Community Relationships and the Health Service Coordinator
SCENARIO
You are employed as a healthcare service coordinator (HSC) in an urban hospital located within a community with considerable racial and socioeconomic diversity. The demographics of the community include over 60% African American residents, over one-third of households living in poverty, and about 10% of the population who speaks a language other than English. There is an extensive history of mistrust of the medical community by many African American residents. The city includes pockets of significant poverty next to pockets of affluence. There is a difference in life expectancy of up to 20 years between different neighborhoods. The HSCs serving this community through the hospital face a high prevalence of homelessness, infant mortality, and drug abuse, particularly heroin. The chronic disease rates among the hospital’s community are high, particularly the rates for heart disease, cancer, stroke, and HIV.
The city’s health department conducts an annual community health assessment, which further verifies these disparities and the rates of high chronic disease observed by the staff of the hospital. The hospital leadership and staff have vowed to assist the neighboring community in decreasing these rates over the next decade. The hope is that this will positively affect health outcomes for the hospital’s patients.
As an HSC at the hospital, you have been assigned to work with an interprofessional team of hospital employees to develop strategies to identify and reduce the prevalence of chronic disease within the community. This team consists of physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, chaplains, child life specialists, physical and occupational therapists, aides, and other HSCs. The expectation from leadership is a narrative proposal, which will demonstrate the collaboration and leadership of the interprofessional team and describe an approach to address the problem.
Note: This scenario is modeled on the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) in Baltimore, Maryland. If you feel additional information about the organization and community is needed to fulfill the requirements, refer to the “University of Maryland Medical Center” or “Baltimore City Health Department” websites in the Web Links section below.
REQUIREMENTS
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The originality report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.
You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
A. Discuss how to positively affect the health and behavioral health outcomes of the community described in the scenario by applying two sociopolitical drivers at each of the following levels:
• micro
• mezzo
• macro
B. Discuss how to develop strategic partnerships between the organization (i.e., the hospital) and the community in the scenario by doing the following:
1. Identify two new and innovative community relationships, one with a strategic partner and one with an organizational stakeholder, that could benefit the organization and community from the scenario.
a. Describe how the relationships identified in part B1 can be applied to the scenario to advance the needs of the organization and community.
2. Describe one policy and one procedure that could be implemented within the context of the scenario to advance the goals of the organization.
3. Describe how the expressed dynamics of diversity in the identified community population from the scenario could be harnessed to positively affect health and behavioral health outcomes for this population.
C. Discuss the application of an interprofessional team to the scenario by doing the following:
1. Describe three distinct strategies: one to develop a culturally diverse interprofessional team, one to manage a culturally diverse interprofessional team, and one to foster the collaboration of a culturally diverse interprofessional team.
2. Describe two professional development strategies that could be applied to benefit interprofessional team collaboration when engaging in group work to assist the community identified in the scenario.
3. Apply critical thinking and strategic decision-making to determine two solutions to the problem presented in the scenario.
4. Describe one verbal and one nonverbal communication strategy or technique that could be used within the scenario to address barriers to healthcare access for the identified community.
D. Discuss the application of performance development strategies to the scenario by doing the following:
1. Describe two strategies to increase the organization’s employee engagement around the community problem described in the scenario.
2. escribe two organizational structures that could be put in place to encourage professional development opportunities for the organization’s staff that would systemically support the needs of the community identified in the scenario.
3. Identify three dynamics of professional behavior and etiquette in relation to the scenario and modeled within each of the following contexts:
• one personal context
• one organizational context
• one industry context
a. Describe how the identified dynamics from part D3 could be applied to the scenario to improve outcomes for the interprofessional team and community population.
4. Identify three personal values and perspectives you would hold as an HSC professional to support the interprofessional team, organization, and community identified in the scenario.
a. Describe how the personal values and perspectives from part D4 could be applied to engage yourself as a leader within the healthcare field.
b. Describe how the personal values and perspectives from part D4 could be applied to engage community partners in the context of the scenario.
E. Acknowledge sources, using APA-formatted in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
F. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
Community Relationships and the Health Service Coordinator
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Community Relationships and the Health Service Coordinator
Introduction
This essay aims to analyze the role of a Healthcare Service Coordinator (HSC), especially when there is an increase in the number of patients suffering from chronic illness. It is critical for an HSC officer to work with the patients and close the communication gaps between different stakeholders to ensure quality care in healthcare facilities. As more people in the country get chronic illnesses, there is a need for medical facilities to improve the way that they deal with such individuals. Having an effective healthcare facility will reduce the cost of treatment and enhance the quality of life for patients.
