Aiding Public Health and Evidence-Based Practice

Aiding Public Health and Evidence-Based Practice

Recent global public health events have pushed healthcare systems towards integrating and using informatics to support evidence-based practice in public health.

Public Health Concern Related to Health Promotion or Disease Prevention

A recent public health concern related to health promotion and disease prevention is COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in major public health challenges, including the unavailability of safe and effective vaccines during the initial outbreak, a substance use crisis, a mental health crisis, and exacerbating the nursing shortage (Lopez et al., 2021). The pandemic also increased the work burden on the current healthcare workforce and caused delays and avoidance of medical care (Czeisler et al., 2020).

Using Informatics to Locate Evidence and Evaluate the Public Health Concern

Informatics can help locate and evaluate the COVID-19 pandemic. Informatics makes use of information technology to collect, organize, retrieve, and analyze health records to support and help health systems improve health outcomes (Hassan, 2019). Using health information systems such as EHRs can improve the collection, storage, sharing, and access of patient data and other surveillance data on COVID-19. If I were to research this topic, informatics through data analytics would be used to empirically determine infection patterns, at-risk populations, and the most affected regions.

Informatics for Improved Outcomes or Disease Prevention

Informatics can improve COVID-19 patient outcomes by facilitating the sharing of health data and information on the disease to support vaccine and medicines research. It can also support patient education, health promotion, remote individual self-care, and prevention of new infections. The ready data on infection patterns and risk factors can also support the implementation of preventative measures, early detection, and early care interventions. In conclusion, informatics can support evidence-based approaches towards managing and preventing recent public health concerns such as COVID-19.

References

Czeisler, M. É., Marynak, K., Clarke, K. E. N., Salah, Z., Shakya, I., Thierry, J. M., Ali, N., McMillan, H., Wiley, J. F., Weaver, M. D., Czeisler, C. A., Rajaratnam, S. M. W., & Howard, M. E. (2020). Delay or avoidance of medical care because of COVID-19-related concerns — United States, June 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(36), 1250. https://doi.org/10.15585/MMWR.MM6936A4

Hassan, G. A. (2019). Health care informatics. International Journal of Internet Education, 18(1), 39–43. https://doi.org/10.21608/IJIE.2019.98636

Lopez, V., Anderson, J., West, S., & Cleary, M. (2021). Does the COVID-19 pandemic further impact nursing shortages? Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 43(3), 293–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2021.1977875

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In this writing assignment, you will write a one- to two-page paper in which you describe how informatics is used in public health. In addition, you will explain how informatics relates to evidence-based practice.

Step 1 Identify a recent public health concern related to health promotion or disease prevention.

Determine how informatics can be used to identify this concern, provide evidence-based care, and evaluate this public health concern.

Step 2 Analyze the public health concern. Include responses to the following questions as you write your paper:

Describe the recent public health concern.
How could informatics be used to locate evidence related to this health concern?
If you chose to research this topic of interest, how could informatics assist you?
How could informatics be used to improve patient outcomes or even prevent the public health concern you identified?
Cite any sources in APA format.