Introduction
Leading Health Indicators (LHI) are goals meticulously chosen to drive efforts to enhance health care in the United States to minimize mortality and the spread of infectious diseases. According to the 2020 LHI, access to health services is one of the most critical health indicators. A person’s overall health is significantly affected by their access to medical care. Recent studies indicate that one in four Americans cannot access primary care physicians (Lin, 2022). These individuals lack access to health centers where they can receive primary medical care. Medical insurance has become uncommon among the majority of residents. It has been reported that about 20% of Americans lack health insurance coverage (Kas-Osoka et al., 2022). Without medical insurance, people cannot receive regular medical check-ups and treatment due to the enormous medical expenditures they will be required to pay.
Therefore, the lack of health insurance coverage is a leading cause of death and disease among American households, especially impoverished ones who cannot afford out-of-pocket health service payments. The primary prevention method tries to prevent disease and disability by facilitating early patient access to health services. Health services also contribute to secondary prevention by allowing healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat diseases at their onset. Secondary prevention tries to lessen the impact of disease by providing dependable access to health care. Alternately, it decreases the chance of premature death and enhances the patient’s life expectancy.
Policies That Improve Health Outcomes by Supporting Systemic Changes
Policies about health are necessary because they establish parameters favorable to the interests of medical professionals, patients, communities, and the health system as a whole. Policies that make it illegal to buy or consume tobacco and alcohol are one example of a health policy that improves health outcomes. Some policies allow employees to participate in health-related projects or take time off for health-related reasons (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2018). Other methods in boarding schools enable students to sleep and wake up at predetermined times.
The purpose of these activities is to monitor the students’ resting schedules and, as a result, to promote the students’ overall health. It is required to undertake systemic reforms to support such policies to be practical regarding health.
Role of Health Professionals
Health professionals have an essential role in promoting the health and safety of the individuals they serve. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2018), they are crucial in enhancing people’s access to healthcare services. Providers of primary healthcare can cultivate strong relationships with the communities they serve. This will encourage community members to have routine medical examinations at health clinics.
Improved provider-patient relationships help foster patient confidence in the health system (Mata et al., 2021). Health workers must enhance their technique of communicating with the patients they serve. According to an assessment of over 14,000 hospitals in the United States in 2020, inadequate and unreliable communication mechanisms are typically the primary cause of in-hospital deaths (Douglas et al., 2021). Therefore, it is the responsibility of healthcare providers to enhance their communication skills with patients to help them adhere to medical recommendations.
Health professionals’ responsibilities include providing community members with critical services that promote health and prevent sickness. The members of a healthcare team should share tasks to improve the efficiency and accessibility of health professionals and meet the needs of patients. The same amount of time should be allotted for health professionals to rejuvenate through short naps and quick walks. Officials in the field of health should seek to increase the number of healthcare personnel working in shifts. The modifications aid in the prevention of weariness and stress and expand the roles of health practitioners.
How Globalization Affects This Metric
The effects of globalization may be direct or indirect, depending on many variables such as the economy, sanitation, and education. One of the most significant effects of globalization on public health is its propensity to exacerbate wealth inequality, instability, and susceptibility.
Increasing commerce is beneficial to economies but also results in the globalization of health problems. According to Holst (2020), the globalization of the international economy influences the trends of public health, and the related mortality and morbidity affect the potential of countries to accomplish economic progress. Accessibility to critical healthcare is significantly affected by the internationalization of public health. Healthcare access is adversely impacted by a growth in inequality between and within nations.
When unwell, poor individuals utilize medical services fewer times than privileged consumers. Globalization’s negative effects on healthcare accessibility are more evident in countries with transformation economies. During the transitional era, vast portions of the population were sometimes refused the most basic medical care since they were not covered by a consolidated healthcare system that guaranteed free, equal service access for everybody. In other words, the health benefits of globalization can generally be realized in nations where governance structures are well-functioning, domestic market competition is high, and social support systems are available.
Indicator’s Environmental Impact on Population Health
Environmental variables significantly impact a population’s health regarding access to health services. Air pollution is one such environmental element that affects the health of a population. Due to the harm caused by air pollution to humans, toxic-pollutant emissions are significantly related to health care costs.
According to studies, states with higher toxic-pollutant emissions spend more per capita on health care than states with lower toxic-pollutant emissions (Bai et al., 2021). Therefore, increased healthcare expenditures diminish the quality of services provided by healthcare institutions in such states, thereby reducing the index.
Communication Strategies for Addressing This Public Health Concern
Health practitioners can inspire community members to make healthier decisions through verbal and written communication. Establishing a connection between healthcare practitioners and public members is crucial for making healthier decisions (Banerjee et al., 2021). It is necessary to invest in social marketing by developing programs, public forums, and activities that aim to alter the access to health services behavior of individuals favorably.
To effectively communicate with the public regarding access to health care, health practitioners must first comprehend the languages, concepts, and practices of the many communities they serve. Second, they can create materials such as pamphlets, billboards, broadcasts, public service announcements, newsletters, films, television broadcasts, and newspaper articles to disseminate information regarding this public issue. Thirdly, they can involve the public in group discussions, health fairs, and field trips to inform them about the availability of health services.
Different Audiences Different Communication Strategies
Healthcare professionals utilize communication platforms to reach their audience. The first step in determining the most effective communication channel is establishing the target demographic for this campaign. Children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly are included in the target demographic for the campaign to distribute information about access to health services.
The second step for health practitioners is to discover where the various audience segments spend most of their time. Thirdly, healthcare professionals should assess where the intended audience will most likely view the communication. Lastly, they should identify the type of inexpensive communication route or seek external support for it. It is equally crucial for healthcare personnel to comprehend their patients’ health beliefs to discover gaps between their own and the patient’s understanding of the situation.
Conclusion
Some most developed healthcare systems have long queues for specialists and even routine surgeries. Often, this leads to delayed care and unintended health outcomes for patients. Similarly, several countries, especially those from underdeveloped or developing parts of the world, have healthcare systems that may not provide the highest quality treatment due to limited resources or economic limitations. In other words, no country globally has a perfect healthcare system. Therefore, governments need to bolster their role in providing health services to the community. They should collaborate with both public and private healthcare institutions openly and mutually. This way, governments can foster an environment that ensures everyone has access to quality healthcare.
References
Bai, Z., Fan, X., Jin, X., Zhao, Z., Wu, Y., Oenema, O., Velthof, G., Hu, C., & Fan, L. (2022). Relocate 10 billion livestock to reduce harmful nitrogen pollution exposure for 90% of China’s population. Nature Food, 3(2), 152-160. Web.