Abstract
Preventative health care is founded on the premise that lifestyle choices, environmental factors, and genetic predispositions all have a role to play in the health outcomes of individuals. Therefore, the main aim of preventive care is to address these factors and prevent diseases from happening. The methods for increasing preventative care are explored and a project proposed that can be standardized across all healthcare facilities. Some of the methods have been studied and are presented in the current literature. Examples include primary care visits, clinical decision support systems, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. The applicability of each of these methods can be evaluated from a project management perspective where the recommendations involve the implementation of a single comprehensive program that incorporates all of them. Therefore, the project lifecycle approach is used for this exercise where four stages are implemented: initiation, planning, execution, and control/monitoring.
Introduction
Public health is a major concern for many countries, as illustrated by the devastating effects of the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Lifestyle choices, environmental factors, and genetic predispositions all have a role in the health outcomes of individuals. Therefore, there is a need to target these factors to prevent diseases. This is the essence of preventative care as practices across the world. The focus of this paper is on identifying and implementing methods of increasing preventative care measures. Principles of project management are used, including identification and definition of the project scope, highlighting the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, and identifying critical resources needed to achieve the set goals.
The implications for this research include that it helps put into practice the ideas proposed by previous work in this area. In its relation to previous work, a critical examination of available literature reveals methods that can be applied to increase preventative care measures. The research strategy involves a systematic review of literature to gather ideas about the viable options and use these ideas to develop practice recommendations.
Project Statement
The project focuses on preventative care, a subject that has been approached from multiple perspectives in literature. For instance, AHRQ,( 2018) labels preventative cases as a means of achieving health equity by eliminating the health inequalities in a country’s population. However, the basic idea is that preventative care is the best approach to a country’s health outcomes since it prevents diseases and pandemics from devastating the population. According to Ngwewondo et al. (2020), the COVID-19 serves as a perfect case study for illustrating how preventive measures work. In their research, the authors established that most of the respondents scored high in preventative measures and positive health-seeking behaviors. While such findings highlight that preventative measured were undertaken, a large population still suffered from the symptoms of COVID-19.
In other such contexts as the United Kingdom (UK), some preventative measures included the creation of an innovation hub that focuses on increasing preventative healthcare. During the pandemic, the hub was used as a vaccination center and proved effective (HHM Global, n.d.). Such innovation has led the stakeholders to contemplate the creation of similar facilities as a preparation for future pandemics. Therefore, there is a need to examine the effectiveness of preventative measures and find a means of making them even more effective.
Problem Significance
The significance of this project is manifested by the recent health problems facing the planet, including infections and pandemics. As mentioned earlier, these health outcomes are subject to the environment within which we live. Therefore, this endeavor serves as a blueprint to be used by the relevant stakeholders to implement better healthcare practices. The importance of preventative health measures is outlined, and the methods to increase its measures are recommended. The implications of the project include that the policymakers in the healthcare sector will adopt the proposed methods. Additionally, preventive care requires the relevant authorities to make the required investments (Health Business, 2019). Therefore, the proposed project should get all stakeholders informed on what pathways to follow to increase preventative health measures.
Literature Review
The current literature on preventative care has often focused on its benefits and approaches, often emphasizing that it is the best way to approach some of the major health problems facing society. According to Hostetter et al., (2020), primary care visits have been known to influence health behaviors, but links between these visits and preventive interventions remain unclear. In this case, primary care visits are perceived as a mechanism for receiving preemptive care in such forms as vaccinations, colonoscopy, and mammography. The conclusion reached is that at least one primary visit a year will increase evidence-based preventative care measures without any increase in costs. The same observations have been made by Sabety et al. (2021), who finds that primary care visits improve the quality of care, patient outcomes, and improved delivery of preventative services. The outcomes of this form of care include lower rates of hospitalization and fewer emergency visits. As a result, the overall cost of care is also greatly reduced. Therefore, primary care visits can be considered one of the most effective methods of increasing preventative care measures.
Decision support systems are considered a critical method for increasing preventative care measures and outcomes. A study by Bowen (et al., 2017) expresses that a decision support system improves the performance of preventive health quality measures where care is done elsewhere, and patient exceptions are captured. While this study focuses on performance, the bottom line is that the clinical decision systems effectively capture patient data and identify those eligible for preventative care. Preventative visits were also found to increase after implementing the clinical decision support systems for the population used in the study. Other studies have focused on specific health problems where these systems where the findings indicate that clinical decision support systems improve recognition and management (Kharbanda et al., 2018). In their study, Kharbanda et al. (2018) found that innovative systems had the potential of pooling useful patient-specific data that could be printed and shared among different users. Additionally, the systems contained guidelines for preventative measures and approaches that could be followed by the practitioners. Therefore, decision support systems for clinicians can be an effective method for increasing preventative healthcare measures.
Another method that has been covered in the literature is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). According to Suganuma et al. (2018), unguided internet-based CBT has proven an effective method for preventative healthcare for mental health. However, the researchers have presented a pilot study to examine its acceptability and feasibility. The evidence from the study shows internet-guided CBT to be an ideal approach even though it has failed to gather the necessary attention. The rationale is that the use of technology in CBT should not be any different from face-to-face therapy sessions. However, the internet only changes from traditional practices in the mainstream delivery of the services. Even though mental care is the focus of this study, the findings can be generalized over other major health issues. Smartphone delivered CBD has also been investigated by Bakker et al. (2018), who finds that the use of apps to track health issues help in increased preventive care outcomes, including anxiety, depression, and other elements of mental health. The bottom line is that CBT, either delivered traditionally or using new technologies, should be an effective tool for increasing preventive care outcomes.
