Chapter 18

Abstract:

Chapter 18 focused on Safety and Health in the workplace. The chapter begins with statistics relating to occupational injuries. An estimated 2.2 million people die yearly from occupational injuries. Also an estimated 160 million work-related disease occurs worldwide. Other than the time spent at home, the second largest portion of Americas people spend their time at work. Therefore a safe and healthy workplace is essential to helping America reach their fully health potential. The book then goes into the history of occupational safety and health problems. Before the 1970's there were very few work places that offered little to no protection against injuries. It wasn't uncommon to find unhealthy work places. Mining was the number one in most dangerous work places but cotton mills and textile factories came in second. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was set forth to raise consciousness of both management and labor to the problems of health and safety in the workplace. Going back further, before child labor laws were passes, it was not uncommon to see children work long hours at dangerous workplaces such as mining. A huge pioneer mentioned was Alica Hamilton who helped spike awareness to these issues. The chapter then went into discussion about the different types of injuries and types of work. The book showed several graphs that compared the different types of jobs versus the injuries that happened. It went through the difference between ages and what type of injury one might have suffered. The book then went into a discussion about workplace violence, or intentional injury. Researchers have divided workplace violence into four categories. 1. Criminal Intent (Type I) 2. Customer/Client (Type II) 3. Worker-on-worker (Type III) 4. Personal Relationships (Type IV). The chapter end with explaining the different types of occupational injuries and prevention strategies. One type of prevention is the use of occupational doctors and nurses. Another type mentioned in the chapter was occupational safety and health programs. This topic has subdivisions including preplacement examinations, occupational disease prevention programs and safety programs, work site health promotion programs and employee assistance programs.

Reflection:

Our group really focused more on the statistics the book showed. It startled us to realize how many unintentional injuries occurred and how much of them could be prevented. Our group was completely unaware of how many injuries, cases of disease and deaths people actually suffered from in their work place. A lot of the statistics the book showed us were not at all familiar. It is a given that most of the fatalities would come from a construction or some kind of maintenance job but that some of the jobs that ranked in near the top were jobs dealing with retail trade, and government. This chapter was a very resourceful chapter because it dealt with a lot of concepts we could relate to. Since we are in college and are looking for permanent workplaces once we graduate, it is crucial we take all of the factors discussed in this chapter into consideration.

Chapter Seven: Abstract & Reflection

Abstract:
Chapter 7 discusses the important issue of the health of the mother, infant, and child. Abortion is discussed, and arguments from each side are presented. Pro- life groups argue that performing abortion is an act of murder because they generally believe that life begins at conception and an embryo is a person. They offer adoption as an alternative to abortion. Pro-choice groups say that women should have the right to reproductive freedom and that a woman should not have to carry an unwanted child to term. They support this by raising issues of child abuse and neglect against unwanted children. Maternal health is detailed greatly. Maternal health encompasses the health of women in the childbearing years, including those in the pre-pregnancy period, those who are pregnant, and those who are caring for young children. Two to three maternal deaths occur in the U.S. each day, which are defined as “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.” The five leading causes of maternal deaths are hemorrhage, embolism, pregnancy-induced hypertension, sepsis/infection, and anesthesia-related complications. Prenatal care is essential for all mothers. It should begin before pregnancy when a couple is planning to have a child. The goal of prenatal care is to provide the best care for the pregnant woman and the unborn child, as well as preparing the mother-to-be for the delivery of a healthy baby. Women who receive proper prenatal care have better pregnancy outcomes than women who do not. A large aspect of infant health depends on the mother’s health and her health behavior prior to and during pregnancy, her level of prenatal care, the quality of her delivery, and the infant’s environment after birth. There has been a gradual decrease in infant mortality from 1980 to 2000 based largely on improvement in medical care practices, better nutrition, and the recommendation that infants be placed on their backs when sleeping, and increased educational levels. The leading causes of infant death include congenital abnormalities, preterm/low birth weight, SIDS, problems related to complications of pregnancy, and respiratory distress syndrome. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies be breast-fed for their first year of life. Breast milk is the ideal food for babies, and in addition, breastfeeding has been shown to “improve maternal health by reducing postpartum bleeding, allowing for an earlier return to pre-pregnancy weight and reducing the risk of osteoporosis.” Child health covers children ages 1 to 14 years. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of childhood mortality; in fact, unintentional injuries kill more children than all disease combined. They’re mainly caused by motor vehicle crashes. Three huge factors in the health of children are unintentional injuries, child maltreatment, and infectious diseases. There is a program called the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program which is a special supplemental food program for woman, infants, and children, sponsored by the USDA. There are associations for children which advocate child health and welfare including the Children’s Defense Fund, UNICEF, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Reflection:
The group was astounded to discover that unintentional injuries caused more childhood deaths than all disease combined. Injury-related morbidity is much more prevalent among children. The issue of prenatal care is so important, yet many women are oblivious to this. Many women are still drinking throughout their pregnancies which puts that unborn child, who is absolutely defenseless and innocent, at a risk of having a life afflicted with FAS. FAS children are underdeveloped and many cannot function as individuals in society. It is sad that these mothers could put their child through that. Drinking during pregnancy is such a preventable problem that it really makes you wonder why it is still going on today.

