Home-Based Healthcare
Measure to Improve Community Health
Home-based healthcare [HBH] will improve the health of my community by addressing socioeconomic and disparity factors. The measure involves designed strategies to address the healthcare needs of people within their residential areas compared to the traditional hospital setting (Landerset al., 2019). HBH meets the healthcare needs of residents who cannot access hospitals because of physical disabilities, the cost of healthcare, distance from the hospitals, and lack of knowledge about clinical services. The program is cheap because patients do not have to travel or get extended hospital stays.HBH will also address the healthcare needs of people born with disabilities and others whom families and communities hide to avoid shame.
Need for the Measure
My community has over half of the members living below the poverty line and others at an average economic level. Most of them can, therefore, not be able to pay even for the slightest healthcare need at a hospital facility. The illiteracy level is also high, almost half, meaning that the majority are unaware of cheap and sometimes free government health insurance covers. Due to illiteracy, members are likely to ignore their healthcare needs thinking that they can get well without treatment. Healthcare facilities are in urban areas where members in rural areas are unable to access, especially in emergency cases, since they cannot fund transport and healthcare at the same time. There are also hidden people with preexisting conditions due to families’ fear of shame when they expose them on the way to hospitals.
Enacting and Supporting the Measure
I will see the program start through three different stages. In the beginning, I will influence my fellow nurses, physicians, and hospital administration to see the need for home-based care. Nightingale, through her environmental theory, demonstrated that nursing advocacy by showing the real healthcare deficit can push administrators to act (Medeiros et al., 2015). I will take the challenge by writing and exposing the community disparity and socioeconomic factors affecting their health to motivate other healthcare workers, including nurses, to join the advocacy. The next thing will be a push for the state and individual healthcare facilities to enact a policy on home-based healthcare and fund. The last step will be to volunteer me to motivate other nurses, healthcare administrators, and sponsors.
Expected Push-Back
I expect resistance towards the whole program from private hospitals and nursing homes around the community. Private hospitals and nursing homes are profit-focused and utilize every opportunity to get money from patients. The program reduces their profit by lowering the number of patients who need admission and regular visits to the frailties since they will receive cheaper home-based care. Another resistance comes from state and insurance agencies such as Medicare who limits the services which nurses can provide at patient homes (Jaffe, 2019).Physicians are also likely to resist due to the perception that nurses are taking their roles.
Requirements to Enact the Measure
State and facilities policies are essential to support the program. The policies will make the project legitimate to avoid resistance from insurance agencies, the state ministry of health, private caregivers, patients, and community organizations (Jaffe, 2019). Through the policy, the program will get the next requirement, which is funding, especially from the city budget. The city and healthcarefacilities will set aside resources, including nurses and finances, for the program once it becomes legitimate, leading to success. Another need is a grant from sponsors since the program is at the starting stage with a considerable budget, including vehicles and ambulances that carry equipment and consumables.
Jaffe, S. (2019). Home health care providers struggle with state laws and Medicare rules as demand rises. Health Affairs, 38(6), 981-986.
Medeiros, A. B. A., Enders, B. C., & Lira, A. L. B. C. (2015).The Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory: a critical analysis. Esc Anna Nery Rev, 19 (3): 518-24.
Landers, S., Madigan, E., Leff, B., Rosati, R. J., McCann, B. A., Hornbake, R., … & Lee, T. (2016). The future of home health care: a strategic framework for optimizing value. Home health care management & practice, 28(4), 262-278.