Executive Summary: Community Health Assessment

A community health assessment identifies critical health issues and needs through extensive data collection and analysis. It provides organizations with comprehensive information regarding the community’s needs and current health status. A strategy for improving one’s health could benefit from this information. This assessment will discuss previous tasks’ results and look at diabetes-related demographics in West Virginia. Aside from that, it will concentrate on the results of a healthcare professional’s interview, essential parts of the intervention plan, and ways to encourage cross-culture collaboration.

NURS FPX 5003 Assessment 4 Executive Summary: Community Health Assessment

Demographics to Address Diabetes in West Virginia

Approximately 250,000 people in West Virginia are thought to have diabetes, whereas 65,300 West Virginians have not been diagnosed. Male diabetes prevalence was 12% in 2010, and female diabetes prevalence was 11.5%. White, Asian, Hispanic, and African Americans are among the many racial and ethnic groups that inhabit WV. Another social determinant of health is education and comparing diabetes and non-diabetes populations will help paint a picture of diabetes and health equity in West Virginia. Over ten years, the proportion of people with diabetes was significantly higher among those who did not complete high school than among those who did (Health Statistics Centre, n.d). They make it easier for people at risk for diabetes to participate in programs that use evidence-based lifestyle changes to lower the risk (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019)

Summary of West Virginia Demographics Connected to Diabetes

An estimated 17% of black people, 16% of white people, 9% of Asian Americans, 7% of non-Hispanic whites, and 11% of multiracial people in West Virginia have diabetes (America’s Health Ranking, n.d). Diabetes affects approximately 12,400 people in West Virginia each year. About 16% of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes. Medical expenses for people with diabetes are approximately 2.5 times higher than those for non-diabetics. In 2017, West Virginia’s estimated direct medical costs for diabetes diagnosis were $2 billion. According to the American Diabetes Association (2018), additional indirect costs resulting from diabetes-related productivity losses totalled $640 million.

Demographics also details other community characteristics like age, education, income, employment, gender, and commuting. The expression and consequences of disease in a population can be examined with the help of epidemiology. It involves monitoring disease-related data and comprehending the population’s requirements.

Analysis of Findings from Healthcare Interview

It is possible to gain insight into the healthcare issue, prevention initiatives, population needs, communicating with diverse populations, and the implications of best practices for achieving positive outcomes through constructive conversations with healthcare professionals. It has been indicated that culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) can aid in ensuring that all patients receive equal access to healthcare, regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity. These standards can be used as an intervention strategy, and their effectiveness can be assessed by estimating the organization’s accomplishments and its employees’ efficiency (Think Cultural Health, n.d.).  

The organization must first overcome obstacles to implementing the National CLAS Standards, including a need for more resources and instructions on interpreting and applying them to conform to CLAS standards. Before implementing CLAS standards for successful outcomes, the university hospital in West Virginia follows several procedures. These include employing competent interpreters, the current and new employee’s training, and gathering information about the patient’s background, ethnicity, and language. By overcoming the obstacles in implementing CLAS standards, diabetic patients will receive equal and high-quality care without discrimination. In order to provide diabetic patients at West Virginia University Hospital with culturally and linguistically appropriate services, these strategies aim to advance health equity and eliminate healthcare disparities.

Key Components of Intervention and Health Promotion Plan

If organizations and coalitions focused on communicating accurate information to the healthcare community, stakeholders, and the public to influence behavior change, public health programs would thrive and survive. An objective, an intervention strategy, and timely progress monitoring are significant components of intervention plans (Fernandez et al., 2019). Intervention plans improve the quality of care by bringing about positive changes in healthcare systems and improving clinical quality of care as measured by positive health outcomes for individuals and populations. The intervention plan and the health improvement plan’s success are primarily due to the training of healthcare workers. To effectively provide diabetes care in the community following components of the intervention plan will help. 

Patients’ Awareness

The lifestyle of patients can be changed and it will make the plan successful. To raise awareness of cultural competency, The campaigns will be launched to spread awareness about cultural competency (Kumela Goro et al., 2019).

Staff Awareness

It is possible to raise staff awareness to support the team in achieving its goals and treating patients without bias. In addition, they should receive instructions on how to implement intervention properly.

Stakeholders’ Feedback and Support

It is precious to support important stakeholders like patients, policymakers, and payers because they are crucial to implementing the intervention plan (Vanaken & Masand, 2019).

NURS FPX 5003 Assessment 4 Executive Summary: Community Health Assessment

Evaluation Criteria

  Healthcare interventions are evaluated using a wide range of data typically collected regularly. Using quantitative or qualitative methods, one can assess the impact of healthcare interventions on future decisions to determine the success criteria for an intervention (Clarke et al., 2019). Staff education activities, educational campaigns for the target populations, cross-cultural collaboration, and medication adherence are all included in the outline of the intervention plan. Aside from that, a positive outcome will be patients’ overall satisfaction if equal health services are provided. Patient satisfaction can be used as a measure of the health management program’s success.

Strategies to Foster Cross-Cultural Collaboration

The capacity to comprehend and interact with people in healthcare who come from various cultures rather than just one is known as cross-cultural competency. For diverse healthcare groups, diversity-focused conferences can provide a better understanding of how healthcare can become more receptive to diversity and how it may have a positive impact on historically oppressed communities on the team and in the patients. Healthcare team members from diverse groups should attend these conferences. Additionally, staff education activities can assist members in learning more about their colleagues and the traditions, ethnicities, and cultures of patients (Ladha et al., 2018). If cross-cultural collaboration results in increased healthcare quality and equality after the evaluation, it indicates that the strategies contributed and serve as a success criterion.