Chapter 9

Abstract:

Chapter 9 was mainly about elders and their care. The chapter began with expressing the increasing amount of elderly people and how to deal with that increasing amount. Within 55 years, the percentage of elders has increased from 8% to 12.4% of the population. In the first couple of pages the chapter discussed the terms that are specific to this population. They stated that the overall median age for the U.S population is at an all-time high and should continue to increase. The chapter then went into depth of the myths surrounding aging. The idea that as people age, they just go straight downhill and become senile. A lot of the myths were proven to be false but many of these myths will always stand. Next was the discussion of the demography of aging. Demography is the study of a population and those variables bringing about change in that population. On pages 244 and 245, the book showed us several examples, displayed in graphs, to help give a more specific overview of the aging changes for females and males. The book then went into the factors at which affect the population. Given the increase in the median age, we've come to a general conclusion that this is only possible because there is a decrease in fertility rate, the declining mortality rate and decline in immigration. The chapter discussed the dependency and labor-force ratios. Dependency ratios are ratios that compare those who are economically unproductive and those who are economically productive. They had both youth and elderly dependency ratios. Then the chapter went into more variables that affect the demography of elders, such as living arrangements, racial/ethnic composition, marital status, geographic distribution, economic status and housing. The health of the elderly has also significantly decreased. The percentage of chronically disabled elderly is slowing falling. A lot of the risk factors that were making the mortality rate of elders rise have now become less of a problem. The chapter then went into a more sensitive topic. It discussed reports of elder abuse and neglect. The reports of elders being abused or neglected have severely increased over the recent years. Following the abuse section of the chapter, the instrumental needs of elders was next. Income, housing, personal care, health care, transportation, and community facilities and services are all examples. However, under community facilities and services comes several accompanying concepts. There are meal services, homemaker services, chore and home maintenance services, visitor services, adult day care programs, respite care programs, home health care, senior centers, and other services that are offered to elders.

Reflection:

When discussing this chapter our group found it really interesting that they offered so many services for the elders. Throughout the years the service towards elders has greatly increased and that is due to many of the laws that have been passed. Our group found it terribly frightening that the percentage of abuse towards elders between a ten year period (1980's to 1990's) had increased 150%. And according to the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study, and estimated total of 551,000 elderly persons over age 60 were experiences some sort of abuse or neglect. We just could not wrap our heads around the fact that this is happening and many of the incidences actually go unreported.

