Population Education Intervention in Improving Care Quality, Enhancing Patient Safety and Reducing Costs to the System and Individuals

The proposed intervention, population education, will considerably improve the quality of cancer care, enhance patient safety, and reduce costs to the system and the individuals. The intervention will provide the care providers dealing with cancer care with best practice guidelines related to new cancer technology modalities, leadership strategies, effective communication, and care coordination. Coccia (2020) notes that healthcare technology modalities enhance oncology care quality and patient safety. Therefore, the team will work together towards improving the quality of oncology care offered to the African American population. In addition, there are different patient safety issues related to cancer. These issues include medication errors, chemotherapy handling, administration, side effects, and adverse drug reactions, to mention but a few. Since the educational program will educate cancer patients and care providers on the management best practices, they will be able to prevent cancer-related patient safety issues, thus enhancing the overall patient safety in the population.

Cancer is associated with high costs to the healthcare system and the affected individuals. Alcaraz et al. (2020) note that the cancer burden is disproportionate among different populations, such as the African American population, and the related costs. The proposed intervention will encourage African Americans to take the necessary measures to prevent cancer and go for screenings, thus reducing costs related to cancer progression. In addition, costs on the system will be reduced following the use of healthcare technologies to increase care efficiency and reduce cancer cases.

Application of Technology, Care Coordination, and Community Resources in Addressing Cancer Among African Americans

According to Coccia (2020), technology has been one of the factors in improving cancer care and reducing the cancer burden across health populations. Healthcare technological modalities such as artificial intelligence, robotic surgeries and imaging technology can address the cancer issue by improving screening and diagnostics, and enhancing treatment and management of different cancer types, thus helping reduce cancer cases and improving management and patient care outcomes.

As mentioned earlier, cancer care requires the interplay of different healthcare providers to enhance outcomes. The cancer care team may include oncologists, nurses, radiologists, physicians, nutritionists, community health workers and social workers. Through care coordination, the team can effectively share information regarding patient care, thus improving care by reducing duplication of services and improving treatment plans. Addressing cancer among African Americans, therefore, requires effective care coordination.

Furthermore, community resources are instrumental in addressing cancer. Community resources in the population’s community, such as wellness centers, cancer support groups, cancer survivors organizations, and other cancer programs, can support cancer patients in appropriate cancer management (Kadambi et al., 2020). Additionally, community resources can run screening and awareness creation programs, thus reducing disease progression by early detection. They also refer cancer patients to the necessary healthcare service providers as needed.

Conclusion

The proposed intervention for addressing cancer in the African American community involves a population-focused educational intervention. Distinct populations experience the impact of the disease in varying ways. Consequently, it is crucial to examine the issue from a population-wide perspective and formulate solutions or interventions that cater to the specific attributes of the population. The proposed intervention mentioned earlier was created with careful consideration of leadership, care coordination, communication, and change management strategies. The formulation of the intervention was also influenced by nursing practice guidelines and governmental regulations, as analyzed above.

References


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