NURS FPX 4000 Limited Access to Healthcare

Sample Answer for NURS FPX 4000 Limited Access to Healthcare

For healthy living, it is crucial for the populace to receive health care services timely. Unfortunately, this general need remains a wish due to the many problems worldwide that hamper access to health care services. The problem is worldwide and there is no country that seems immune to health care access challenges. Indeed, it is right to deduce that achievement of a state where every person can receive care promptly is a milestone under progress and yet to be achieved. This analysis explores the issue of limited access to health care and provides an annotated bibliography of resources that suggest some solutions about the problem.

Summary of the Problem

When people think of limited access to health care, the dominant picture that forms in the mind is a scenario where patients want to get medical assistance but there are no health care centers nearby. While this thinking is true, the issue is broader and encompasses many elements. For instance, it has to do with lack of awareness regarding where health facilities are located. It also involves a person’s inability to afford health care services. According to Dassah et al. (2018), the problem is pervasive in rural areas where factors such as lack of knowledge, clinician shortage, and transport barriers make it highly challenging for patients to receive health care services when in need. In most cases, the leading impact is delayed services and near-death experiences as patients look for help.

As a health care provider, it is crucial to live and provide services with quality of care and patient safety as guiding principles. Anything that undermines the achievement of these critical elements deserves a lot of attention and strategies to eliminate it developed promptly. My interest in this topic is based on the principle that limited access to primary health services hampers quality of care, patient safety, and poses a risk to the overall public health goals. Identifying some of the potential intervention approaches implies that I am playing a critical role in solution generation and advancement of evidence-based practice. When it comes to professional experience, I have witnessed instance where patients’ receive delayed services due to access issues. Accordingly, interventions to improve such situations are critically necessary.

Articles’ Selection and Validation

Research articles for health topics should be detailed and cover information about a topic in the most specific way possible. Like it happened to this activity, the search process starts with the formulation of a general topic followed by selection of key terms to get the most appropriate articles related to the topic. The databases I considered for my search include PubMed, CINAHL, and EMBASE. After a thorough search, I found four articles from the Capella Library as annotated in the section that follows (annotated bibliography). Some of the key words that helped to generate the articles include online health information seeking, health care access, health information systems, consumer health information, chronic disease, health information search, health seeking behavior, and rural nursing. Eventually, the articles that settled on major approaches of dealing with limited access to health care such as health care information online and telemedicine were selected.

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Relevance and credibility are critical in the research process. One of the most reliable ways of checking credibility is the use of peer-reviewed articles. In my selection, I primarily concentered on experimental studies. They test hypotheses, making them valid and detailed research articles to make deductions about a health issue. Relevance is rated in terms of publication dates and analysis of a concept directly related to the subject under study. All the four articles met this criterion.

Annotated Bibliography

Bhandari, N. (2014). Seeking health information online: does limited healthcare access matter? Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA (1067-5027), 21 (6), p. 1113. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.library.capella.edu/pmc/articles/PMC4215038/

While acknowledging that limited health care access is a global problem, this study examined the link between barriers to health care access and consumers’ health-related information searching on the internet and related elements such as health chat groups and email communication with physicians. The study is based on the idea that consumers facing health care access barriers should consider online health information seeking and communication with physicians as a way of receiving services remotely. This intervention eliminates the need for physical connection as one of the limiting factors, particularly in the rural areas. This article has been considered since it provides a solution to the access problem by showing the need for telehealth. The key finding is that patients unable to receive prompt care or get timely appointments with physicians can participate in health chat groups and email communication with physicians. Overall, it shows the need for technology incorporation in today’s practice to enhance outcomes.