Chapter 14

Abstract:



Chapter 14 mainly focused on the health care system of the United States. The chapter discussed the major issues surrounding health care system and that included the concerns of cost, equality for their people, and access to that health care. They discussed the percentages of those who are uninsured and talked about their health, or disabilities. Such as poverty, elderly, less educated to the point where the job they pertain doesn't include health insurance, nonwhites, and those who are not U.S citizens. They then went into greater detail about the quality of health care that individuals receive. The book stated that to insure a healthy, productive nation, we must transform our health system very soon. Another issue that the book reviewed was the rising issue of how the health care is paid for. The two major means of delivering the health care is fee-for-service and prepaid health plans. The majority of health care is paid by third party payment. This is when the health care provider will ask to see proof of insurance, and then upon signing a couple places to just give them permission to release your information, the health care facility will then bill the insurance company and the insurance company will either pay in full or the patient may have to pay money also. The book then went into the insurance of children. There is an act called The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which insures uninsured children, low income children and minority children. This includes about 11.3 million uninsured children and the percent is even higher for minority or low income children. Following the insurance of children, the book went into key insurance terms. After that, the book explained the different types of health Insurance coverage. The two major health insurance programs are medicare and medicaid. Even with the health insurance of medicare for example, there is also a concept called supplement health insurance. The two major supplement insurances are medigap and long-term care insurance. Both programs are there to help even further with health coverage. Normally these programs are put on top of the benefits people are all ready receiving. Next the chapter reviewed managed care. Managed care is defined as "a set of techniques used by or on behalf of purchasers of health care benefits. To lower costs of health care by influencing the patient care decision making through case-by-case assessments of the appropriateness of care prior to its provision." Today, most of America is covered by some sort of managed care. The types of managed care is PPOs, EPOs, HMOs, POS, and PHOs. Next, the chapter gave some insight to other nations and their health care system. They talked about Canada and their national health plan. The book explained that the United States is the only nation who doesn't have a national health insurance program. The chapter concluded with the explanation of the states own health care programs and alternative ways to provide health care offered by Canada and certain states of the U.S.

Reflection:

The chapter gave our group a lot of insight into the health care programs of the U.S. We thought it was interesting on how intricate our health care system actually is. On one of the figures the book showed, it listed all of the different accesses that certain groups of people have to our health care. It was a little difficult to read and trace were the certain groups actually received their care. We also thought that the book did a good job showing us how health care is paid for. And how many different organizations contributed to the costs of health care. It explained the inequality some minorities receive and even gave us an example of an insurance claim form. The chapter really helped my group understand the variety of our health care system but also the controversy that some health care facilities go through. The chapter really answered all of my groups questions and concerns about our health care system.

Chapter 13!

Chapter 13 deal with the health care delivery system. Health care delivery in the United States can be best described by the four levels of practices displayed in the spectrum of health care delivery. These four levels of are; population-based public health practice, medical practice, long-term practice, and end-of-life practice.
Population-based public health practice is defined as a practice that "incorporates interventions aimed at disease prevention and health promotion, specific protection and a good share of case finding." Most of population-based public health practice is based on health education because before you can promote your health you need to know how. This type of practice mainly takes place in governmental health agencies along with with voluntary health agencies, social service agencies, schools, and businesses.
Medical practice refers to services that are provided by a physician or other traditional health care provider. These services are offered at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
Primary medical care plays the role of a regular source of care for patients including dental checkups, annual physical exams, and screenings to detect health problems in the early stages. Primary health care has eight elements according the WHO. These include education on prevailing health problems and methods to prevent and control them, promotion of fool supply and proper nutrition, adequate supply of safe water and sanitation, maternal and child health care, immunizations, prevention and control of endemic diseases, treatment for common disease and injury, and provision of essential drugs.
Secondary medical care is "specialized attention and ongoing management for common and less frequently encountered medical conditions." Secondary medical care is divided into two categories of their own; acute and subacute. Acute is short term intense medical care for illness or injury that may require hospitalization. Subacute is care given to people with an unstable condition that require active monitoring and treatment, or technically complex nursing treatments.
Tertiary medical care is given to people unusal or complex condition. It is performed in specialty hospitals or specailized floors of hospitals and provides advanced care for patients with illnesses like cancer or heart disease that need speical procedures.
The third level is long-term practices that also has two catagories; restorative care and long-term care. Restorative care is given after surgery, during remission of a cancerous diseasem or when the progression of an incurabe diesease has been arrested. Settings for restroative care include rehab units, nursing homes, and halfway houses. Long-term care helps patients with chronic illnesses and disablilities that limit them physically or mentally. This type of care can help with taks such as bathing, dressing, an preparing meal.
End-of-life practices is the last level and is defined as care given to people shortly before their time of death. This is most commonly in the form of hospice care in which physical, psychological, social and spiritual care is given to the terminally ill with a life expectancy of less then six months, and their families.
There are over 200 different career in the health care industry which are catagorized six different ways. The first is independant providers who are professionals with the education and legal authority to treat any health problem. Independant providers include allopathic providers (Doctors of Medicine, MD) and osteopathic providers (Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, DO). The two providers are very similar, infact it would be hard to the differance in care. The group of inependant providers also includes nonallopathic providers who studycomplementary/alternative medicine such as chiropractors.
Limited care providers are health care providers who provide care for a specific part of the body such as a dentist, optomerists, or psychologist.
Nurses have their own group within which they are further divided based on their education and schooling. Nurses can be classified as licensed practical nurses (LPNs), registered nurses (RNs), professional nurses, and advanced practice nurses.
Nonpysician practitioners are "clinical professionals who practice in many of the areas similar to those in which physicians practice but do not have a MD or a DO degree. This group can include nurse practitioners, certified midwives, and physician assistants.
The last two groups are allied health care professionals who are health care workers that provied services that assist, facilitate, and compement the work of physicians and other health car specialists and public health professionals. These are health care workers that work in a public health orginization.

