Primary health care Samples for Students †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Primary Health Care. Answer: Primary health care (PHC) is the first point of contact of patients and their family members with the health care system. PHC is based on sound scientific knowledge and application of technology to make health services affordable to all sections of the community. It plays a role in healthy equity by incorporating personal care with health promotion to prevent diseases and facilitate development of the community. Hence, PHC is a universally accessible first level of health care provided by a multi-disciplinary health care team and they interconnect principles of equity, access and empowerment to provide care to sick person (Primary health care, 2017). Government is highly focusing on PHC as a new health care delivery model to improve access to service delivery for people living in rural and remote areas. Enhancing service access through innovative models of PHC helps to achieve the goal of health equity and affordable health care for all (Wakerman et al., 2008). Nurses play a critical role in dealing with the accessibility problem within the primary health care system. Their role has evolved due to changes in the health needs of the Australian communities due to ageing population. This caused additional pressure and demand on health care resource with problem in shortage of PHC workforce too. Nurses engage in integrated practice to reform the PHC health system (Nursing in primary health care, 2017).The main purpose of the essay is to comprehensively analyze the key principle of PHC and identify its relation with the role of geriatric nurse in these settings. Professional role of geriatric nurse Due to better standards of living and accessibility to high quality health care, life expectancy of people is increasing. The number of people above 65 years is increasing in Australia and it increased to 3.4 million in the year 2014 (AIHW, 2017). With the rise in ageing population, it will be a challenge for the health care system to respond to the health needs of older people. The geriatric care nurse in PHC setting plays a role in specially focusing on the health needs of older adults. They have the nursing skills and knowledge to understand the complex physical and mental health needs of older people in the community. Nurses involved in geriatric care works to promote independence of older people by caring for them and teaching them coping skills to manage mental and physical disabilities. Geriatric nurses in PHC receives the core competency training for older adult care and by their professional responsibility, they work to fulfill the core principles of PHC (Wold, 2013). As age ing population is a burden for the health care system and the community, the geriatric nurse establishes health equity by resolving the community problem related to ageing population. Principle of PHC The main principle of PHC is accessible health care, appropriate technology, health promotion, cultural sensitivity, intersectoral collaboration and community participation (Macdonald, 2013). This reflects that PHC provides a new approach to conceptualizing and planning health care. The role of each principle in relation to its positive health outcome and the contribution of the geriatric nurse in fulfilling it is explained in detail below: Accessible health care The first principle of PHC is to facilitate and implement strategy of equitable distribution of health services. This is achieved by providing equal access to health service to all people in the community. The four important components of accessible health care is appropriate coverage, services, timeliness and workforce. Improvement in all this area will facilitate timely use of health service. It will lead to increase in the quality of care and achievement of the best possible health outcome. The overall impact of access to health care is improvement in quality of life, life expectancy and physical, social and mental health status of people. This step has helped PHC to prevent disease by means of early diagnosis and treatment for health condition (Access to Health Services | Healthy People 2020, 2017). According to the principle of primary health care, gerontology nurse specialists have a role in care coordination and service-integration for at-risk older people. Therefore, the geriatric nurse works to specially provide adequate care to older people. A geriatric nurse working with older patients has the responsibility to assess mental and cognitive skills, identify chronic health issues, discuss risk to health such as incontinence or fall risk, manage their medications, educate them about personal safety and ensure adherence to treatment (Pierre Conley, 2017). In accordance with the PHCs principle of coordination, they also establishes link of patients with local resources to effectively manage their health care regimen and need of special equipment during care. Appropriate technology The second principle is related to the provisions of appropriate technology where PHC uses scientifically sound technologies to adapt to local needs. PHC achieves this by means of applying and using appropriate technology to respond to local needs of the community and extend the provision of essential technologies for health (Valentijn et al., 2013). Similar tools and technology is also available to geriatric nurses to conduct comprehensive health assessment of older people. In some case, ambulatory assessment is done to gain idea about quality of life activities and risk of fall in older patients. As fall is the leading cause of disability, multi-factorial interventions such as medication management, physical training, removal of fall risk factors around the environment of patients is necessary. Van Schooten et al., (2015) showed that fall-risk assessment done by means of Timed-Up and Go test or the Berg Balance Scale to evaluate gait dynamics of patients. By the use of these tools, nurses gathers information about gait characteristics of patients and eliminate fall-risk factor by modifying the environment and providing adequate support to patients at risk of fall. In many fall prevention interventions, physical activity is also encourages to maximize the capacity of geriatric client. Health promotion PHC is increasingly involved in decreasing the burden of chronic disease by means of health promotion and management strategies within health care system. WHO also recognizes the critical role of PHC centre in maintaining health of older people and increasing accessibility of health care to older population (Older people and Primary Health Care (PHC), 2017). Hence, in accordance with the goal of community health and development, geriatric nurses manage and negotiate within the health care delivery system to take care of geriatric clients. The solution