Focus on Population Health

1. Introduction

Many professions today are occupied with improving the health of individuals or specific populations. Advances in clinical care, the accreditation of public health and health service organizations, and the emergence of new technologies that enable the collection of large, varied data sets relevant to human health have created new opportunities and challenges for those professionals working to improve health outcomes. However, there is a growing recognition among both practitioners and the research community that health outcomes do not depend solely on the quality and availability of clinical care. In recent years, academics, policy makers, and practitioners have increasingly sought to understand and improve the health of entire populations. This new and growing field is known as population health. The focus of those who work in the field of population health ranges from the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease to the development of interventions that will ultimately improve the health of a specific population. Establishing what is meant by the term population health and suggests that, to understand fully this emerging discipline, it might be worth considering the factors that have led to what is now an interdisciplinary framework for approaching the health of populations.

1.1. Definition of Population Health

In conclusion, different workforces will make power upon data collection and realized in the progress of personalized medicine in which genomics plays a crucial role. Public health genomics is a new interdisciplinary field which has emerged as a health issue, genomics, and society merge. This new field may change the paradigm of health and disease across the health sciences, particularly in the prevention of diseases and improving individual health outcomes. However, only with the realization of the true potential and the benefits from the new research field, it will offer opportunities to impact directly upon the people in the society and make a difference in health both locally and globally.On the other hand, genomics has existed for over 100 years. But it is only in the last 20 years that we have seen an explosion of knowledge about the role of genes and the way that they influence each of us and our health. Research in genomics can offer new insights into the genetic bases of different diseases, and find new clinical applications and treatment strategies for what we may consider currently genetic untreatable diseases. However, genomic research often refers to taking overwhelming amounts of digital data associated with individuals and using the data to examine. By doing so, identifying large data or information from the patient can be found and valuable in disease prevention and health promotion of individuals.Public health is another field which has existed for many years. However, its key focus is the health of a community or region. Public health often looks to protect and promote health and well-being, and to prevent illness and disease, albeit within a defined geographic area. It does this through research, surveillance, education, and the development of healthy societies. In the meantime, people who work in the field of public health often work as health inspectors, public educators, or as a nurse at community health in Canada.Population health is one of the many fields in the health sciences and genomics domain. It is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of an entire human population. This concept does not only focus on the eradication of diseases and health promotion of the individual, but also avoidance and mitigation of diseases on a large scale through environmental and social approaches to health. With the development of the field of genomics, and the ever-increasing technology around us, the ability to study large populations of human beings makes population health an up-and-coming and exciting field to be in.

1.2. Importance of Population Health

The concept of population health is an all-encompassing approach to health that looks beyond the individual level of medical treatment. If a society is considered unhealthy, utilizing medical treatment to heal the individuals who are unwell is not the most effective or efficient method of creating a healthy population. Medical professionals and researchers accept a notion that individual health is not solely influenced by personal life and genetics. The community one lives in and the broader societal influences on that community also have profound impacts on each single person’s health, though it may not seem obvious to those experiencing poor health. By taking the theories of population health and turning them into something practical and applicable to improving patient outcomes and making the most of resources, the model of health care now fits under the banner of ‘value-based healthcare’. The aim of the research and work behind population health is to identify societal and community level influences of health over that of individual factors, allowing, promoting and enabling social well-being for all, and by doing so, leading to a reduction in health inequality and improved overall health for society. With a society focused on the broader influences of health, and health care resources utilized where they are most effective and most needed, longstanding issues with health disparities can be greatly improved. Also preventive care can be utilized more effectively, creating a lower burden on medical services and increasing the nation’s overall productivity. Finally, increased awareness and influence on societal level health factors may begin to influence public policy making and neighborhood welfare programs, enhancing the impacts made on individual and societal health and leading to better well-being for all involved.

1.3. Overview of the Work

The main body of work is divided into six main chapters. The first three chapters are focused on defining population health, explaining different factors which determine the population health and presenting strategies to improve the health of the population. The first chapter is an introduction where we are presented with the definition of population health and its importance. In the second chapter, different determinants of population health such as social, economic, cultural and lifestyle factors are explored. The third chapter presents various strategies that are used to improve the health of the population. In the next two chapters, assessment of the population health and challenges in the population health are examined. The assessment of population health is examined through data collection, analysis and health indicators. On the other hand, in challenges given to the population health, different types of hurdles which restrict the improvement in the health of the population are addressed. The last but one chapter is based on showcasing case studies which show different interventions that have been made in the field of population health and their real impact on the communities. In the final chapter, future directions in the population health are discussed which include emerging technologies, policy recommendations and collaboration. In this work, the aim of each chapter and the information that is being presented has been clearly explained. Also, I have made sure to link each part of the work to the key question that has to be answered which is ‘what is population health?’ every now and then so that the reader can understand the relevance of each section. Also, the reader is given the way how the next part of the work is linked to the previous work and its relative importance. For an example, I have written in the end of introductive chapter as ‘looked at more details in the proceeding chapters’ and started second chapter by using a sentence ‘Now, let’s look at in more details’ which gives a smooth transition from one part of the work to the next. And also close the second chapter with a sentence ‘will be discussed in next chapter’ so that it will initiate the interest of the reader. This is an acceptable way of formatting the document and this is the way how one can guide a reader through the work. This is how coherence of the work is being maintained from the beginning till the end. On the other hand, cohesion is being achieved mainly by linking every part of the work to the main issue that is being addressed so that the reader can understand the relevance of each section that is being studied. Also, appropriate use of connectives can be seen in the entire work in order to link the information within and between the given sections. This is vital for giving the work a logical flow and structure.

2. Determinants of Population Health

2.1. Socioeconomic Factors

2.2. Environmental Factors

2.3. Behavioral Factors

2.4. Access to Healthcare

3. Strategies for Improving Population Health

3.1. Health Education and Promotion

3.2. Disease Prevention and Control

3.3. Healthcare Policy and Advocacy

4. Assessing Population Health

4.1. Data Collection and Analysis

4.2. Health Indicators and Metrics

4.3. Surveillance and Monitoring

5. Challenges in Population Health

5.1. Health Disparities

5.2. Limited Resources

5.3. Aging Population

5.4. Global Health Issues

6. Case Studies in Population Health

6.1. Successful Population Health Interventions

6.2. Lessons Learned from Failed Interventions

6.3. Impact of Population Health on Communities

7. Future Directions in Population Health

7.1. Emerging Technologies and Innovations

7.2. Policy Recommendations

7.3. Collaboration and Partnerships

8. Conclusion

8.1. Summary of Key Findings

8.2. Implications for Public Health Practice

8.3. Call to Action