The beginning of the chapter states; "other develped countries have national health insurance run or organized by the government and paid for, in large part, by general taxes. Also, in these countries almost all citizens are entitled to receive health care services, including routine and basic health care." It also tells us of the stuggles president Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton endured during their many attemps at changing the health care system in this country that never went into affect. Personally I cannot wrap my head around the argument for not providing free health care to all citizens. As a future tax payer I can personally say that there are not many places I'd rather see my money go than contributing to this cause and help those who either cannot pay themselves or normally would not qualify for health insurance. As a united country we need to live up to that reputation and pull together to help one another. What better way is there to support each other than to make sure each and every citizen of this country is accounted for and given the services they need?.

Chapter 6 Abstract

Chapter six focuses on the approach school systems take towards promoting a healthy environment for all students and faculty, as well as teaching students the aspects necessary to lead a healthy lifestyle. The program that school systems follow in order to do this is called the "coordinated school health program" and is defined as "an organized set of policies, procedures, and activities designed to protect, promote, and improve the health of students and staff , thus improving students ability to learn. It includes, but is not limited to comprehensive school health education, school health services, a healthy school environment, school counseling; psychological and social services; physical education; school nutrition services; family and community involvement in school health; and school site health promotion for staff." As the chapter progressed, it began to discuss how each component of a normally functioning school system contributes to this implimented plan. It all starts with the school health council, which essentially is a mixed group of people ranging from parents and volunteers to employees and administrators. This group is responsible for the planning and organizing of the coordinated school health program. The chapter then proceeds to explain the roles that different faculty members play in order for the program to reach its full potential. The chapter concludes with a discription of different policies that the program embodies, and an explanation of the procedures a school system hould take to follow these policies.

Chapter 5 Abstract and Reflection

Abstract:

Chapter 5 mainly focused on the structure of a community and how a community can change. The chapter began with a summarizing of how a community is built and how they organize. It then goes into detail about the actual organization that takes place to help a community stay together. Chapter 5 looks at the issues that might arise when building a community and how to recover or prevent those particular problems. If a problem arises, there are certain steps that a community needs to take to solve it. There are numerous steps that need to be taken to help resolve the problem. The chapter then explains the process about organizing, assessing, and determining priorities and setting goals. The chapter used examples of programs such as, Healthy Cities/Healthy communities, PATCH (planned approach to community health), and MAPP (mobilizing for action through planning and partnerships) to assist in showing how a community should work. Each program is design to target certain aspects of a community. The chapter ends with looking further into goal setting and assessing the goals the community already has in place. It explained the intervention that must take place to help treat problems within the community.

