U3 AOS2 Improvements in health status (4) Flashcards
List the three public health activities and processes
Public health intelligence, public health programs, and public health infrastructure;
Public health includes..
Identifying public health issues, identifying priority areas, designing and implementing interventions at the population level, target factors, not trat consequences and aims to promote health and prevent illness.
Public health programs
Development of policy and the planning of strategies that aim to prevent, protect, and promote health.
Public health intelligence
Information that identifies trends of ill-health and health in population and information about the factors.
Public health infrastructure
Includes administrative, legislative, information, research and program-delivery systems, and the workforce to implement them.
Public health
A collaborative approach, or the organised response by society to promote health, prevent injury illness and disability and prolong life through health care that is done at a government or state level. It is the health of a population as a whole, especially as monitored, regulated, and promoted by the state through implementing interventions.
Old public health
An organised approach to try to address the environmental issues and public hygiene that were contributing to ill-health. Additionally aimed to improve access to toilets, sanitation, clean water, improve living conditions as these factors were essential for preventing illness. Thus, focused on specific medical interventions to treat a specific illness.
Provide 4 examples of the biomedical healthcare
Blood tests to diagnose illness, x-rays to diagnose fractures, surgery for patients with heart disease, and chemotherapy to treat cancer.
List and explain three strengths of the biomedical model of health
It provides treatment for many medical conditions, such as through vaccines which can prevent more illnesses;
Increases productivity as people are able to get back to the workforce quicker as it effectively treats poor health;
Leads to significant advances in medical technology and research;
List and explain three limitations of the biomedical model of health
Not all conditions can be treated or cured;
It does not always promote equality as some of the treatments and medications that are not government funded may not be accessible to all people;
It does not encourage or promote good health as it leads to a reliance on the health system to ‘fix problems’ rather than individual responsibility to improve their health and prevent further illness;
Biomedical model of health
Focuses on the physical or biological aspects of disease and illness. It is a medical model of care practised by doctors and health professionals, and is associated with the diagnosis, cure, and treatment of disease. The aim of this model of health is to return the patient to their pre-illness state.
Diagnosis
When a doctor identifies a disease or illness through the use of a test.
Cure and treatment
Refers to the intervention or steps that are taken to control illness.
New public health
Refers to an organised response by society to protect and promote health and to prevent injury, illness, and disability by modifying the risk factors. It demonstrates an understanding of how lifestyle and living conditions influence health status, and aims to improve the quality of life. Recognises that health is complex and that a broader range of social factors impact on health, requiring inter-sectorial action and policy change to address them.
List the 5 principles of the social model of health (AREAS)
Acts to enable access to healthcare, reduces social inequalities, empower individuals and communities, addresses broader determinants of health, and inter-sectorial collaboration.
Acts to enable access to healthcare
Involves providing health services and promotion that is affordable, accessible, and relevant to people’s needs in a culturally appropriate manner (e.g., address the social and environmental barriers that may restrict someone’s ability to access healthcare, such as location, or income).
Reduce social inequalities
Reducing the inequities that exist in relation to the health status and provision of health services due to factors such as gender, age, race, SES, location, and physical environment (e.g., reduce the barriers that may prevent people from experiencing good health such as income, race, or gender).
Empower individuals and communities
Involves providing knowledge, understanding, and information to empower individuals to participate in decision making about their health – education is a key component (e.g., give people the knowledge and skills needed to allow them to participate in the decisions that positively impact their health).
Addresses broader determinants of health
All social, environmental, and economic factors impact on health. Factors include gender, income, and culture (e.g., focus on more than the behaviour factors).
Inter-sectoral collaboration
The public and private sector working together in coordinated action to improve health outcomes of all (e.g., government and non-government groups working together to address barriers and improve health outcomes for all).
List three strengths of the social model of health
It is sustainable as many of the initiatives focus on education which can be passed on to future generations to help them with their needs;
It aims to improve the situation before illness occurs by preventing illness rather than just treating it;
Encourages good health through disease-prevention and aims to improve the situation before illness occurs;
List three limitations of the social model of health
Doesn’t assist those who are already sick;
It relies on individuals making good choices which can prove to be ineffective as some people may ignore health-promotion messages making the model less effective;
Not all illnesses or conditions can be prevented such as asthma;
Social model of health
A conceptual framework approach to healthcare that recognises that improvements in health and wellbeing can only be achieved by directing effort towards addressing the social, physical, sociocultural, and environmental determinants of health that have an impact on individuals and population groups. Based on the understanding that in order for health gains to occur, social economic, environmental, social, and physical determinants must be addressed.
Describe the relationship between the biomedical model and social model of health
Immunisation has been one of the most successful and effective health-prevention strategies and is a social model of health, the success of this program would not have been possible without the involvement of the biomedical approach to health, which played an important role in researching disease, developing an effective antigen for each one and creating the vaccine.
Medical technology
Includes a broad range of diagnostic tools and equipment, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and equipment, new medical procedures, and improved knowledge and administrative support systems.
Diagnostic imaging
The use of x-ray, ultrasound, radioactive isotopes, or magnetic resonance to produce a visual display or representation of structural and or functional information of the inside of the human body to accurately diagnose illness.
MRI scanning
A scan used for a medical imaging procedure that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to take pictures inside the body. It is helpful when collecting pictures of soft tissue (e.g., organs and muscles) that do not show up on x-ray examinations.
CT scanning
A scan that is made up of computer-generated combinations of many x-ray images taken from different angles to produce a cross-sectional image of areas of a scanned part of the body, allowing the user to see inside without cutting.
Genetic screening for disease
Involves the study of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to identify an individual’s risk of developing or passing on a genetic disorder, disease or abnormality.
Pharmaceuticals
New vaccines and medications developed, with some being new medications to treat or prevent conditions or that are more effective and have fewer side effects. For example, statins are a medication invented to reduce cholesterol, and tamoxifen is a medication that is used to prevent and treat breast cancer.
List three advantages of technology
A wider range of alternative treatment options;
More common and more accurate diagnosis and therefore earlier and more specific treatment;
New technology may lead to increased survival rates for diseases such as cancer;
List three disadvantages of medical technology
Equity regarding availability;
The advances are often driven by the pharmaceutical industry and technology companies rather than the healthcare industry;
Ethical considerations, and cost;
Co-payment
The price an individual pays for a medication covered by the pharmaceutical benefit scheme and it is dependent on their situation. For example, general patients pay up to $30 for medication covered by PBS with concession card holders paying $7.30.
Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) safety net
Once an individual has spent $1486.80 in any year on medications, they will only need to pay the concession rate of $6.60 per prescription. Any individual who is a concession card holders spending over $3160 on prescription medications are covered by PBS at no cost.
Reciprocal pharmaceutical benefits scheme (RPBS)
Available to provide subsided medication to war veterans and their dependents. It provides similar coverage to that provided by the PBS, but it provides a wider range of pharmaceuticals.
