Epidemiological Community Health Assignment Paper
Purpose: This assessment enables students to apply managerial epidemiological concepts in one assessment. Conducting a community health needs assessment is a fundamental step in improving the health of your community. In a recent passing of a federal health care legislative Bill, all non-profit acute care hospitals are required to conduct a community needs assessment. This assignment allows students to serve as members of the hospital's leadership team. Students are expected to conduct a community needs assessment using data readily available from secondary sources, such as Northeast Florida Counts, CDC and other appropriate sources.
The Plan should be at 13 - 15 pages long excluding the cover page, table of contents, and reference list. Technical requirements: Papers should be double-spaced 2 inches spaced with 1-inch margins all around (top, bottom, left, right) and 12pt font. Times New Roman Font. Your name and the page number should appear in the header of the document. ALL PAPERS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED USING MICROSOFT WORD. No Plagiarism.
Name of fictitious agency: Hill Crest Medical Heart Center
Topic description: Heart disease
Community Needs Assessment - Required Content
Guidelines for Assessment
The following information should to be included in the community needs assessment.
All content areas should be thoroughly addressed in your fictitious non-profit acute care hospital.
Condition of concern/social problem
This section of the assignment allows your committee to specify a condition of your interest and discuss it as a healthcare system issue. It contains information such as, but not limited to, the following:
1. The definition of the condition of concern followed by discussion of the following.
1. Implications of the definition
2. Who defines the condition of concern as a problem and why
3. Is there consensus or disagreements that the condition is a problem?
2. A vision and mission statement that gives your ideas on the people and system that might exist if the condition/problem was eliminated.
3. A list of your committee's guiding principles for intervening in the condition/problem.
4. What is known or not known about the history and causes of the condition/problem.
1. What is known about communities that have the condition or that never have the condition/problem, that is, what risk and protective factors are associated with the condition?
2. The politics of the condition/problem. Assessing politics involves examining power, money, and authority related to the condition.
5. Who typically has the problem, extent of the problem, etc?
1. What national incidence and prevalence data, rates, and norms exist, e.g., one in 10,000 will be a victim.
2. Is the problem increasing or decreasing?
6. What communities who have the condition/problem typically do about the problem and what has been successful (best practices, model programs, comprehensive services or continuum of care?
7. A list of the capacities, needs, and barriers identified in this section of the assessment. Often what seems like a need might really be a barrier to services or to solving the problem. For example, residents might not need a new service, only transportation to an existing service. Fear and racism might be preventing natural problem solving mechanisms from occurring in a community. You remove barriers differently than you meet needs. Often times, few resources are required to remove barriers.
Community experiencing the condition
This section allows your committee to assess the community experiencing the condition/problem. Northeast Florida Counts contains many links to relevant data sources. This section includes information such as, but not limited to, the following.
1. Description of the community experiencing the condition in terms of geography, citizens (age, gender, ethnicity, income, etc.) values, beliefs, stories, myths, and any other feature you feel is important. The assessment can be of a geographic or interest based community, or combination of both. What makes the community a community according to class readings? Who views the community as a community and who does not. Data sources vary from demographics about the community to opinions by a typical resident. A drive or walk around is suggested if it makes sense.
2. What evidence exists that the community is experiencing the condition/problem, e.g., stories in the media, testimony before committees, expert opinion, beliefs, comparisons to national norms, secondary data, primary data, etc. Try to tie the characteristics of the community mentioned in item #1 above to the characteristics of the condition/problem or typical community experiencing the condition in section 1. For example, if you know that a certain ethnic group has a low rate of domestic violence and that ethnic group dominates your community, you would expect low domestic violence and fewer needed services.
3. What community forces support change and what forces oppose change? For example, one force is community values. Another discussed throughout this course is diversity. You might discuss the diversity of you community in terms of culture, age, income, and education and whether that diversity is a capacity or need.
4. What stakeholders are associated with this condition/problem in the community? Discuss each stakeholder's proclivity for and against intervening in the condition/problem.
5. The capacities, needs, and barriers identified in this section of the assessment.
Current service delivery system
Before you can intervene into the condition/problem your community is experiencing, you need to understand the existing service delivery system. This section contains information such as, but not limited to, the following:
1. A list of agencies/programs and their services under the headings in your continuum of care. Often an inventory of existing agencies can be developed.
2. For the five most relevant service providers, list the agency name, location, mission, programs, services.
3. A detailed analysis of one major agency. Provide the vision, mission, goals, objectives, service programs, the number served in each program, the number on waiting lists for each program, organizational chart, budget, and evaluation mechanisms. Include any conclusions you are able to make about the agency in terms of capacities, needs, barriers, and recommended changes.
Intervention Plan
1. A one page executive summary that summarizes the essence of the assessment report.
2. An introduction that describes your committee, key stakeholders, the process used to assess the condition and develop the plan, and your committee's vision and guiding principles.
3. A description of the condition/problem, the community experiencing the condition, and the current service delivery system.
4. A summary list of capacities, barriers, and needs in priority order. As before, do not go beyond the data presented, i.e., each capacity, need, and barrier should be traceable to supporting logic or evidence in your assessment. Include the process and criteria for developing your priorities.
5. A statement of goals and objectives (outcome and process) to build on the capacities and meet the needs. You can use planning, action, and development intervention strategies in your process objectives.
6. Possible strategies that could be used to implement the community goals and objectives along with any recommendations that the committee wants to make. These might address the political realities of the condition/problem and implementation. Be sure recommendations are supported by the information in your assessment.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.