Reflection:

Our group was very interested in the final couple pages of the chapter. We found it interesting to see all of the prevention techniques that a community has put in place in case of an incident. We all could relate to the chapter in some way or another because every community that we've come from has had to implement some sort of intervention.
We also found it really intriguing to see that every aspect of a community went under evaluation or assessment. First the community would plan, collect data, analyze, report, and then apply the results. Our group thought that this type of evaluation was sort of a necessity to any community. In a community your suppose to have the option of revising or editing so we liked that they addressed this aspect of the community in the chapter.

Chapter 4 abstract and reflection.

Chapter 4 continued the discussion of epidemiology. It went more in depth in describing how diseases are classified and methods used to prevent and control health conditions. The public often identifies diseases by organ or organ systems (kidney disease, heart disease, respiratory infections) or by the agent causing the disease weather it be biological, chemical, or physical. Community health usually classifies disease by saying they are acute or chronic, or as being communicable or noncommunicable.
Acute diseases come and go within three months or less and chronic diseases have symptoms much longer and sometimes can last a persons entire life. Communicable disease are infectious and can be transmitted from one person to another and noncommunicable disease can not. Communicable disease are best understood by the communicable disease model. The model illustrates that for a disease to spread there must be an agent(the cause of the problem), a host(the susceptible organism), and an environment(any other factor to promote the transmission). Since noncommunicable disease can not be transmitted from person to person they can be caused by many things at once which is shown best by the multicausation disease model. This model shows that factors outside an individual such as; the environment, health care systems, economics, air pollution, water quality, and infectious disease outbreaks, mixed with ones personality, beliefs, and behavorial choices, and their genes all contribte to the occurance of noncommunicable disease.
The other part of the chapter that was really emphasized was about prevention, intervention and control. Control is the term used to refer to reducing transmission of communicable diseases since only small pox has ever been totally eradicated. Prevention is action taken before the occurance of a health condition and intervention is the action take after it is already evident. Prevention happens in stages, primary prevention happens before the disease precess begins, examples given were health education, safe housing projects, use of immunization, good personal hygiene, and the chloination of the community's water supply. If primary prevention is unsuccessful prompt intervention is next, also known as secondary prevention which is early diagnosis and treatment before diseases grow and become more severe, examples could be isolation, quarantine, and disinfection. Tertiary pervention is the rehabilitation for a patient.
One communicable disease that the book got in depth with was AIDS. This topic was our groups focus of connversation. The prevention and control of AIDS has been an ongoing project for health professionals. Healthy People 2010 has objectives focused at preventive mesures of AIDS one being to "increase the proportion of condom use by partners of sexually active unmarried females". When talking about the control of AIDS we looked at the chain of infection; the links of the chain represent the pathogen, the human reservoir, the portal of exit, transmission, the portal of entry, and the establishment of disease in new host. The book presented us with a prevention and control strategey for each link in reference to the AIDS virus. We also noted that the reservoir for HIV is the infected human population only, there are no known animal or insect reservoirs. Small pox, as mention early, is the only comminicable disease that has ever been eliminated completely in all of history and this was made possible simply because humans were the reseroir for the small pox virus as well. It strange to think that by knowing this similarity and by seeing that each step on the chain of infection has a control method we are still so far away from eradicating the disease. 944, 305 infected people were reported to the CDC through december 2004. If we would help ourselves by taking primary prevention actions seriously we could begin to reduce this number which is what Healthy People 2010 is trying to promote.

Chapter Three: Abstract & Reflection

Chapter Three: Abstract
Chapter 3 discussed epidemiology in detail. Epidemiology is sometimes referred to as population medicine. It can be defined as "the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to control health problems." What an epidemiologist is concerned with is determining the course of disease in a population and is defined as "an investigator who studies the occurrence of disease or other health-related conditions or events in defined populations."