Socio-political Drivers at the Micro, Mezzo, and Macro Levels
Micro-Level Socio-political Drivers
There are different Micro, Mezzo, and Macro Socio-political Drivers that have an impact on the welfare of the community. Social-political drivers determine whether a community will have healthy food, safe neighborhoods, quality education, healthcare, and social support. As an HSC officer that is tasked with different employees such as physicians, therapists, social workers, chaplains, and child life specialists, it will be critical to ensure that everybody works in harmony and that there is coordination among the different departments. Because of the complexity and the diversity of the team, micro, macro, and mezzo techniques will be used to make sure that the task is completed successfully. In the provided scenario, there is a high level of homelessness, drug abuse, infant mortality, heart disease, stroke, and HIV (Angus & Valentijn, 2018). One of the social-political drivers at the micro-level that has affected the community's welfare is the lack of job opportunities. The lack of job opportunities is one of the reasons why there is a large number of people that are suffering from drug abuse. The other driver has been the lack of affordable housing, which has led to a large number of people being homeless. A micro-level healthcare coordinator will engage in individualized services that the community needs. One of the strategies that will be used in this case will be to talk directly with people who have a drug addiction and to try and understand why they are engaging in the practice. By having a good understanding of why there is a high level of drug users in the area, HSC will be in a position to help in formulating policies that will help the community. It will also be prudent to work with family members and especially the mother, in a bid to understand the reason why there is high infant mortality.
Mezzo Level Socio-political Drivers
At the mezzo level, an HSC will focus on social-political drivers like the availability of schools in the community and the healthcare system and determine how these drivers affect the community's welfare. The lack of schools or enough resources may have a huge impact on why there is a high number of people in the community that is engaged in drug use. It will also be critical to work with the at-risk youths and to identify the main reason why these youths are using heroin. As a mezzo HSC, it will be my responsibility to work with other agencies in the community and to develop policies that will help the most vulnerable in society. Several programs and resources will be brought into the community with the hope that they will help improve the welfare of the people in the area. A school counselor, for example, will be introduced in the local schools to help students that are dealing with drug problems.
Macro-Level Socio-political Drivers
Finally, the macro-level approach will focus on the systematic problems that have contributed to society's situation. Some of the social-political drivers at this level include a lack of a support structure and policies that do not promote the community's welfare. For example, the community does not have confidence in the healthcare system because of past injustices. As a macro HSC, it will be prudent to come up with seminars where medical professionals and the community meet to discuss the issues that affect them. The community will get an opportunity to interact with the medical professionals and build a rapport. It will also be critical to work with the Federal government and the local government to develop quality care facilities in the area as a way of making sure people in the community get quality service as the rest of the population. Finally, it will be critical to work with different political parties in the area to develop healthcare legislation and encourage the provision of services such as screenings and treatment to underserved populations.
Organizational Strategic Partnerships
As an HSC, it is important to foster a culture that encourages the development of professional leadership and behavior and etiquette of care providers in the community. There are several strategies that will be used to increase the organization's employee engagement around the community problem. The first strategy will be to practice ethical labor in the healthcare facility where the interprofessional teamwork. People are observant, and they will copy what the team leader is doing. If there are ethical practices in the organization, it will be difficult for an HSC to expect his team to act in a manner that is ethical. The second strategy that will play a key role in encouraging employees to be a part of the community problem-solving team is promoting philanthropy. The healthcare facility should set an example of being philanthropic by giving out money to the community to improve the healthcare service in the area. Most people will be motivated to work in an organization that has a corporate social responsibility as part of its values.
As a health service coordinator (HSC), it is critical that one works with different stakeholders to ensure there is quality care in the community. Different partners have different skills and resources that play a key role in improving the welfare of the community (Amoo et al., 2017). It is important for an HSC to look for partners that share the same mission and goals as the healthcare service coordinator. One of the ways that I will be able to develop a strategic partnership between the community and different organizations is through personal contacts. For a church, for example, the HSC and his team will be required to go and meet with the church leaders. They will then explain their role in the community and explain why the church will play a major role in helping the HSC achieve its goal. The leaders will then be given an opportunity to ask questions and to offer any suggestions that they may have on the best way to help the community.
The use of social media and other channels such as TV and radio will also be used in the development of a strategic partnership with different stakeholders. The advent of the internet has made it possible for people across the globe to communicate and share information with ease. Companies are also embracing the practice of corporate social responsibilities, and they are willing to work with different stakeholders to improve the local communities. By using social media platforms, it will be possible for the HSC and its team to reach as many people as possible and explain their mission in the local communities. One innovative strategy that will be used is to train people and then offer them jobs in local communities.
Policy and Procedure that HSC will use
One of the policies that the healthcare service coordinator will use will be to ensure all the stakeholders working in the community are well versed with the community and are diverse. The workforce will have to be made of people from different races and gender. Such a policy is important because it will help the workers develop a rapport with ease in the community. The procedures that will be used by the HSC will include informing the local leaders and community organizations about their plans before they start any program. It will be essential to have the support of the local community for the organization to advance its goals effectively.
Benefits of Diversity In the Community
The scenario presented is a diverse community made up of a large number of people from different backgrounds. As such, the HSC will be in a position to harness such diversity and bring about positive health and behavior outcomes for the community. First, the medical professionals who work in the community will have an easy time getting an interpreter if they come across a person who can not speak English. The availability of a diverse population also indicates that people are exposed to other cultures, which may make it easy for the community to accept new ideas on how to li...