School-Based Health Programs and Healthcare Services

School-Based Health Programs and Healthcare Services

School-based health programs provide essential health services to learners. They ensure that the learners’ needs are addressed in the school setting. This is important in catering to the emergency needs of the learners and staff. The services depend on the type of program and differ among various schools. The programs can be classified as basic, expanded, and comprehensive.

The Strengths and Weaknesses of School-Based Health Programs

 A basic school health program covers traditionally common services. These include health, mental, and nutritional services (Arenson et al., 2019). An expanded school health program focuses on learners who can not access specific services and those that are vulnerable (Arenson et al., 2019). An expanded program involves a collaborative effort with external stakeholders such as community agencies. These programs are developed after extensive research. Results from the research indicating the best preventive or management strategies form the basis of the programs.

A comprehensive program advocates for the emotional, physical and social wellbeing and academic growth of the learners. This program is planned systematically based on the strategies of the school, family, and community (Arenson et al., 2019). It is guided by the needs of the community. The report on the efficiency and quality of the program is addressed to the community.

School-based programs have numerous strengths. They ensure that health services reach all learners regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds. The programs provide long-term care to the learners. They offer services that fulfill the needs of learners. Such services include mental health and nutritional services (Langford et al., 2015). The programs facilitate the delivery of coordinated care to learners. The comprehensive program ensures that service delivery is done based on the needs of the community. This leads to the fulfillment of the student’s and community’s expectations.

The programs are faced with some challenges. Service delivery may be restricted to specific days due to fixed budgets. This limits access to such services. Long-term patient-health care providers’ bonds may not be established due to transfers and staff turnovers (Langford et al., 2015). Collaboration with other healthcare providers attending to learners may be difficult. These shortcomings can hinder the success of the programs.

Components of Coordinated School Health Programs

Coordinated school health programs have various components. They include health education, health services, nutritional services, physical education, involvement of parents and the community, a healthy school environment, staff health promotion and counseling, and social and psychological services (Langford et al., 2015). These components are interconnected because they ensure the wellbeing of the learners, the staff, the parents, and the entire community. They cater to the physical and emotional needs of the students. They advocate for the preventive health and appropriate nutrition of the learners (Arenson et al., 2019). The needs of staff are addressed. This enables them to actively engage with learners and educate them on promotive health. A healthy school atmosphere is key to the wellbeing of learners. Parents and the community are key because they determine the needs to be addressed by the programs.

The Roles of the Education and Public Health Departments

The education department’s role is to ensure that learners are aware of promotive and preventive health practices. It ensures that the learners acquire sufficient information that can enable them to make decisions that promote their wellbeing. The public health department performs various roles. It facilitates programs that educate the community on promotive health behaviors (Wing et al., 2018). It is involved in setting up measures that curb the spread of infectious diseases. This is particularly useful during outbreaks since epidemics and pandemics can occur. The department is involved in protecting the public against hazards such as air and water pollution (Brownson et al., 2018). The department ensures that health services are available to the public. The department upholds distributive justice to ensure that the services are equally accessed.

Public health and personal health are closely related. Public health determines the wellbeing of the community, and this has a direct impact on personal health. Within the public school district, public health determines personal health. An environment with health hazards such as poor sewerage disposal and water contamination is a risk to the public and personal health. Therefore, public health and personal health are interrelated.

The New Directions of School-Based Health Care Services and the Key Programmatic Characteristics of School-Based Health Care Services

School-based health care services are shifting towards a direction in which they are well planned. In the new outlook, continuous service monitoring will occur to ensure their quality (Geary et al., 2014). The services have become research-based. Research helps identify the feasibility of the services and the school’s suitability. The services are becoming cognizant of the importance of patient confidentiality and privacy (Langford et al., 2015). These principles are applied to healthcare facilities outside the school environment.

The programs identify the basic needs of learners and address them fully. They focus on achieving measurable and realistic outcomes. Such outcomes can be identified in learners, instructors, or the community. The programs use the knowledge and attitude of learners, staff, and the community to determine their effectiveness. The programs execute the tasks that have been allocated. Such tasks can include screening and addressing medical emergencies that occur at school.

How the Healthy People 2020 Goal Impacts the Role of Education and Public Health Departments in Working With the Schools

The education department works in concert with schools to provide preventive and promotive health education. To fulfill the Healthy People 2020 goal, different sensitization topics should be addressed. They include physical education, proper nutrition, mental health, lifelong and chronic diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and substance abuse among youth (CDC, n.d.). The problem of obesity and measures that can prevent its occurrence should be addressed.

The public health department should as well be involved in the educational process and policy formulation. Policies that will lead to a reduction in substance use should be formulated. A decrease in substance use will lead to a productive population and reduces the incidences of injuries sustained after substance use. This department should ensure that schools uphold such policies. The policies should be taught to learners regularly.

References.

Arenson, M., Hudson, P. J., Lee, N. H., & Lai, B. (2019). The Evidence on School-Based Health Centers: A Review. Global Pediatric Health, 6. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333794X19828745

Brownson, R. C., Fielding, J. E., & Green, L. W. (2018). Building Capacity for Evidence-Based Public Health: Reconciling the Pulls of Practice and the Push of Research. Annual Review of Public Health, 39, 27–53. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-014746

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Educational and community-based programs. Healthy People 2020.http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=11

Geary, R. S., Gómez-Olivé, F. X., Kahn, K., Tollman, S., & Norris, S. A. (2014). Barriers to and facilitators of the provision of a youth-friendly health services programme in rural South Africa. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-14-259

Langford, R., Bonell, C., Jones, H., Pouliou, T., Murphy, S., Waters, E., Komro, K., Gibbs, L., Magnus, D., & Campbell, R. (2015). The World Health Organization’s Health Promoting Schools framework: A Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1360-y

Wing, C., Simon, K., & Bello-Gomez, R. A. (2018). Designing Difference in Difference Studies: Best Practices for Public Health Policy Research. Annual Review of Public Health, 39, 453–469. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-013507

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School-Based Health Programs and Healthcare Services

Case Assignment
For this assignment you will respond to questions regarding school health programs. Please answer these questions:

School-Based Health Programs and Healthcare Services

• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of school-based health programs. Be sure to distinguish the difference between a basic, expanded and comprehensive school health program.
• List the 8 components of coordinated school health programs. How are they interconnected and why are they important.
• Define the roles of Education and Public Health Departments. Should Public health departments provide primary medical care? How “bright” is the line between public health and personal health within the context of public school district? Do they or should they overlap?
• Discuss the new directions of school-based health care services and the key programmatic characteristics of school-based health care services.
• Generally discuss how the Healthy People 2020 goal to “Increase the quality, availability, and effectiveness of educational and community-based programs designed to prevent disease and improve health and quality of life” impacts the role of education and public health departments to work with the schools.

Please submit your Case Assignment by the end of Module 3. Please refer to the Trident calendar for exact due dates. Please contact your instructor at any time should you have any questions.