to challenges in this area is proposed by means of collaborative teamwork approach. Kneafsey, Clifford and Greenfield, (2013) shows the nursing team involvement in promoting mobility of hospitalized older adults. As the ability to mobilize is an important determinant of the quality of life, targeting in-patient intervention to maintain mobility is important. In such condition, nursing team carry their responsibility in collaboration wit h physiotherapist and hospitals policy on safety of patients. This showed that rehabilitation goal of nurse mainly focus on preventing patient health problems and evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention. This is true to the PHCs requirement of health promotion within the community. Primary health care is increasingly advocating for older people. Their focus on this group of the community is seen because majority of older adults reside in countries that are not prepared to confront the challenges of ageing population. Although longevity reflects success of public health, however large proportion of older adults also increases the risk of more than one chronic disease in an individual (Older people and Primary Health Care (PHC), 2017). Hence, PHC tries to reduce this public health burden by recruitment of competent geriatric nurses in clinical setting. Cultural sensitivity According to the principle of cultural sensitivity, workforce of PHC is encouraged to bridge the gap in cultural barrier to health service. This is achieved by means of education on cultural beliefs and practices of culturally diverse people. The health care staffs attitude regarding respecting the cultural beliefs of patients in the delivery of care has a positive impact on patient health. PHC has worked to examine and address language and cultural barriers in care. Several cultural awareness program and language accessing services has been provided to encourage staff to deliver culturally appropriate care (Betancourt et al., 2016). Nurses provide culturally appropriate geriatric care by means of respecting patients cultural values and integrating nursing intervention with individual values and beliefs. Commitment to ongoing education regarding cultural values is essential to communicate with patients and peers. Secondly, intense introspection and reflection regarding cultural consideration is done by geriatric nurse to engage in transparent communication with patient. Cultural competence is also given special attention in health care policies. Hence, health care organization has made it necessary for gerentological nurse to understand and elicit the beliefs, attitudes and goals of older adults to provide culturally appropriate care (Role- Gerontological Rehab Nurse | role, 2017). Intersectoral collaboration The fifth principle according to the Alma-Ata declaration is that PHC is involved in coordination and cooperation with other sectors of community development such as agriculture, food, education and housing. Geriatric nurses integrate the knowledge and experience in gerontology to deliver safe and effective quality care to patients in PHC setting. It is the professional responsibility of geriatric nurses to conduct assessment to examine the health status of geriatric clients. Common form of assessment includes physical assessment of head, neck, face, integumentary system and musco-skeletal system. Secondly, fall risk assessment is an important part of assessment to assess risk of fall and level of independence in ADLs (activities of daily living). This form of comprehensive geriatric assessment also helps to identify frailty index in people to estimate risk of death and need for support during mobility and ADLs (Partridge et al., 2014). Based on this assessment, nurses develop an effective care plan for older adults and direct them to different support services. This professional action of geriatric nurses reflects their role in inter-sectoral coordination to promote community health and development. Community participation Finally, community participation is essential as overall PHC coverage will not be achieved unless the community is involved in planning and maintenance of health care. While working in primary care setting, geriatric nurse demonstrate competence in their role by means of reflecting on the care process and understanding the recent trends in ageing. This promotes advocacy in care by following professional standards in care and delivering ethically safe care (Naylor Kurtzman, 2010). Hence, as disability is a major problem in older adults, geriatric nurse works to promote mobility in older people to address the challenges of the ageing population. As part of universal health coverage, intervention promotes mobility in community dwelling older adults and improve their quality of living. 60% of hospital admission is for adults above 65 years of age. Hospitalized patients are mostly have negative outcome such as falls, delirium, mobility dependence and loss in ADLs. Nurses play a vital role in promoting their ability to walk by incorporating ambulation as a priority in the standards of care. They consider various factors while planning ambulation for older patients. Some of the factors influencing their decision-making on level of mobilization for individual patients includes purpose of mobilization, risk/ opportunity assessment and hospital trajectory (Doherty-King Bowers, 2011). Hence, their main intention is to promote complications in older adults at all time and through their professional responsibility, they contribute to fulfilling the objectives of PHC. From the analysis of the professional role of geriatric nurse, it is understood that they also play a critical role in promoting health equity and positive health of the community. Their professional responsibility in accordance with the principle of PHC helps to promote health and well-being of the older population. They contribute to reducing the burden of health care by identifying and treating chronic diseases in older patients and providing multi-factorial intervention to promote health and well-being of the ageing population. References Access to Health Services | Healthy People 2020. (2017).Healthypeople.gov. Retrieved 12 May 2017, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/Access-to-Health-Services AIHW. (2017).Ageing (AIHW). [online] Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/ageing/ [Accessed 9 May 2017]. Betancourt, J. R., Green, A. R., Carrillo, J. E., Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I. I. (2016). Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care.Public health reports. Doherty-King, B., Bowers, B. (2011). How nurses decide to ambulate hospitalized older adults: development of a conceptual model.The Gerontologist, gnr044. Kneafsey, R., Clifford, C., Greenfield, S. (2013). 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