What is public health?
___Public health is the part of the civic infrastructure that keeps communities safe and healthy.
___The current generally accepted mission of public health is: “Promote physical and mental health, and prevent disease, injury, and disability.”
Who are public health professionals?
___Nurses
___Physicians
___Laboratory technicians
___Educators
___Nutritionists
___Social workers
___Biostatisticians
___Epidemiologists
___Economists
___Lawyers
___Community-based or “grassroots” workers might include concerned parents, grandparents, or civic leaders who volunteer their time.
What are the Ten Essential Public Health Services?
___The Ten Essential Public Health Services fall into three categories that define thecore functions of public health:
- Assessment
- Policy Development
- Assurance
Assessment:
___1. Monitor health status to identify community health problems.
___2. Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community.
Policy Development:
___3. Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues.
___4. Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems.
___5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts.
Assurance:
___6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
___7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable.
___8. Assure a competent public health and personal health care workforce.
___9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services.
___10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.
How do you use the Ten Essential Public Health Services in Community Practice?
1. Monitor health status to identify community problems.
___This service comprises the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health related data, including:
- Identification of threats to health and assessment of health service needs;
- Timely collection, analysis, and publication of information on access, utilization, costs, and outcomes of personal health services;
- Attention to the vital statistics and health status of specific groups that are at higher risk than the total population; and
- Collaboration to manage integrated information systems with private providers and health benefit plans.
___To monitor community health status, you can use federal, state, and community-level information, such as:
- Census data
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data, including the National Vital Statistics System, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the National Health Interview Survey, and the Cancer Registries.
- State-level “report cards” on maternal and child health and other areas, as well as reports and statistics from the state public health agency.
- School health reports.
- Community surveys.
- Information about community-level indicators, such as drunk driving arrests, fett of store shelf space devoted to healthy products, and heart-related emergency room visits.
2. Diagnose and investigate health hazards in the community.
___This service encompasses public health activities such as:
- Epidemiologic identification of emerging health threats;
- Public health laboratory capability using modern technology to conduct rapid screening and high volume testing;
- Active infectious disease epidemiology programs; and
- Technical capacity for epidemiologic investigation of disease outbreaks and patterns of chronic disease and injury.
3. Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues.
___Social marketing and targeted media public communication (e.g., Toll-free information lines).
___Providing accessible health information resources at community levels (e.g., free, mobile health screening initiatives).
___Active collaboration with personal health care providers to reinforce health promotion messages and programs.
___Joint health education programs with schools, churches, and worksites (e.g., stress reduction seminars; parenting support groups for enhancing mental health; and health fairs).
4. Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems.
___Convene and facilitate community groups and associations, including those not typically considered to be health-related, to undertake defined preventive, screening, rehabilitation, and support programs.
___Build multi-sector community coalitions in order to draw upon the full range of potential human and material resources in the cause of community health.
5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts.
___Leadership development at all levels of public health.
___Systematic community-level and state-level planning for health improvement in all jurisdictions.
___Development and tracking of measurable health objectives as a part of continuous quality improvement strategies.
___Joint evaluation with the medical health care system to define consistent policy regarding prevention and treatment services.
___Development of codes, regulations, and legislation to guide the practice of public health.
6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
___Full enforcement of sanitary codes, especially in the food industry.
___Full protection of drinking water supplies.
___Enforcement of clean air standards.
___Timely follow-up of hazards, preventable injuries, and exposure-related diseases identified in occupational and community settings.
___Monitoring quality of medical services (e.g., laboratory, nursing homes, and home health care).
___Timely review of new drug, biologic, and medical device application.
___Advocacy for needed new health and safety laws and regulations.
7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable.
___Effective entry for socially disadvantaged people into a coordinated system of clinical care.
___Culturally and linguistically appropriate materials and staff to assure linkage to services for special population groups.
___Ongoing “care management.”
___Transportation services.
___Targeted health information to high risk population groups.
___Technical assistance for effective worksite health promotion/disease prevention programs.
___Outreach and support to populations in need of government services.
8. Assure a competent public health and personal care workforce.
___Education and training for personnel to meet the needs for public and personal health service.
___Efficient processes for licensure of professionals and certification of facilities, with regular verification and inspection follow-up.
___Adoption of continuous quality improvement and life-long learning within all licensure and certification programs.
___Active partnerships with professional training programs to assure community-relevant learning experiences for all students.
___Continuing education in management and leadership development programs for those charged with administrative / executive roles.
9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services.
___Evaluation helps public health professionals continually refine or revise program approaches in future years of funding.
___Evaluation data provide information about the relative costs and effort for tasks so activity and budget adjustments can be made.
___To ensure useful results that lead to more effective services, it is necessary to conduct ongoing evaluations of health programs based on analysis of health status and service utilization data, to assess program effectiveness and to provide information necessary for allocating resources and reshaping programs.
10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.
___Link with appropriate institutes of higher learning and research.
___Mount timely epidemiologic (e.g., outbreak investigations) and economic analyses (e.g., cost-benefit studies).
___Conduct needed health services research (e.g., survey design; conducting interviews and facilitating focus groups; conducting clinical trials; and accessing and using public records).
___Engage in collaborative research with other programs, and publicize your results.
___Seek funding for both individual and collaborative research into health problems.
___Publicize research results so others can use and build on them.