The chapter discusses epidemics and endemic diseases. An epidemic is any unexpectedly large number of cases of an illness or health-related event, while an endemic disease is a disease that occurs in a population as a matter of course. Some examples of epidemics are the bubonic plague which first affects rodents, and West Nile fever virus which first affects birds. An epidemic that is widespread either around a continent or around the world is called a pandemic. There was an influenza pandemic of 1918 which spread simultaneously through Asia, Europe, and North America. A brief history of epidemiology includes the names of Hippocrates, De. Benjamin Rush, and John Snow. Incidence Rates are a measurement of the number of new cases of disease, injury, or death in a population over a given period of time. Prevalence rate measure all cases. An attack rate is a special kind of incidence rate used for a single outbreak. Cases of certain disease, called notifiable or reportable diseases, are reported by doctors, clinics, medical laboratories, and hospitals to local health agencies. These agencies then report them to state agencies, who then forward the data to the CDC. These reports assist epidemiologists who study disease trends. Lastly the chapter discussed the different types of studies used by epidemiologists including case/control studies, cohort studies, and experimental studies.


Chapter Three: Reflection
Upon discussing chapter 3 in class, the Great Team Eight found the chapter to be almost too much to digest. There was so much information and so many terms that it was hard to process, but after breaking it down, it became much clearer. One part of our discussion of the chapter covered the difficulty that epidemiologists must face when trying to get accurate data from surveys because people tend to lie while taking them. We reminisced back to high school when we all remembered taking the survey which asked us question about drug and alcohol use, study habits, guns, and many other things as well. We all recalled lying on the survey and not taking it seriously. We couldn't imagine the difficulty people must face when attempting to weed out the bogus surveys from the ones which were taken seriously. We discussed a lot of terms in class as well. We went over age-adjusted rates because we previously didn't know that they adjusted the age rate of populations in order to receive accurate data. Overall, we found the chapter very informative and although it contained a lot of terms to take in all at once, it's good that we are now familiar with them.

Chapter One: Reflection

Chapter one gave a very descriptive overview of what the topic at hand, community health, actually is, which is to be expected from a book with "An Introduction To" in its title. It was a consensus in group eight, that learning the different factors that influence community health was incredibly helpful to understanding what community health embodies as a whole. We also agreed that these influencing factors are are pretty much a common theme among any community that aims to maintain any medium, or consistency in there health. As a group we were also overwhelmed at the number of people killed in the past by a sickness that is so easily curable today. Its impressive to see the advances that medical technology has made over the centuries, and encouraging to continue advancing our health knowledge in the future.

As the chapter went through its community health timeline, it was interesting to see how the planet dealt with crisis's that it did. The use of vaccinations, drugs, and prevention agencies, are what allows societies to live healthily today. If it wasn't for the advancement in our Nations health policies and medical offices, our nation would still be facing struggles and difficulties that it did centuries ago.

Healthy People 2010 is a perfect example of society continuing to make advancement in there health. Our group agreed that Healthy People 2010 is a very exciting plan that shows a lot of potential for success. The idea is going forces as an entire nations to create a better environment to live in, and should result in economical and social development, improvement in sanitation, and expansion of national health care.

Chapter One: Abract

Chapter one began witha general overview of what the terms; health, community health, public health, and personal health are defined as. Comparing the four, and listing there differences and simalerities. The chapter then focused on the major affects and influences on community health, breaking them down into four factors; physical factors, cultural and social factors, community organization, and individual behavior.

After the initial description of the topic, the chapter progressed into the historical background of community health, providing examples as early as 500 BC. It discussed advances and struggles community health has faced through each time period, or era, that it has existed in. The destruction of small pox and black plague, and there effect on the world population; the discovery of micro bacterium and backterial inffections, use of vaccinations, and establishment of the CDC, DHS, Medicare, and Medicaid where are listed as significant events throught out the history of community health.

Next the chapter went into great detail discussing how most twenty first cenury societies are "inflicting pain on themselves". The chapter supported theory with precentages and facts comparing overall health of the nation, and overall health of each state seperatly. The chapter concluded with a description of Healthy People 2010, an ideal model of what our nations health should look like in the future, and