Lee, K., Hoti, K., Hughes, J. D., & Emmerton, L. (2014). Dr Google and the Consumer: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Navigational Needs and Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors of Consumers with Chronic Health Conditions. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 16(12), e262. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.2196/jmir.3706

Globally, the invention and use of consumer-focused care models is growing, particularly in the management of chronic health conditions. One way of advancing such models is ensuring that patients can receive consumer-specific information about their health. This study explored the navigation needs for consumers as they seek online health information and barriers associated with the process. The authors argued that health information is abundant online, which guarantees consumers greater access to information that can be used in managing chronic illnesses. Accessing health information online is paramount given the need for consumer-focused health care around the world. The study goes further to find the navigation needs to ensure that consumers receive useful information. This article has been selected since it acknowledges that limited access to health care can be minimized by embracing technology. It concludes that eHealth literacy and patient activation emerge as prevalent concepts as far as consumers’ search for health information online is concerned.

Ware, P., Bartlett, S. J., Paré, G., Symeonidis, I., Tannenbaum, C., Bartlett, G., … Ahmed, S. (2017). Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 6(1), e3. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.2196/ijmr.4447

Telehealth and the availability of health information online have emerged as reliable interventions in overcoming the challenge of limited access to health care services. However, objectives of different groups of patients vary depending on their age and health statuses. The purpose of this study was to explore older adults’ interests, preferences, and concerns when using internet and eHealth technologies in health management. The foundation of this study is the idea that factors such as age, sex, availability of current technology, and socioeconomic status influence people’s uptake of eHealth. The study is a way of knowing the limiting factors of eHealth utilization despite technology proliferation in the world today. The article was considered for selection since it shows how to minimize health access barriers by enhancing eHealth literacy. It concludes that although they embrace eHealth technologies, privacy matters, peer communication and support, and difficulty in identifying credible data online are leading hindrances that undermine their experience.

Pratt, D. (2015). Telehealth and telemedicine. Albany Law Journal of Science & Technology. (1059-4280), 25 (3), p. 495. http://www.lexisnexis.com.library.capella.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&csi=148364&sr=TITLE(%22Telehealth+telemedicine+in+2015%22)+and+date+is+2015

People of all ages suffer from illnesses, but how they respond determines their survival chances. In any case, it is crucial to do away with physical barriers that hinder health care access by making use of the available health technologies in a given place. The purpose of this article was to examine the benefits of technology in improving health and access to critical services. A huge portion concentrates on telemedicine and telehealth, as some of the technologies in minimizing the impact of limited access to health care in the health practice. The article met the selection criteria since it focuses on how to improve health outcomes and overcome access challenges through telemedicine and telehealth. Pratt (2015) concluded the study by suggesting that telemedicine and telehealth are reliable ways of reducing hospitalizations, visits to emergency rooms and costly visits. They are a way of enabling patients receive timely, faster, and more convenient treatment.

Main Findings

The annotated bibliography provides rich information that can help to expand literature on limited access to health care and its solutions. Developing the annotated bibliography helped me to learn that issues related to limited access to health care are extensive. Accordingly, it is crucial to concentrate on a specific area of research to come up with comprehensive information about the topic, such as the role of technology in minimizing the impacts of barriers.

Lessons from the Research

Overall, the research revealed that access problems are a global concern, but solutions are available. People should consider receiving health remotely through telemedicine and telehealth. If the situation is not critical such that a physical meeting with the doctor is inevitable, solutions should be sought remotely as much as possible. Health care information is also available online. Despite the availability of these solutions, some issues experienced by selected groups such as older adults hinder outcomes. One of the dominant observations is the lack of digital literacy. Privacy concerns are an issue too, among others. Outcomes can be improved by improving digital literacy and addressing privacy concerns.

In conclusion, limited access to health care is an issue that deserves a multidisciplinary approach to solve. Health care providers should offer solutions, and people should support care providers by adopting such solutions. The pervasive nature of the internet has ensured that consumers have a popular and readily available source of health information. Combined with telehealth and in-home health care services where necessary, health care information online can help to overcome the challenges that limited access to health care poses and improve public health to meet the expected threshold.

References

Dassah, E., Aldersey, H., McColl, M. A., & Davison, C. (2018). Factors affecting access to primary health care services for persons with disabilities in rural areas: a “best-fit” framework synthesis. Global health research and policy, 3(1), 36. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41256-018-0091-x