Certain strategies could be implemented in order to foster cross-cultural collaboration. Spreading awareness about providing equal services to everyone. Cross-cultural collaboration can be cultivated through regular meetings of staff members from various departmental sections who are educated about the significance of equal healthcare for patients and the diversity of the population. Additionally, it will assist in reducing their conflicts and disagreements. As there is a diverse population with members from various backgrounds, acknowledgment campaigns about the diversity and variability among the community will help foster cross-cultural collaboration between diverse groups.

Strategies Used by Stakeholders to Advocate for Intervention

Identifying and prioritizing key stakeholders, such as community leaders, insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and investors for the intervention plans are tactics that can assist stakeholders in advocating for the health promotion plan. Stakeholders may be more likely to support a project if it is communicated to them. Stakeholders play a crucial role in intervention implications because they keep the healthcare system current with the most recent health developments and contribute to a service that is in the public’s best interest. In this instance, significant obstacles can be posed by a need for more human and financial resources and competing priorities (Byrne, 2019).

The department’s strategic priority will be made clear to stakeholders, who will then be asked for input. Since stakeholders’ support is crucial to the organization’s growth, it boosts confidence when their suggested interventions are implemented. A significant role is also played by regularly holding educational and informational meetings for stakeholders with high priority. It is also essential to encourage attendees by allowing them to express their ideas or concerns at meetings. Healthcare interventions can educate patients about life-modification techniques. Knowledge about self-management skills will improve patient awareness regarding lifestyle modification in diabetes. This will be accomplished by engaging patients in face-to-face meetings with healthcare professionals, placing advertisements on local television stations, and using social media platforms about the strategies.

Professional Communication of Assessment

The audience for the intervention plan could come from any race, ethnicity, age group, gender, sexual orientation, or educational background, as previously mentioned. This indicates that professional communication that demonstrates respect, empathy, and comprehension is required. The communication must value the experiences of all participants and members and be genuine rather than manipulative. As misunderstandings could lead to the health improvement plan’s failure, focusing on the intervention agenda can ensure clear communication (Arnold & Boggs, 2019).

Presenting various methods, such as being genuine with the audience, sending project summary reports, and, most importantly, focusing on the patient-centered approach, can help effectively communicate with a diverse population of stakeholders and audiences.

Conclusion

In conclusion, an effective intervention strategy could succeed a community health program. Since discrimination in health care services is the subject of the study, adhering to CLAS standards can assist in achieving equality for patients. Utilizing epidemiological tools improves comprehension of the population’s requirements. Quality in healthcare can be achieved with an intervention plan if it is communicated clearly and professionally and uses effective strategies.

NURS FPX 5003 Assessment 4 Executive Summary: Community Health Assessment

References

American Diabetes Association. (2018). The burden of diabetes in West Virginia. https://diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/ADV_2021_State_Fact_sheets_West%20Virginia_rev.pdf 

America’s Health Ranking. (n.d.). America’s Health Rankings | AHR. America’s health rankings. Retrieved January 18, 2023, from https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/Diabetes/population/Diabetes_White_C/state/WV 

Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2019 E-book: Professional communication skills for nurses. In Google Books. Elsevier Health Sciences. https://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XC2GDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Professional+Communication&ots=NqYj2_XPQQ&sig=XQQRv-VxjalcG1s_tkca-    

Byrne, M. (2019). Increasing the impact of behavior change intervention research: Is there a role for stakeholder engagement? Health Psychology, 38(4), 290–296. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000723 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). National Diabetes Prevention Program. Centers for disease control and prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/index.html 

Clarke, G. M., Conti, S., Wolters, A. T., & Steventon, A. (2019). Evaluating the impact of healthcare interventions using routine data. BMJ, 365(365), l2239. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l2239 

Fernandez, M. E., Ruiter, R. A. C., Markham, C. M., & Kok, G. (2019). Intervention mapping: theory- and evidence-based health promotion program planning: perspective and examples. Frontiers in Public Health, 7(209). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00209 

Health Statistics Centre. (n.d.). HSC Statistical Brief No. 28 Diabetes and Health Equity in West Virginia: A Review. http://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/hsc/pubs/briefs/028/brief28_20121220_health_eq_stat.pdf 

Think Cultural Health, (n.d.). Culturally and linguistically appropriate services. https://thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov/clas#:~:text=The%20National%20CLAS%20Standards%20are 

Kumela Goro, K., Desalegn Wolide, A., Kerga Dibaba, F., Gashe Fufa, F., Wakjira Garedow, A., Edilu Tufa, B., & Mulisa Bobasa, E. (2019, May 12). Patient awareness, prevalence, and risk factors of chronic kidney disease among diabetes mellitus and hypertensive patients at Jimma University Medical Center, Ethiopia. BioMed Research International. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2019/2383508/ 

Ladha, T., Zubairi, M., Hunter, A., Audcent, T., & Johnstone, J. (2018). Cross-cultural communication: Tools for working with families and children. Paediatrics & Child Health, 23(1), 66–69. https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/pxx126 

Vanaken, H., & Masand, S. N. (2019). Awareness and collaboration across stakeholder groups important for eConsent achieving value-driven adoption. Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science, 53(6), 724–735. https://doi.org/10.1177/2168479019861924