Primary Content
Overview of Project
Based on the literature provided above, this project seeks to aid in the implementation of preventative care methods. The project can be labeled as a guideline for holistic preventative care, a tool that allows health professionals to select and apply the right method to specific case scenarios. From a project management perspective, the project will be implemented in four stages: initiating, planning, execution, monitoring, and monitoring/controlling.
Project Initiation
The initiation phase comprises a project charter and a stakeholder register. The business case for the proposed tool is presented in the problem statement section (Brown, 2021). The scope includes handling major health issues, including cancer, mental, diabetes, and transmittable infections. The deliverables for the project are a fully functional program with the relevant supporting technologies and a practice guide for practitioners. Funds will need to be invested in clinical decision support systems. It can be estimated that the project can be accomplished in less than a year.
Planning
Planning for the project requires the development of a project management plan. In this case, the plan is to create a comprehensive guide for practitioners, which will be accomplished in stages (Brown, 2021). First, all professionals are trained on the mechanisms of the tool, including how data is gathered and utilized. Second, a supporting IT infrastructure is implemented, for which further training is required. Third, a pilot test for all key features is conducted. Lastly, the project is launched, and its use commences. At this stage, it is expected that any transferable data from other health records will be transferred and used accordingly.
Execution Phase
The project plan is put into action as outlined above. However, the execution phase will require the team to conduct other activities, including stakeholder management and team development (Brown, 2021). As a novel project, the healthcare facilities are required to be informed and educated in all stages of implementation to help the members acquaint themselves with the program and its functionality. Quality assurance tests are also conducted continuously, and corrective actions are taken.
Control/Monitoring
This phase focuses on monitoring the progress of the entire project and correcting any deviations from the project scope, goals, and objectives. Project management exhibits uncertainties that cannot be fully captured during the planning phase (Brown, 2021). It means that keeping a close eye on the project is the right approach to keep the project on track. All milestones have to be accomplished within the set time. Additionally, the budget constraints are to be observed, which explains why control and monitoring are critical necessities in project implementation.
Industry Response
The healthcare industry will be positively influenced by this project in that it will find a more effective tool for pursuing the goals of preventative care. Today, scholars and practitioners agree that preventative can help reduce the costs of care and emergency visits to hospitals if proper preventative measures are implemented. The best-case example used in this paper is the innovation hub established by John McAslan + Partners in the UK, where primary visits were also used as an opportunity to vaccinate patients (HHM Global, n.d.). However, each facility has different practices and approaches, some of which have not been evaluated in terms of their efficacy. Therefore, this project can be conceptualized as an effort to standardize preventive care practice across all healthcare facilities. The primary assumption is that all facilities and stakeholders in the industry are keen to pursue preventative care. Most importantly, the policymakers in these organizations are perceived to be willing to incorporate well-researched solutions to a real-life healthcare issue.
In terms of response, it can be expected that initial skepticism will be felt until the practitioners are sure of the effectiveness of the proposed tool. The project threatens to cause a major organizational change, which means that resistance to change is a real possibility and a threat to the successful completion of the project. Additionally, the tool has not undergone clinical trials, which means that it might get opposition even from the regulators and legislative bodies in the country. However, the proposed project offers a pathway for clinical pilot testing, which will attract the attention of scholars hoping to examine its feasibility. This is one of the best results that can be hoped for since successful trials often result in acceptability and clinical applications. It is important to acknowledge that modern facilities have had experiences with new technologies and that new technologies no longer face the same level of resistance as they did in the past.
Conclusion
This project has addressed the problem of finding methods for increasing preventative care measures. With the evidence gathered from the COVID-19 pandemic, the perceived problem involves the inability of the healthcare systems to prevent pandemics and outbreaks from devastating the wellbeing of the populations. The literature review has revealed several methods that have been studied or implemented, including CBT, primary care visits, and clinical decision support systems. With these methods, the project has recommended the implementation of a comprehensive program that captures the methods into a single system accompanied by the appropriate practitioner guidelines that help select the best method for specific scenarios.
References
AHRQ. (2018). Achieving health equity in preventative services: Systematic evidence review. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Web.
Bakker, D., Kazantzis, N., & Rickwood, D. (2018). Development and pilot evaluation of smartphone-delivered cognitive behavior therapy strategies for mood- anxiety-related problems: MoodMission.Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 25(4), 496-514. Web.
Bowen, M., Bhat, D., Fish, J., Moran, B., Howell-Stampley, T., Kirk, L., Persel, D., & Halm, E. (2017). Improving performance on preventive health quality measures using clinical decision support to capture care done elsewhere and patient exceptions.American Journal of Medical Quality, 33(3), 23-245. Web.
Brown, L. (2021). The project management lifecycle, and its 5 phases. Invensis. Web.
Health Business. (2019). Premium urged on preventative care budgets. Web.
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Ngwewondo, A., Nkengazong, L., Ambe, L., Ebogo, J., Mba, F., Goni, H., Nyunai, N., Ngonde, M, & Oyono, J. (2020). Knowledge, attitudes, practices of/towards COVID 19 preventive measures and symptoms: A cross-sectional study during the exponential rise of the outbreak in Cameroon. PLoS One: Neglected Tropical Diseases, 14(9), 1-15. Web.
Sabety, A., Jena, A., & Barnett, M. (2021). Changes in healthcare use and outcomes after turn in primary care. JAMA Internal Medicine, 181(2), 186-194. Web.
Suganuma, S., Sakamoto, D., & Shimoyama, H. (2018). An embodied conversational agent for unguided internet-based cognitive behavior therapy in preventative mental health: Feasibility and acceptability pilot trial.JMIR Mental Health, 5(3). Web.