📌 Free Essay: Summary of the Health Care Problem

Type of paper:	Essay
Categories:	Medicine Literature review Healthcare policy Public health
Pages:	6
Wordcount:	1483 words

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Patients are the healthcare services consumers, and they face several challenges, among them is limited access to healthcare. However, people are disproportionately limited to access to healthcare for varied reasons. For instance, people living in rural areas face limited access to healthcare due to their geographical location and remoteness. Remote geographic locations encounter shortages of the physicians and workforce, limited resources, and small healthcare facilities. Mobility is also another challenge since the transport means and accessibility are poor. Delivery of medicines and other essential healthcare services becomes a challenge. Besides, patients requiring urgent attention may not be effectively attended to since poor mobility and transport issues impede service provision. As a result of a conglomerate of challenges as mentioned, rural areas have limited access to healthcare.

Various intervention approaches have been employed to overcome the challenges relating to limited healthcare access. The use of telemedicine allows the residents to access services and connect with medical experts. In such instances, patients do not have to travel long distances to meet the doctor or receive specialized or intensive care. Another intervention is home-based care, where the nurse located at the home of the client makes an assessment and communicates the findings to the medical specialists who then give directions on care. Home-based health care enables patients to remain at home yet receive optimal health care services and improve their lives and independence.

Search Strategy

Using the Capella University Library Search Engine, I searched for peer-reviewed journal articles by accessing various databases, namely PubMed, and ProQuest Central. The keywords used to search for articles included chronic disease, rural nursing, health care access, consumer health information, health-seeking behavior, and health information systems. The search criterion was based on the article's year of publication, so the filters were set to select articles published from 2015 to 2020. The second criterion was peer-reviewed journal articles that excluded any other materials, such as a committee report. Besides, I limited the subject to only nursing and medicine.

Annotated Bibliography

Bhandari, N. (2014). Seeking health information online: does limited healthcare access matter? Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA (1067-5027), 21 (6), p. 1113. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.library.capella.edu/pmc/articles/PMC4215038/

The study's purpose was to explore how the impediments to healthcare access are associated with email conversations with physicians, internet search, and the use of health chat groups. The authors studied data released by the National Health Interview Survey conducted in 2009. The financial challenge was found to be one of the barriers to healthcare access. Other challenges were finding it problematic, getting an appointment with a doctor, and conflicts that arise when scheduling clinic hours. Individuals who experience such challenges are more likely to use online health information than those who experience no barriers. \

It was also found that internet-based interaction can be promoted by improving security, privacy, confidentiality, better payment reimbursement for online consultations, and appropriate message content and reply protocols. The researchers concluded by suggesting further research to explore why people may or may not use the internet to seek online health information. The title informed the choice of the article, and that it was peer-reviewed.

Lee, K., Hoti, K., Hughes, J. D., & Emmerton, L. (2014). Dr. Google and the Consumer: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Navigational Needs and Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors of Consumers with Chronic Health Conditions. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 16(12), e262. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.2196/jmir.3706

The article's purpose was to elucidate the navigational needs that drive consumers to use online health information. Particularly the study sought to understand the barriers that impede online navigation for patients with chronic health conditions. The authors administered 17 semi-structured interviews with adult health consumers and asked them to report the use of the internet for health information. Participants were from Western Australia, and analysis was done using a data-driven and theory-driven approach. The study found that the barriers impeding eHealth access include low technological literacy and inconsistent information between online sources. Other barriers related to patient activation, trust, and relevance.

The authors concluded by recommending the use of eHealth literacy and patient activation as the key concepts that assist the patients to use online health information effectively. Also, health professionals play a critical role in improving the quality of online health information. The article was included in the list of articles to reveal because it was a medical article that addressed the study topic.

Pratt, D. (2015). Telehealth and telemedicine. Albany Law Journal of Science & Technology. (1059-4280), 25 (3), p. 495. http://www.lexisnexis.com.library.capella.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&csi=148364&sr=TITLE(%22Telehealth+telemedicine+in+2015%22)+and+date+is+2015

The purpose of the article was to identify the benefits of both telehealth and telemedicine. It further sought to explore the telemedicine and telehealth services that effectively advance healthcare provision. The author, Pratt, found that telemedicine is beneficial to individuals suffering from chronic illnesses since it provides faster and easy access to health care services. As a result, telemedicine and telehealth visits to the hospital and hospitalizations are highly minimized. Although highly beneficial, telemedicine and telehealth face challenges such as price, licensure, and reimbursement. Besides, the policies, rules, guidelines, and standards impede online healthcare information delivery through telemedicine and telehealth. Such challenges hinder the implementation process of the two technologies. The article was selected because it contained rich information about telehealth and telemedicine. The ability to cover both technologies informed its choice.

Ware, P., Bartlett, S. J., Paré, G., Symeonidis, I., Tannenbaum, C., Bartlett, G., … Ahmed, S. (2017). Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 6(1), e3. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.2196/ijmr.4447

The study sought to use eHealth technologies and the internet to identify the concerns, preferences, and interests of older adults during the management and access to health care. The article's purpose was to highlight the emerging opportunities in the management of health, such as eHealth technologies and the internet. It further highlighted the factors that impact the uptake of eHealth. The authors used pragmatic thematic analysis and an inductive approach to identify related concerns, preferences, and interests relating to the technologies' use. The results revealed that older people valued the credibility of the technology, meaningfulness, and unbiased systems. The participants further considered themselves as the owners of the health information. One of the major findings was that the participants with poor experience accessing PHI were inclined to primarily manage their information and only share it with health care providers.

The authors concluded that eHealth and internet technologies are essential in managing the health of older adults. The technologies give older adults access to health information, making them active participants in managing their health. The article was included based on the year of publication and its topic, which covered technologies that aid access to health care to older adults.

Summary of Lessons Learned

I have learned how to scrutinize an article to elucidate critical information about the topic from developing an annotated bibliography. I was able to provide key points and arguments highlighted by the author in the text. The literature's critical review provided invaluable knowledge and enabled a deeper engagement with the sources, hence enriching my analytical skills.

From the literature materials read, I enriched my knowledge and skills and acquired significant ideas about the limited access to health care and intervention approaches. I am now a more knowledgeable person than I was before the start of the research process. Also, I was able to assemble an archive of materials that I can always refer to anytime.

The main points learned from the research are eHealth, and internet technologies are essential tools that aid in access to healthcare services in remote rural areas. Telemedicine and telehealth make it easier for physicians to administer health care services. Hence with such technologies, access to health care services improves.

The knowledge and skills acquired will enable me to perform detailed research and write a comprehensive and coherent paper. Besides, I will find it easy to perform a systematic literature search.

References

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