bremer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Disaster Relief ◽  
World Health ◽  
Disaster Victims ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
The World

AbstractIntroduction:During the last decades, several humanitarian emergencies have occurred, with an increasing number of humanitarian organizations taking part in providing assistance. However, need assessments, medical intelligence, and coordination of the aid often are sparse, resulting in the provision of ineffective and expensive assistance. When an earthquake with the strength of 7.7 on the Richter scale struck the state of Gujarat, India, during the early morning on 26 January 2001, nearly 20,000 persons were killed, nearly 170,000 were injured, and 600,000 were rendered homeless. This study identifies how assigned indicators to measure the level of health care may improve disaster preparedness and management, thus, reducing human suffering.Methods:During a two-week mission in the disaster area, the disaster relief provided to the disaster-affected population of Gujarat was evaluated. Vulnerability due to climate, geography, culture, religion, gender, politics, and economy, as each affected the outcome, was studied. By assigning indicators to the eight ELEMENTS of the Primary Health Care System as advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the level of public health and healthcare services were estimated, an evaluation of the impact of the disaster was conducted, and possible methods for improving disaster management are suggested. Representatives of the major relief organizations involved were interviewed on their relief policies. Strategies to improve disaster relief, such as policy development in the different aspects of public health/primary health care, were sought.Results:Evaluation of the pre-event status of the affected society revealed a complex situation in a vulnerable society with substantial deficiencies in the existing health system that added to the severity of the disaster. Most of the civilian hospitals had collapsed, and army field hospitals provided medical care to most of the patients under primitive conditions using tents. When the foreign field hospitals arrived 5 to 7 days after the earthquake, most of the casualties requiring surgical intervention already had been operated on. Relief provided to the disaster victims had reduced quality for the following reasons: (1) proper public health indicators had not yet been developed; (2) efficient coordination was lacking; (3) insufficient, overestimated, or partly irrelevant relief was provided; (4) relief was delayed because of bureaucracy; and (5) policies on the delivery of disaster relief had not been developed.Conclusion:To optimize the effectiveness of limited resources, disaster preparedness and the provision of feasible and necessary aid is of utmost importance. An appropriate, rapid, crisis intervention could be achieved by continual surveillance of the world's situation by a Relief Coordination Center. A panel of experts could evaluate and coordinate the international disaster responses and make use of stored emergency material and emergency teams. A successful disaster response will depend on accurate and relevant medical intelligence and socio-geographical mapping in advance of, during, and after the event(s) causing the disaster. More effective and feasible equipment coordinated with the relief provided by the rest of the world is necessary. If policies and agreements are developed as part of disaster preparedness, on international, bilateral, and national levels, disaster relief may be more relevant, less chaotic, and easier to estimate, thus, bringing improved relief to the disaster victims.

scholarly journals Primary health care for all: lessons from its failure to achieve its goal and COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Erlangga Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Health Organization

<p align="left">According to the World Health Organization (WHO), primary health care (PHC) can be defined as a whole-of-society approach to health and well-being, centered on the needs and preferences of individuals, families and communities. In the last five years, several major events occurred that emphasize the importance of and the need for PHC. First, the publication of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. One of the SDGs is to achieve universal health care (UHC). UHC means that all people can get access to health service without it resulting in financial hardship, and  the WHO believes that PHC is fundamental to achieving UHC.<sup><span> </span></sup>Second, a new international declaration on PHC has been released in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018.<span style="font-size: 8.33333px;"> </span>This is a new declaration and global commitment on PHC, four decennia after the first declaration on PHC in Alma-Ata, in the former Soviet Union</p>

Quality of life and adherence to mediterranean diet among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients of a primary health care clinic in Hebron city, Palestine

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Manal Badrasawi ◽  
May Hamdan ◽  
Mohammad Al Tamimi
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Mediterranean Diet ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Care Clinic ◽  
Primary Health Care Clinic ◽  
Primary Health

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a lifelong metabolic disease with a high rate of mortality and morbidity. Uncontrolled and untreated diabetes results in serious complications that subsequently cause patients’ quality of life (QoL) to deteriorate. Adherence to Mediterranean diet (MD) may relieve the complications of diabetes, thereby improving the quality of life for these patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the QoL of DM patients who adhered to MD. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we examined the QoL and MD data of 106 DM II patients being treated at a primary health care clinic in Hebron. We used the SF-36 questionnaire to measure the patients’ QoL and the MEDAS tool to assess their MD adherence. We also recorded their anthropometric measurements, abdominal obesity, lifestyle habits and blood biochemical results. RESULTS: The sample comprised male and female DM II patients between the ages of 35 and 72, with their mean age being 55.8±10.24. Patients’ QoL scores showed a significant relationship with three BMI categories, i.e., total QoL score, physical function, and pain domains (p <  0.05). In terms of diet, high adherence to MD had a positive impact on all domains and on patients’ total QoL with significant differences in physical functioning, emotional well-being, social functioning and pain domains. CONCLUSION: Patients’ QoL domains were relatively low and highly affected by DM II. Patients with greater MD adherence reported higher scores in all QoL domains. Significantly higher scores were noted for the physical, social and pain domains. Hence, MD is a recommended dietary pattern for DM II patients to achieve a better QoL.

scholarly journals The origins of Ethiopia's primary health care expansion: The politics of state building and health system strengthening

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Croke
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Developmental State ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
World Health ◽  
Director General ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Health Programmes

