Epidemiological Community Health Assessment

Epidemiological Community Health Assessment
Purpose: This assessment enables students to apply managerial epidemiological concepts in one assessment. Conducting a community health needs assessment is a fundamental step in improving the health of your community. In a recent passing of a federal health care legislative Bill, all non-profit acute care hospitals are required to conduct a community needs assessment. This assignment allows students to serve as members of the hospital’s leadership team. Students are expected to conduct a community needs assessment using data readily available from secondary sources, such as Northeast Florida Counts, CDC and other appropriate sources.
The Plan should be at 13 – 15 pages long excluding the cover page, table of contents, and reference list. Technical requirements: Papers should be double-spaced 2 inches spaced with 1-inch margins all around (top, bottom, left, right) and 12pt font. Times New Roman Font. Your name and the page number should appear in the header of the document. ALL PAPERS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED USING MICROSOFT WORD. No Plagiarism.
Name of fictitious agency: Hill Crest Medical Heart Center
Topic description: Heart disease
Community Needs Assessment – Required Content
Guidelines for Assessment
The following information should to be included in the community needs assessment.
All content areas should be thoroughly addressed in your fictitious non-profit acute care hospital.
Condition of concern/social problem
This section of the assignment allows your committee to specify a condition of your interest and discuss it as a healthcare system issue. It contains information such as, but not limited to, the following:
1. The definition of the condition of concern followed by discussion of the following.
1. Implications of the definition
2. Who defines the condition of concern as a problem and why
3. Is there consensus or disagreements that the condition is a problem?
2. A vision and mission statement that gives your ideas on the people and system that might exist if the condition/problem was eliminated.
3. A list of your committee’s guiding principles for intervening in the condition/problem.
4. What is known or not known about the history and causes of the condition/problem.
1. What is known about communities that have the condition or that never have the condition/problem, that is, what risk and protective factors are associated with the condition?
2. The politics of the condition/problem. Assessing politics involves examining power, money, and authority related to the condition.
5. Who typically has the problem, extent of the problem, etc?
1. What national incidence and prevalence data, rates, and norms exist, e.g., one in 10,000 will be a victim.
2. Is the problem increasing or decreasing?
6. What communities who have the condition/problem typically do about the problem and what has been successful (best practices, model programs, comprehensive services or continuum of care?
7. A list of the capacities, needs, and barriers identified in this section of the assessment. Often what seems like a need might really be a barrier to services or to solving the problem. For example, residents might not need a new service, only transportation to an existing service. Fear and racism might be preventing natural problem solving mechanisms from occurring in a community. You remove barriers differently than you meet needs. Often times, few resources are required to remove barriers.
Community experiencing the condition
This section allows your committee to assess the community experiencing the condition/problem. Northeast Florida Counts contains many links to relevant data sources. This section includes information such as, but not limited to, the following.
1. Description of the community experiencing the condition in terms of geography, citizens (age, gender, ethnicity, income, etc.) values, beliefs, stories, myths, and any other feature you feel is important. The assessment can be of a geographic or interest based community, or combination of both. What makes the community a community according to class readings? Who views the community as a community and who does not. Data sources vary from demographics about the community to opinions by a typical resident. A drive or walk around is suggested if it makes sense.
2. What evidence exists that the community is experiencing the condition/problem, e.g., stories in the media, testimony before committees, expert opinion, beliefs, comparisons to national norms, secondary data, primary data, etc. Try to tie the characteristics of the community mentioned in item