Health Promotion Paper
TOPIC CHOSEN IS: Urinary Tract Infection. Reduce the rate of hospital
admissions for urinary tract infections among older adults — OA‑07
• FIVE PAGE PAPER
• APA FORMAT
. UPLOADED FOR YOU IS THE INSTRUCTION OF THE PAPER
• NO PLAGIARISM
• 5 REFERENCE ( 3 ARE PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES FROM THE LAST FIVE YEARS,
EXCEPT FOR A LANDMARK STUDY, AND THE OTHER 2 ARE FROM THE HEALTHY PEOPLE
2030 LINK https://health.gov/healthypeople WHICH I GOT MY TOPIC FROM
AND THE OTHER IS FROM THE LINK https://www.prevention.va.gov
Urinary Tract Infection. Reduce the rate of hospital admissions for urinary tract infections among older adults — OA‑07
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a critical health care concern due to the high prevalence rate, especially among older adults in home-based and institutionalized settings, such as nursing homes. It is the second most common kind of infection, after respiratory infections, among the population members, and causes severe cases requiring hospital treatment. Furthermore, a lack of timely treatment could cause kidney failure and even death. Therefore, health promotion and awareness creation among older adults regarding the management of problems that affect the bladder is necessary to reduce UTIs’ morbidity and mortality. For example, they should increase water intake to prevent infections and seek timely treatment to prevent progression and severe cases that might require hospitalization. Although numerous interventions and resources are necessary at the state level to achieve the national objective of reducing hospital admissions rate for urinary tract infections among older adults, those targeted toward prevention and timely treatment is the most effective.
Section 1: Health Topic
The project focuses on current attempts to reduce hospital admissions rates for urinary tract infections among older adults. Therefore, a working definition of urinary tract infection is critical. Urinary tract infections are bacterial infections of the urinary system (McLellan & Hunstad, 2016). According to Cortes-Penfield, Trautner, and Jump (2017), UTIs cause an approximately one million emergency room visits, seven million office visits, and hospitalizations yearly. Older adults comprise 25% of the numbers of total numbers of ER visits, office visits, and hospitalizations. For the study, older adults are individuals aged 65 years and above. Urinary tract infections are common among the population due to the diminishing health status and their increased vulnerability to disease. Disease progression is also a fact since their bodies no longer fight infections optimally. Besides, the burden of disease increases as older adults continue to age, creating the need for effective interventions to prevent and manage the infections effectively. Besides, the older adult population is the leading consumer of health care resources due to numerous medical challenges related to age and the increasing frailty of their bodies. The objective of reducing the rate of hospital admissions for urinary tract infections among older adults will reduce the disease burden and the cost of treating older adults with urinary tract infections in Minnesota.
Section 2: National and State Goals
Health People 2030 provides goals and objectives in preventing and reducing the rate of various diseases in the United States to improve public health. The overarching objective in the Health People 2030 initiative is to “reduce the rate of hospital admissions for urinary tract infections among older adults” (Health People 2030, 2020). At the national level, the initiative sets a baseline of 551.3, which is the number of “hospital admissions for urinary tract infections per 100,000 adults aged 65 years and over occurred in 2016” (Health People 2030, 2020). The objective’s target is 496.2 hospital admissions per 100,000 individuals, which is a percent improvement from the baseline. Therefore, any program’s goal is to reduce the number of hospital admissions for urinary tract infections targets to go below the baseline. Education and health promotion are effective interventions to reduce hospital admissions rates for urinary tract infections among older adults (National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, 2020). The national efforts to achieve the objective are replicated at the state level to ensure fewer old adults are hospitalized for urinary tract infections.
Through the Department of Health, Minnesota implements efforts to reduce the rate of preventable diseases, including urinary tract infections. Patient and caregiver education are among the ways the state seeks to achieve the national goal of reducing urinary tract infections in old adults. For example, the state has been using the Loeb, McGeer, APIC-HICPAC criteria to educate and create awareness among patients about the signs and symptoms of urinary tract infection for timely treatment and intervention. Furthermore, the state’s health promotion program includes the best practice to prevent the infection of the urinary tract, such as the consumption of adequate water and the cranberry juice. The state has reached out to many old adults in nursing homes and home-based care through caregivers to create awareness and deliver useful information, aiming to reduce the number of hospitalized individuals per year.
