Community Health Assessment Essay Sample

Introduction

Typically, there are two different strategies that are utilized during the assessment of community health. The approaches are community development and health planning. In the health planning strategy, the medical professionals are involved in the making of critical healthcare decisions. In contrast, various community stakeholders make fundamental decisions in the community development approach. The health planning approach employs an inclusive and organizational-wide policy. Additionally, the highest-ranking managers receive reports concerning the local implementation of various programs. In contrast, the community development method often involves community information forums. Moreover, the stakeholders liaise with the hospital departments to include the health care information on their education agenda (Shanley, Johnston, & Walker, 2011).

Community Development

Community development involves an approach to social change based on the assumption that eliminating the situations of social injustice and disadvantage cannot be accomplished solely by the top-down methods. The factors that perpetuate social inequality include institutional discrimination, as well as the sense of alienation felt by the disadvantaged persons or groups. Thus, effective social change needs a community-led action, whereby the individuals affected by social injustice share their experiences and identify the solutions required to influence change. A community development strategy, therefore, is the application of such solutions in the context of addressing health inequalities and improving the healthcare system (Dailly & Barr, 2008).

Health Planning Strategy

The health care professionals have the exigent task of organizing their processes efficiently. In recent decades, the need for health care, as well as expenditures, has increased significantly. Consequently, the rising demand for quality care requires the medical experts to make organizational plans aimed at addressing the issue (Hulshof et al., 2012). In a healthcare organization, various professionals use the available resources to organize healthcare delivery jointly with the goal of providing high-quality care. Hence, the organizing and designing processes involve the setting of various goals, as well as deciding in advance how to implement the plans (Hulshof et al., 2012). Healthcare control and planning requires the medical professionals to perform multiple managerial functions, such as the making of crucial medical and financial decisions.

Most Suitable Strategy

The best approach in the community health assessment is the health planning technique because the method integrates three primary processes aimed at solving the social healthcare concerns. The three health planning procedures are the focused, the dispersed, and the central planning processes, which operate as differentiated components of a health plan (Palmiere, 1972). The method defines issues while establishing priorities and standards. Moreover, it translates the various resources into actions and integrates the operations of the different units that comprise the health care system. The dispersed planning allows the expression of the individualistic cultural values. The focused planning emphasizes voluntary cooperation among the various stakeholders while the central planning addresses the need for efficiency and rationality in resource utilization (Palmiere, 1972). Nevertheless, the central planning incorporates governmental authority, which is considered antithetical to the individualistic cultural values. Hence, the central planning aspect has limited expression in the modern health care system (Palmiere, 1972).The planning efforts often shift from one planning component to another because the decisions in one planning context establish a need to incorporate the other elements of planning. The dispersed planning decisions may leave gaps in the allocation of resources, which are solved by the focused planning technique using voluntary cooperative efforts. Nevertheless, the focused planning uncovers the need to control the various financial resources and, hence, brings in the central planning aspect.
The three components of the health planning approach are significant processes in the operations of the increasingly intricate medical system. In the future, health planning will continue facilitating the decisions made by the consumers, providers, and financing organizations. Additionally, the health planning processes will create changes in the operation and structure of the health care system. Consequently, the changes will extend and enhance the health care services available to the population.

References

Dailly, J. & Barr, A. (2008). Understanding a community-led approach to health improvement. Healthy Communities. Retrieved from http://www.scdc.org.uk/media/resources/what-we-do/mtsc/Understanding%20a%20community-led%20approach%20to%20health%20improvement.pdf
Hulshof, P.J.H, Kortbeek, N., Boucherie1, R. J., Hans, E. W., & Bakker, P.J.M. (2012). Taxonomic classification of planning decisions in health care: a structured review of the state of the art in OR/MS. Health Systems, 1, 129–175. Doi:10.1057/hs.2012.18
Palmiere, D. (1972). Types of planning in the health care system. American Journal of Public Health, 62(8), 1112–1115. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1530371/pdf/amjph00730-0074.pdf
Shanley, C., Johnston, L., & Walker, A. (2011). Combining top-down and bottom-up change management strategies in implementation of ACP: the My Wishes program in South West Sydney, Australia. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 1, 67-68. Doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2011-000053.7