public health assignment

8/3/2019 Public Health Assignment

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FRONT SHEET

PUBLIC HEALTH- UNIT NUMBER NPAD1008

MODULE LEADER WENDY WIGLEY

DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: A CASE STUDY

STUDENT ID NUMBER:

WORD COUNT:... See more

it cant harm putting a header in with id num and page num!

Relate everything back to initative!

To include:

y Describe approaches to public health practice

y Socio-economic factors-their impact on health and well being

y Contemporary public health policy- its impact on nursing in formaland lay care.

y Multi-agency and partnership working- how this is integral to publichealth and are fundamental in formal and lay care settings

1000 words

Draw upon clinical/personal experience-Identify 1 public health initiative( something that fills a gap where there isa health or social need within a given community, public health scheme

or carer support system within a geographic area of your choice

Intro..do not just write out guidelines. Start with brief

definition of public health. Do not give dictionary definition

Develop argument when writing, bring in counter argument

this says this..however...this says.. and reference.

If you say something..explain why. Make sure there is sufficient

explanation.

So what now? Future..

Do not leave questions unanswered.

Do not use too many quotations..paraphrase instead


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Briefly describe the initiative and explain why you have chosen

it.what does the initiative aim to do why did you choose it why are youinterested in?

Public health has been defined as: the science and art of preventing disease,prolonging life and promotion of health through the organised efforts of society(Acheson, 1988). The role that nurses play in public health is also a vital factor; theSpecialist Community Public Health Nursing has been defined as that which aims toreduce health inequalities by working with individuals, families and communitiespromoting health, preventing ill health and in the protection of health (NMC 2008)The emphasis of public health seems to be upon promoting and preventing health,rather than focusing on the curative aspects. It also focuses on communities rather

than individuals.

Initiatives are set up in order to fulfil the health and social needs of communities; thisessay will focus on an initiative called Memory Matters. This is based in the area ofSouthampton, with the intention of raising the publics awareness and understandingof Dementia, providing earlier diagnosis and support of the disease and also livingwell with Dementia. I have taken a particular interest in this area due to personalexperiences with patients with Dementia in previous placements, and also due to theincreasing numbers of people suffering from this disease.

Think about and explain why this initiative is beneficial towardshealth and well-being; how does it contribute to Public Health?

You will need to look at a definition of public health think about theinitiative and the definitionyou may have already started to do this above;for example take stop smoking - who does smoking affect and why issmoking a public health issue?(Learning Outcome 1)

Dementia is most common in those over the age of 65(Alzheimers Research Trust,2010) although it can affect those under this age. It has been shown that numbers ofpeople suffering from this disease are increasing and it is predicted that by 2021there will be 940,000 people with Dementia in the UK (Alzheimers Society, 2010)

There is therefore a great need for focus on this disease as part of public healthservices, due to increasing numbers. People need a greater understanding of therisk factors associated with the disease and also the symptoms. This could lead todecreased numbers of those diagnosed with Dementia and also earlier diagnosisand support, benefiting the health and well being of the public.


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Explain how local evidence(facts) and/or national statistical

data(which may) including user opinion enabled the initiative tobe developed. look at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

What specific health need and social needs do this group ofservice users have and what socio economic factors might havecontributed to these needs?

Look at the ONS website for the area the initiative is based:http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/

(Learning Outcome 2)

Southampton City Primary Care Trust has a population of 227,000; 14% of which areover the age of 65. The number of people over the age of 65 is expected to increaseby 13.5%, by 2012, it is estimated that 2722 older people in the city will haveDementia (Southampton City Primary Care Trust 20?) the growing older populationmeans that more people are likely to be affected by Dementia in the future.

Southampton City has large areas of deprivation and is ranked as the 91st mostdeprived authority area out of 345 in the country. (Southampton City Primary CareTrust 20?) According to (WHO, 2010) Higher income and social status are linkedwith better health. Being a deprived area, Southampton City, therefore is in need ofimproved public health services in order to improve the health and well being of thecommunity. Low education levels have also been linked with poor health, along withmore stress(WHO, 2010) ; there is a need for this initiative, to promote healththrough educating people. More info needed here

The risk of Dementia increases with ages however, there are other risk factors,including: lack of physical activity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, beingoverweight or obese and smoking. (Southampton City, Southampton City Council,2010) By educating people about these risk factors, it may be possible to reducenumbers of people diagnosed with Dementia in the future.

