QUESTION 2



Quality Improvement in Healthcare

Quality Improvement in Healthcare

Introduction

From the Greek civilization to the present-day advent of technology and the ability to eradicate infectious diseases, health promotion has thrived by Western medicine. Marc Lalonde from Canada (in the l970s) is responsible for current interest in health promotion, and he questioned the relationship between one's health and the caliber as well as volume of medical care received. According to Lalonde, disease and death are the result of inadequacies in the health care system, behavioral factors or unhealthy life-styles, environmental hazards, and human biological factors. Also influential in health promotion, available at most North American universities, in the 1970s were the psychology courses that were a most powerful health group interested in behavior modifications, and changes in people. (Brent, 2007)

The sociological aspect of health promotion is concerned with analyzing the phenomenon as a characteristic of the much wider set of socio-economic and cultural processes associated with late Modernism. In the process of modernism, Duane Matcha in his 1999 Medical Sociology relates that one of the most significant developments in medical sociology was the creation of the health belief model (HBM). Perceived susceptibility, seriousness, benefits, and barriers in addition to a triggering mechanism that elicits a response are the HBM major components. John Raeburn and I. Rootman explain that, while a vague goal of positive health would probably better be called prevention, health promotion goals are best characterized within a quality-of-life (QOL) context as issues of people-centered health promotion or self-care, positivity, and spirituality and spiritual health. Whether health promotion is people-centered or self-care oriented, one model shows that as a means of health education, prevention, or protection a concern for healthy living has become a preoccupation for many people. This paper explains two theoretical approaches (The Health Belief Model and Pender's Health Promotion Model) to quality improvement within the health care arena. This paper also evaluates the role of the health professional within each of these, recommending strategies to enhance participation and team work to achieve the quality goals.

Discussion

Health care and nursing have traditionally been more oriented toward curing and treating than preventing illness, injury, and disability. Shifting the focus toward maintaining and promoting health and wellness is a current challenge. A number of models have been developed to guide quality improvement in healthcare and health promotion practice. These include the Precaution Adoption Process model, the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) Model, the Theory of Reasoned Action and the related Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Health Belief Model. Additional models include the Representational Approach, Pender's Health Promotion Model, and the PRECEDE-PROCEED model. Each of these models is an attempt to explain why people do or do not engage in health-promoting activity. These explanations assist community health nurses to understand the motivations and factors involved in such decisions and help them to select appropriate strategies for promoting health in the population. Although it is not possible to discuss all of these models here, the reader is referred to the literature cited for a ...