Primary health care adds to primary care
principle beyond medical care such as social and political principles (Stange et al., 2014). This essay is a reflection on the activities of week 4 that aid me
develop a deeper understanding of Primary Heath Care (PHC).
The main goal of PHC is to provide better
healthcare for everyone (Stange et al., 2014). Previously, I was unaware that PHC was a term that holds a great
importance in health. However, the activities of week 4 helped me understand
that PHC is a group of elements that serve the main goal of delivering health
to everyone. First, PHC aims to minimise exclusion and social disparities in
health which shows the link between PHC and social determinants of health (Stange et al., 2014). In addition, PHC aims to organise health services so it responds
to people need and expectations and levelling for establishing health equity (Stange et al., 2014). In week 3, we learned about how social determinants have a
significant impact on health, thus health inequity, targeted by PHC, would
severely affect population health (Scott et al., 2015). For example, early life is one of the social determinants that can
affect health. Thus, if PHC did not target prenatal and postnatal follow-ups,
population health will be compromised. Moreover, in my opinion the most two
significant skills a nurse should have in PHC are communication and cultural
competency. Communication and cultural competency are two skills that will
allow the heath professional to connect with all patients in the community. Merlin
Mathew and Ramsha Fatima Memon share my opinion about the importance of
understanding patients in PHC.
Primary healthcare is necessary in order to
maintain health equity and provide better healthcare and meet the health need
of everyone in the population.
SCOTT, E. D., GIL, K., KING, B. C. &
PIATT, E. 2015. Clinical Outcomes in a Primary Care Practice Within a Center
for Health Equity. Journal of primary
care & community health, 6,
239-242.
STANGE,
K. C., ETZ, R. S., GULLETT, H., SWEENEY, S. A., MILLER, W. L., JAÉN, C. R.,
CRABTREE, B. F., NUTTING, P. A. & GLASGOW, R. E. 2014. Metrics for
assessing improvements in primary health care. Annual review of public health, 35, 423-442.