Discuss and reference a government policy which might haveinfluenced the development of the initiative. You can make mostinitiative fit with either Choosing health (DH 2004) or Our health, our care,our say (2006) but you need to do somresearch and surf the DH website

A government policy which influenced the Memory Matters initiative is Our health,our care, our say (Department of Health, 2006) this policy


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Explain how the initiative reflects modern-day nursing practice.Surf at these websites:http://www.cdhpp.leeds.ac.uk/newsandevents/ModernisingNursingCareers.

phpI also want you to look at:

Department of health [DH] (2008) Framing the nursing and midwiferycontribution: driving up the quality of care. Available at:http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_086471 (accessed 21 November 2008)

And you will need to open the documents and read them!!(LearningOutcome 3)

Thinking about who is involved in the initiative and why,discuss extent to which the initiative makes use of multi-agency and partnership working. You will need to explain whatpartnership or multi agency working isdepending upon which one yourinitiative usesit may use both

Explain why partnership is important when working withcommunities to promote health and well-being.

If you look at andread a good text on public health and/or healthpromotion you should be able to explain this, remember to use your ownwords

Health Promotion is said to be about raising the health status of individuals andcommunities, by advancing, supporting, encouraging and placing it higher onpersonal and public agendas (Ewels.L, Simnett, I, 2003).Partnership is imperative here, when working with communities to promotehealth and well being. A partnership is the collaboration of individuals andorganisations, as a way of addressing health inequalities (Davies.J, Foley. P,2007). The health of communities is more than public health medicine, and ittherefore requires the skills of people from many different professions andbackgrounds. Southampton Primary Care Trust, Southampton City Council andthe Voluntary Sector have together identified the area of need, due to a growing

demand. With different organisations working on common ground, partnershipsbetween them will lead to successful and more effective outcomes.


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References

Acheson D (1988) Public Health in England. The Stationery Office, London

http://www.nmc-uk.org/Documents/Circulars/2008%20circulars/NMC%20circular%2014_2008.pdf

http://www.alz.org/documents_custom/report_alzfactsfigures2010.pdf

http://www.dementia2010.org/reports/Dementia2010Full.pdf

http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=200167&documentID=412&pageNumber=1

http://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/index.html

Ewles.L, Simnett. I, 2003. Promoting Health, A practical guide. 5th ed.London: Elsevier

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/Browsable/DH_4127552

Davies.J.K, Foley.P(2003) Policy and practice in promoting public healthChapter 5, Partnerships and alliances for health

MUST INCLUDE:

y one source of information pertaining to the initiative

y one source of statistical demographic data regarding the healthand social needs of the local population

y one governmental policy document,


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y one text on public health/health promotiony one text on partnership working

D

o not make any statements in your text or points in your discussion unless youcan support them with evidence, when you read through your text imagine me oranother marker saying says who!Try to make your point clearly, imagine me or the marker saying and your pointis? or why?

Take care when referencing from the web;Look at how I have referenced the document from the DH websiteThink about it if you go to a library you dont reference the libraryyou referencethe book that you have withdrawnand then the particular chapter of the book thathas informed your discussionthe same principle applies to referencing from theweb.

With regard to edited books make sure if it is the author of the chapter you arereferencing not the editors. For example I wrote a chapter in the edited book PublicHealth skills book so if you were citing me in your assignment you would write inthe text:

It has been suggested that.. (Wigley 2008) or Wigley (2008) suggests that

In the reference list the reference to me would look like this:

Wigley, W. (2008) Quality and Risk Management: Safeguarding Children andVulnerable Groups, in Coles, L. and Porter L.M. (eds) Public Health Skills: A PracticalGuide for Nurses and Public Health Practitioners. (1st edition) Oxford: BlackwellPublishing, pp 216 236

1. You address each of the learning outcomes2. You demonstrate evidence of safe practice/attitudes3. You take account of relevant cultural and ethical issues4. You maintain the patients/clients and the organisations confidentiality5. You ensure the work is your own with no plagiarism