Black Board Blog Post

Question: Discuss about the Black Board Blog Post. Answer: Introduction: My name is (XXXXXXXXXXX). I am (xxx)-year old student who has a passion for nursing. My love for the nursing profession began during my time as an elementary student when I was admiring my family friend who was a renowned nurse in my neighborhood. I was so happy to associate with him because of the way he was helping sick people in my estate. This is why I was motivated to be a reputable nurse when I grow up (Klopper Hill, 2015). So, to achieve my goal, I have had to dedicate my time to work so hard to pass my examinations with flying colors. I have therefore decided to take this course because it is very much relevant to me. It will provide me with a lot of information regarding epidemiology and general public health. As a nurse, I believe that I should have adequate knowledge on epidemiology because it will prepare me to be a competent professional (Klopper Hill, 2015). Clinical governance is necessary for public health workers because it deals with a lot of issues touching on disease surveillance, prediction, prevention and control. These are important facts that I should always be privy with because they can prepare me to be a competent professional who can be relied upon by the community. Clinical Governance According to the World Health Organization (WHO), surveillance, also known as epidemiological/syndromic/clinical surveillance, simply refers to an organized and continuous analysis, gathering and interpretation of health data. The data collected during surveillance touches on important aspects of public health such as the prevalence, productivity loss, preventability, mortality rate, severity, costs, and premature mortality of the diseases (Wolicki, Nuzzo, Blazes, Pitts, Iskander Tappero, 2016). Surveillance is therefore carried out because it is a very important activity that can greatly impact on health care. Surveillance has a lot of benefits to the health care system. First, it can help in the collection of data to be used in the detection of disease outbreaks in the community. For a very long time, the society has been suffering as a result of disease outbreaks such as anthrax, HIV and SARS, and influenza (Collier, Oxford Kellam, 2016). Such pandemics, when they occur, cause a lot of challenges to the government. Therefore, by relying on the data from surveillance, the health care providers can get adequate information that can help in understanding the pattern of such diseases and predict it before it actually occurs (Birkhead, Klompas Shah, 2015). This can be a good step in the preparation process because such outbreaks pose a great threat to the health system if no stern measures are taken in time. Apart from helping in predicting the pattern of disease outbreaks, surveillance can also act as an early warning to the public health system. By keenly and continuously monitoring the situation, epidemiologists can generate data that can help in informing health care workers on any dangers that might be experienced in the system (Vayena, Salath, Madoff Brownstein, 2015). The issuance of early warning can be a major milestone in the eradication of diseases because it serves in availing crucial information to be relied upon by the concerned. This can help in reducing the magnitude of dangers that might be faced as a result of the disease. Last, but not least, surveillance can help in planning, monitoring and implementation of health goals. By availing reliable, updated and adequate data on the prevalence of diseases, epidemiologists can empower the public policy-makers to understand the real situation and prioritize the measures to take to address the challenge (Birkhead, Klompas Shah, 2015). Hence, the policy-makers can come up with strategies and programs that if properly implemented, can help in a proper allocation and utilization of available for the sake of the general public. In conclusion, surveillance is a very important activity that should be taken so seriously. It can help in providing useful data that can be relied upon to predict disease patterns, understand the level of threat posed by the disease as well as enabling the policy-makers to come up with appropriate and responsive measures. Without crucial data on diseases, the policy-makers can not be in a position of understanding the actual problem and come up with informed policies, prioritize the needs and properly use available resources to benefit the public (Birkhead, Klompas Shah, 2015). However, to do so, the government should avail and adequately support well-trained epidemiologists. References Birkhead, G. S., Klompas, M., Shah, N. R. (2015). Uses of electronic health records for public health surveillance to advance public health. Annual review of public health, 36, 345-359. Birkhead, G. S., Klompas, M. D., Shah, N. R. (2015). Public health surveillance using electronic health records: rising potential to advance public health. Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research, 4(5), 25-32. Collier, L., Oxford, J., Kellam, P. (2016). Human virology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Klopper, H. C., Hill, M. (2015). Global advisory panel on the future of nursing (GAPFON) and global health. Journal of nursing scholarship, 47(1), 3-4. Vayena, E., Salath, M., Madoff, L. C., Brownstein, J. S. (2015). Ethical challenges of big data in public health. PLoS Comput Biol, 11(2), e1003904. Wolicki, S. B., Nuzzo, J. B., Blazes, D. L., Pitts, D. L., Iskander, J. K., Tappero, J. W. (2016). Public Health Surveillance: At the Core of the Global Health Security Agenda. Health security, 14(3), 185-188.