Section 3: Assessment of Resources
Adequate resources are necessary to support education and health promotion efforts in Minnesota to reduce urinary tract infection hospitalizations among older adults. The area of Minnesota has the necessary resources to help patients with or at the risk of urinary tract infections to access timely interventions and reduce hospitalization chances. The state has nurses and epidemiologists, including home care experts, who provide timely identification of the disease to provide timely treatment and reduce admission risk. Home care nurses are encouraged to report signs or symptoms of urinary tract infections to infection control epidemiologists or nurses for timely treatment in the state. Besides the human resources, the Department of Health provides finances for health promotion programs to address urinary tract infections among old adults.
Support is evident at the state level to reduce hospitalization for urinary tract infections in older adults. Research supports the efficacy of preventive mechanisms to avoid the infection; hence, hospitalization (McLellan & Hunstad, 2016). Apart from prevention, another intervention to reduce the rate of hospitalization for urinary tract infections is timely treatment. According to Nelson and Flynn (2015), when nurses taking care of older adults to identify the signs and symptoms of infections early, they increase the chances of successful treatment and avoid hospitalization. Furthermore, Zeigheimat, Ebadi, Rahmati-Najarkolaei, and Ghadamgahi (2016) support the claim that education for home care and nursing home nurses is an effective intervention in reducing hospitalizations for urinary tract infections in older adults. Health care providers can integrate interventions to achieve the national objective of reducing the rate of hospital admissions for urinary tract infections among older adults.
Resources available in Minnesota to reduce hospital admissions rate for urinary tract infections among older adults are adequate since they are targeted to effective interventions, including education and health promotion to prevent infection, and timely treatment to avoid hospital admissions. The state Department of Health has focused sufficient human and material resources, including finances, to improve education and awareness creation among older adults and caregivers regarding the importance of preventive and curative efforts to reduce the number of hospital admissions from urinary tract infections. However, the current resources are mostly targeted to patients in nursing and other institutionalized settings. The state government should put more effort into educating all older adults and their caregivers, some who are family members rather than home care nurses.
Additional resources are necessary to improve education and health promotion in the state, targeted towards reducing hospital admissions for urinary tract infections among older adults. The state should provide additional educational materials for home-based care settings, including helping older adults receive care from non-professionals. Another necessary resource is additional testing kits for urinary tract infection given to all nurses caring for older adults to test and provide timely treatment for those diagnosed with the infection. Such resources will help the state achieve the national objective and reduce hospital admissions costs for older adults suffering from urinary tract infections.
Section 4: Summary
The information available in the Healthy people 2030 website and the National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention website is critical to help me in caring for my patients, especially older adults. I discovered the need for intervention in two ways, preventing and timely treatment. Health promotion and education to patients and their caregivers will reduce the rate of infection and hospital admissions in the patient population. The information will improve my relationship with patients since I will need to gain their trust and confidence to educate them about preventing urinary tract infections. The knowledge is critical since older adults are among the most vulnerable patient populations that require attention to avoid preventable diseases, such as urinary tract infections, the disease’s burden, and related cost of treatment. The information will improve my capacity to develop and implement health promotion programs to reach out to older adults with or at the risk of getting urinary tract infections. I will also work with nurses and other health care providers to reduce the rate of infection and hospitalization.
References
Cortes-Penfield, N. W., Trautner, B. W., & Jump, R. L. (2017). Urinary tract infection and asymptomatic bacteriuria in older adults. Infectious Disease Clinics, 31(4), 673-688. doi:10.1016/j.idc.2017.07.002
Health People 2030 (2020). Retrieved from https://health.gov/healthypeople
McLellan, L. K., & Hunstad, D. A. (2016). Urinary tract infection: pathogenesis and outlook. Trends in Molecular Medicine, 22(11), 946-957. doi:10.1016/j.molmed.2016.09.003
National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (2020). Retrieved from https://www.prevention.va.gov/
Nelson, S. T., & Flynn, L. (2015). Relationship between missed care and urinary tract infections in nursing homes. Geriatric Nursing, 36(2), 126-130. doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2014.12.009.
Zeigheimat, F., Ebadi, A., Rahmati-Najarkolaei, F., & Ghadamgahi, F. (2016). An investigation into the effect of health belief model-based education on healthcare behaviors of nursing staff in controlling nosocomial infections. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 5, 23-29. doi:10.4103/2277-9531.184549
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