Community Nursing Discussion Question
Question 1
Epidemiology refers to strategies or methods that can be used to determine disease-causing factors in populations and to determine causes of health outcomes (CDC, n.d.). In epidemiology, individuals are treated collectively and the entire community treated as the patient. Studies of epidemiology use scientific methods or approaches in an attempt to understand distribution patterns and determinants of events and to study health-related patterns among specified populations. The same studies are used to control health problems (CDC, n.d.). Epidemiological investigations are conducted using different models. For example, distributions can be studied using surveillance and descriptive studies, while determinants can be studied using analytical studies (WHO, n.d.). These include SIR, SIS, and SI models.
Question 2
To describe disease patterns among populations with little or no immunity, I would use the SI model. This is the simplest of all the epidemiological models and is used to study or to understand disease patterns among susceptible populations – those with little or no immunity (Casaban et al., 2015). When susceptible individuals are unable to access treatment when they get infected, they continue to be infected all their lives, and they also remain infectious. Some of the diseases I would model using this epidemiological model are cytomegalovirus and herpes. In other words, the model is suitable for modelling diseases that have the potential to repeatedly infect people, such as common colds and STDs. This model operates on the assumption that people go back to being susceptible or vulnerable even after they heal or are cured (Casabann et al., 2015). I would use this model to calculate the number of people infected with an infectious illness in a closed population over a certain period of time.
Question 3
There are a number of factors or reasons that can cause the failure of health legislation to control the cost of healthcare (Bauchner, 2016). As people continue to age, for instance, healthcare needs become so complex and expensive for health insurers. Some few years back, some regulations were passed by the ACA Act (Affordable Care Act) to reduce or to limit the premium amounts that older persons can pay towards their health insurance. To recover costs, insurers were to come up with ways of attracting younger generations. Nevertheless, many insurers later complained that ACA’s incentives were not strong. In addition, the health premiums to be paid by younger generations could also be reduced by GOP bills while at the same time raising the same for the older generations. In other words, subsidies meant to benefit older customers to raise the costs for younger generations and vice versa, thus complicating matters.
Another factor that makes it difficult for health legislation to lead to affordable care is the taxes that the ACA imposes on insurance firms in an attempt to generate more revenue for the federal government. When coverage was extended to include twenty million Americans, for example, the ACA imposed new taxes on insurance firms. ACA’s move was greatly opposed, especially by politicians affiliated to the Republican Party who argued that the economy would be burdened by the new taxes. They even vowed that they would roll back the new taxes by introducing bills, but doing so would also introduce deficits in government spending. In the year 2012, matters got even more complicated when a ruling by the Supreme Court allowed state governments to decide whether or not they wanted to increase Medicaid coverage (Wishner et al., 2015). From these examples, experts have different opinions on how the issue of healthcare coverage should be handled, and different opinions make it difficult for experts to agree on one thing.
As long as these different opinions continue to be at play, and unless experts agree to put aside their differences and handle the matter of affordable healthcare with the aim of benefitting common citizens, then the harmonization of affordable healthcare legislation will continue to be a dream. Most of the barriers that prevented people from accessing affordable care have been eliminated by ACA. However, there are still issues and problems that must be ironed out, especially among experts and policymakers. Many insurance firms complain that they have ended in losses because the law forbids them from increasing premiums.
Question 4
Paulo Freire’s approach perceives health education to be very critical and important for societal consciousness (Tygel & Kirsch, 2016). Freire’s dialogical model to health education stresses that actions should be based on critical reflections, and he strongly criticizes banking models or approaches which he believes can create oppressive dynamics learners and their teachers. Freire argues that teachers that use banking models use them to command absolute obedience and unquestioning acceptance of teachings. Instead, he advocates for a “problem-posing” educational model in which learners and their teachers are involved in critical thinking and constructive dialogue. Most of the ideas proposed by Freire are widely used in health education. Individualistic approaches, on the other hand, are criticized for their confused and unclear values. These approaches are rooted in traditional models of health which ignore structural inequalities that can influence the health of individuals (Eichbaum, 2017). Many experts argue that individualistic approaches should be replaced with clearly articulated and rationally supported educational models.
References
Bauchner, H. (2016). The Affordable Care Act and the future of US health care. Jama, 316(5), 492-493.
Casabán, M. C., Cortés, J. C., Romero, J. V., & Roselló, M. D. (2015). Probabilistic solution of random SI-type epidemiological models using the random variable transformation technique. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, 24(1-3), 86-97.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.). What is Epidemiology? Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/careerpaths/k12teacherroadmap/epidemiology.html
Eichbaum, Q. (2017). Acquired and participatory competencies in health professions education: Definition and assessment in global health. Academic Medicine, 92(4), 468-474.
Tygel, A. F., & Kirsch, R. (2016). Contributions of Paulo Freire for a Critical Data Literacy: a Popular Education Approach. The Journal of Community Informatics, 12(3).
Wishner, J. B., Holahan, J., Upadhyay, D., & McGrath, M. (2015). Medicaid expansion, the private option, and personal responsibility requirements. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
World Health Organization (n.d.). Epidemiology. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/topics/epidemiology/en/
