Applications of the Concepts and Principles of Health Promotion

Introduction

Nurse is the best example of an individual that takes good care of every patient, no matter how complicated the situation of the patient is, the nurse is the first medical practitioner to attend all the patients needs. Therefore, nurses are the health promoters of health care. All the concepts and principles they learned back in the medicine school should reflect on how they perform. Promoting the health is not a regulation but an advocacy that only a nurse and other medical professionals can understand on how important the health in the entire community.

Health Promotion

A primary advocate of health such as nurse, physician, psychologist or counselor are always in participation in promoting health and collaborated with the patient to help improve the health-related outcomes. The medical, psychological, social, spiritual and economic issues are part of the health promotion. The implemented health care system should not leave the patients suffer from different diseases, indeed helping them to establish their new life.

Proper health promotion can lessen the drawbacks of poor decisions being regard of the inability to collaborate with their true health care needs. Health promoters should understand the control over health, as well as the psychological and behavioral (APA, 2003). The concepts and principles of health promotion cannot be applied if there are no participation between the advocates or the health providers and the patients.

Health promotion is a broad responsibility of the individual, community and the entire professionals involve in the process of improving health. The opportunity to create appropriate initiatives toward the health promotion is the main aim of all the health providers (DHPP, 2003).

Nurses or any health advocates should comprehend their own responsibility in achieving and sustaining the level of health and its applicable promotion toward health. Health care practitioners should understand the importance of communication to the patients and be familiar in data gathering about the safety and efficacious of every medication toward the patient (APA, 2003).

Strategies in Health Promotion are not limited in health problem. As a whole, principles and strategies of health promotion is adapted to the variety of population group, risk factors, diseases, and in various settings. Health promotion are applicable in any case such as diseases, injury and violence, and mental problems, with the continue chasing of efforts and collaboration with the community, policy, regulation, promoters and victims (WHO, 2009).

Health Promotion Knowledge

Health and development faces unprecedented threats such as financial crisis that creates an impact on general health systems. Global warming, climate change and other security threats, therefore, health promotion is urgently needed. The concerns of health promotion should be integrative, cost-effective strategy, and essential component of health systems (WHO, 2009).

The health promotion and knowledge should be develop and evaluate according to the evolution of new generation. The practitioners can apply the ides of story/dialogue method to response with the concerns of the health providers’ practices (Labonte, Feather, and Hills, 1999) . While intended for practitioner’s organizational development, and evaluation, the method has been primarily used to establish an intensive training purpose.

The story/dialogue method or SD-M is a kind of strategy that attempts to fill the gaps between stories and deep explanation that will keep the accountability of the health promotion. This method is a product of the practitioners to make their own assumptions or theories that are subject for scrutiny of the health promotion that seeks to an accomplishment.

There are different ways to use stories in knowledge work, and one is through simply listening. Listening from a person and reflect on it, or establishing a dialogue where a practitioner or health promoter can engage with others, and discussing the issues that recently hit the health society. With that way, the knowledge is expanded, and the relationship is strongly bonded.

Health care providers must evaluate outcomes of their services, including the patient satisfaction, and then use the information to set standards. Meeting the physical and emotional health needs is a type of satisfaction that can be recognized when there is a health promotion, particularly with the participation of a nurse as the health provider (Pulliam, 1991).

Efficacy and effectiveness of Health Promotion

Health promotion can be expressed both physical and psycho-social benefits in terms of its efficacy and effectiveness. The other benefits of the health promotion’s efficacy is an increased support and interaction in managing illness, strong interaction between health professionals and patients or the community, and building the involvement of the individuals in planning, implementation of the health promotion or programs that will definitely affect them in return and many others that will spread the knowledge about health care (DHPP, 2003).

Acknowledging the essence of care in health promotion is one of the principal strategies to achieve the goals and commitments in many heath care systems. Implementation of a well-planned promotion and strategies will strengthen the health promotion (Senah, 2005). With the education and communication campaigns, and joint corporate and public partnership, the health promotion will be viewed in a wide perspective, especially with the nurses who is the one considered to first promote health among the patients.

Concepts and Principles

The protection and promotion of the health of the people is another public concern in educating the society (Jenkins and Ardalan, 2008). Health promotions should be universal where the process on promotion is accessible to everyone, no discrimination or limitations involved. Promotion should be also comprehensive as the positive health can be promoted to help individuals attain their maximum possibilities of health and efficiency thus, making language as part of an important approach toward the care and treatment. And the last is the equity which concerns with the availability of the health care and its promotional agendas.

Part of the health promotion principle is to lessen the health care fraud. Health care fraud causes harm to patients in a form of financial because many health promoters charge high amounts to their clients. Another type of harm is through physical aspect that the malpractice or wrong information might cause the patients injuries. And the harm may come in a less tangible in nature in which the information of the patient can be misuse or used other purpose instead of using the information as future references (Krause, 2006). The harm to patients can destroy the credibility of the health providers and promoters and can lower the trust given by the patients toward the health systems.

Conclusion

The health promotion never ceases and it will never ceases as long as there are advocates who are willing to take a chance in informing the people on what is the meaning of health. In further sense, some individuals might think that the concept of promoting health is lengthening the life of an individual. This maybe the result of promotion but its true main purpose is to help the individuals free of pain, cure, and avoid the illness in a way where they can appreciate life.

References:

APA, (2003) The American Psychotherapy Association, the American Association of Integrative Medicine & the American College of Wellness Present the Evolution of Health Care: Unifying Mind, Body & Spirit, Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, 6(2).

DHPP, (2003) Report of Trinidad and Tobago Achievements in Health Promotion With Respect to the Commitments in the Mexico Declaration, Division of Health Promotion and Protection [Online] Available at: http://www.paho.org/English/HPP/RepTRT.pdf [Accessed 23 Nov 2009].

Jenkins, A., & Ardalan, S., (2008) Positive Health: The Human Right to Health Care under the New York State Constitution, Fordham Urban Law Journal, 35(3)

Krause, J., (2006) A Patient-Centered Approach to Health Care Fraud Recovery, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 96(2)

Labonte, R., Feather, J., & Hills, M., (1999) A Story/Dialogue Method for Health Promotion Knowledge Development and Evaluation, Health Education Research, 14(1) [Online] Available at: http://her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/14/1/39#SEC3 [Accessed 23 Nov 2009]

Pulliam, L., (1991) Client Satisfaction with a Nurse-Managed Clinic, Journal of Community Health Nursing, 8(2)

Senah, C., (2005) Major Milestone…10 Years beyond the Caribbean Charter. Presentation: Trinidad and Tobago [Online] Available at: http://www.paho.org/English/AD/SDE/HS/MCS_TRTB6.pdf [Accessed 23 Nov 2009].

WHO, (2009) Promoting Health and Development: Closing the Implementation Gap, 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion, 26-30 October 2009 [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/en/ [Accessed 23 Nov 2009].