What are the strengths of your ePortfolio?
Having reviewed the ePortfolio of my classmates, I am reminded of how diverse our Master of Health Studies student population is, and I am intrigued by the key elements each of us have selected to promote about ourselves, our learnings and our positionality. Scrolling through my website, I believe an inherent strength within it is how I have communicated who I am and why I want to be healthcare leader. I work to provide for my family, and I want our healthcare system, at both the provincial and federal level, to be there for them when they require support.
What determinant of health framework stands out for you?
The health promotion model that stands out for me, and one that I intend to use to for my chosen health problem, is the Population Health Promotion Model (Government of Canada, 2001). At it’s core it very straightforward and identifies three critical questions that are required be asked to guide actions to improve health (Government of Canada, 2001):
1. On WHAT should we take action?
2. HOW should we take action?
3. WITH WHOM should we act?
I value this model as the answers to these three simple questions allows users to readily identify which of the health determinants require focus, which action strategy defined in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion will be used, and what societal level of intervention will the actions be taken with (Government of Canada, 2001). To effectively implement any health promotion intervention, one must clearly define what they are going to do, how they are going to do it and with whom they are going to act.
What do you hope to learn in 632?
Continuing my health promotion educational journey into 632, I am looking forward to learning approaches to complete an adequate situational assessment to demonstrate that there is truly a problem that needs to be addressed and why it is important to the those that will benefit from the related action strategy. Our healthcare system does not have unlimited resources. As such, I want to make sure that any support my organization provides to improve a particular service or process, will indeed achieve the desired outcome without any unintended consequences. As such, improving my ability to complete a situational analysis will an important resource in my healthcare leader toolbox.
What is a burning question you hope to explore in 632?
As I reviewed the key learning topics of 632, I am excited to dive into the do’s and don’ts of situational assessments. The burning question I am looking forward to exploring is why many provincial healthcare spending decisions appear to lack focus on what is needed and what capacities, strengths and resources are already available to respond to the identified issue / problem.
The problem I am focusing on is improving wait-times for computed tomography (CT) scans in Ontario, a topic our provincial government has identified as a priority. Instead of maximizing the use of existing CT scanners and staff already in place across the province, through increased hourly funding to match service abilities, there is a call out for applications of new independent healthcare facilities to receive hourly funding for new CT services. I believe this approach will weaken our existing capacity as staff for these new facilities will inevitably be drawn out hospitals, leading to additional health human resource challenges and operational instability. Was a thorough situational assessment completed to support this spending by Ontario Health before this initiative was approved?
References
Government of Canada. (2001, December 8). Population health promotion: an integrated model of population health and health promotion. Population Health. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/population-health/population-health-promotion-integrated-model-population-health-health-promotion/developing-population-health-promotion-model.html#shr-pg0
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