Abstract Ethiopia’s expansion of primary health care over the past 15 years has been hailed as a model in sub-Saharan Africa. A leader closely associated with the programme, Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, is now Director-General of the World Health Organization, and the global movement for expansion of primary health care often cites Ethiopia as a model. Starting in 2004, over 30 000 Health Extension Workers were trained and deployed in Ethiopia and over 2500 health centres and 15 000 village-level health posts were constructed. Ethiopia’s reforms are widely attributed to strong leadership and ‘political will’, but underlying factors that enabled adoption of these policies and implementation at scale are rarely analysed. This article uses a political economy lens to identify factors that enabled Ethiopia to surmount the challenges that have caused the failure of similar primary health programmes in other developing countries. The decision to focus on primary health care was rooted in the ruling party’s political strategy of prioritizing rural interests, which had enabled them to govern territory successfully as an insurgency. This wartime rural governance strategy included a primary healthcare programme, providing a model for the later national programme. After taking power, the ruling party created a centralized coalition of regional parties and prioritized extending state and party structures into rural areas. After a party split in 2001, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi consolidated power and implemented a ‘developmental state’ strategy. In the health sector, this included appointment of a series of dynamic Ministers of Health and the mobilization of significant resources for primary health care from donors. The ruling party’s ideology also emphasized mass participation in development activities, which became a central feature of health programmes. Attempts to translate this model to different circumstances should consider the distinctive features of the Ethiopian case, including both the benefits and costs of these strategies.

scholarly journals Integrated people-centred primary health care in Greece: unravelling Ariadne’s thread

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos Lionis ◽  
Emmanouil K. Symvoulakis ◽  
Adelais Markaki ◽  
Elena Petelos ◽  
Sophia Papadakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Care Reform ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
World Health ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract The 40th anniversary of the World Health Organization Alma-Ata Declaration in Astana offered the impetus to discuss the extent to which integrated primary health care (PHC) has been successfully implemented and its impact on research and practice. This paper focuses on the experiences from Greece in implementing primary health care reform and lessons learned from the conduct of evidence-based research. It critically examines what appears to be impeding the effective implementation of integrated PHC in a country affected by the financial and refugee crisis. The key challenges for establishing integrated people-centred primary care include availability of family physicians, information and communication technology, the prevention and management of chronic disease and migrant and refugees’ health. Policy recommendations are formulated to guide the primary health care reform in Greece, while attempting to inform efforts in other countries with similar conditions.

Health for All and Primary Health Care, 1978–2018: A Historical Perspective on Policies and Programs Over 40 Years

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan B. Rifkin
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Good Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Definition Of Health ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Health Organization

In 1978, at an international conference in Kazakhstan, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund put forward a policy proposal entitled “Primary Health Care” (PHC). Adopted by all the World Health Organization member states, the proposal catalyzed ideas and experiences by which governments and people began to change their views about how good health was obtained and sustained. The Declaration of Alma-Ata (as it is known, after the city in which the conference was held) committed member states to take action to achieve the WHO definition of health as “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Arguing that good health was not merely the result of biomedical advances, health-services provision, and professional care, the declaration stated that health was a human right, that the inequality of health status among the world’s populations was unacceptable, and that people had a right and duty to become involved in the planning and implementation of their own healthcare. It proposed that this policy be supported through collaboration with other government sectors to ensure that health was recognized as a key to development planning. Under the banner call “Health for All by the Year 2000,” WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund set out to turn their vision for improving health into practice. They confronted a number of critical challenges. These included defining PHC and translating PHC into practice, developing frameworks to translate equity into action, experiencing both the potential and the limitations of community participation in helping to achieve the WHO definition of health, and seeking the necessary financing to support the transformation of health systems. These challenges were taken up by global, national, and nongovernmental organization programs in efforts to balance the PHC vision with the realities of health-service delivery. The implementation of these programs had varying degrees of success and failure. In the future, PHC will need to address to critical concerns, the first of which is how to address the pressing health issues of the early 21st century, including climate change, control of noncommunicable diseases, global health emergencies, and the cost and effectiveness of humanitarian aid in the light of increasing violent disturbances and issues around global governance. The second is how PHC will influence policies emerging from the increasing understanding that health interventions should be implemented in the context of complexity rather than as linear, predictable solutions.

scholarly journals PRIMARY CARE QUALITY FROM PROFESSIONALS’ PERSPECTIVE: HEALTH OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH HIV

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziela Piovesan ◽  
Cristiane Cardoso de Paula ◽  
Luis Felipe Dias Lopes ◽  
Stela Maris de Mello Padoin ◽  
Raquel Einloft Kleinubing ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Health Care Quality ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Integration Of Care ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Care Assessment

ABSTRACT Objective: evaluate, based on the professionals’ experience, the primary health care quality in home cities of children and adolescents with HIV, treated at a specialized service. Method: cross-sectional study involving 527 professionals in 25 interior cities in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in the first semester of 2014. The Primary Care Assessment Tool was applied. Pearson’s chi-square Test, the Mann Whitney Test and the Poisson Regression were used. Results: the Estratégia Saúde da Família and the primary health care service presented a high score related to the essential attributes: longitudinality (7.17 and 6.74), coordination-integration of care (6.87 and 7.03) and coordination-information systems (8.24 and 8.19); and a low score for the attribute access (3.96 and 3.8). The variables: female gender (0.009), education as general practitioner (<0.001), statutory staff (0.029), coordinator position (0.087) and not having another job (0.027) were also associated with the high score. Conclusion: the coverage of the Estratégia Saúde da Família needs to be expanded and structural and organizational shortages in the access need to be overcome.

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