Public Health: What It Is and How It Works, 2nd Edition
CHAPTER 8: FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH IN AMERICA
After completing this part of the textbook, learners will be able to:
identify at least 3 major challenges facing public health in the 21st century
cite at least 5 obstacles or barriers likely to impede future public health efforts
consider these challenges and barriers in terms of their impact on the inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes of the public health system
Read Chapter 8 of Public Health: What It Is and How It Works, 2nd edition.
Review each group's Public Health Practice Exercise 2 assignment. Identify the one that you feel is most effectively presented and why. Submit your response and review the reactions from other learners.
After you have completed this chapter, begin the final individual assignment for learners described below. Several of the Internet sites you visited in previous modules may be useful for this final individual assignment.
After completing this chapter, take the self-assessment quiz for Chapter 8.
Individual Final Assignment and Additional Individual Exercises
The Final Assignment will take the form of a "letter to the editor" in which you indicate how your state should spend the funds it will receive from the tobacco settlement that 46 states entered into with the tobacco industry. Each learner will write from the perspective of the newly elected President of their state's public health association. Your letter should identify your underlying principles for use of these funds as well as the general type of activities that should be supported. Your rationale should also be included. This assignment will be strictly limited to 400 words or less. Your letter to the editor will be evaluated based on two basic criteria; (1) how well it uses and integrates the major concepts of the course and (2) how effectively it communicates your message. An article from the Chicago Tribune ("States Poised to Inhale Tobacco's Windfall') generally describes approaches taken by various states. Search various sites for information on the tobacco settlement such as the State Tobacco Information Center or legislative proposals under consideration by the Illinois General Assembly such as House Bill 2924.
Optional/additional individual exercises for Chapter 8 are provided below. Each learner will submit a brief response (approximately 100 words) to each of the following discussion questions and exercises.
What was the most important achievement of public health in the 20th century? Why? What will be the most important achievement of public health in the 21st century? Why? Review Exhibit 8-1. To what extent has fluoridated water affected oral health in the U.S.? To what extent has it affected oral health care resources, such as dentists and other health personnel, hospitals, ambulatory care facilities, and overall health care costs? If randomized clinical trials are considered the gold standard of research, why is there not more emphasis on this approach in assessing community-based interventions? Using a scale from 1 to 10, how effective is the public health system in the U.S.? How did you arrive at this rating? Do you agree with the IOM assertion that public health is in disarray, or with the counter-assertion that it is government, not public health, that is in disarray? What impact did The Future of Public Health have on the public health community during the 1990s? How do current community-driven health planning models differ from resource-based planning models of the past? What do you think are the most important new or expanded roles for public health in the 21st century?
This is a compendium of additional resources and web links to selected sources cited in the readings. Also included are selected materials that have become available since the publication date of the text. All links to case studies, web sites, and other documents can also be found on the "Additional Resources" site.
Durch JS, Bailey LA, Soto MA (eds). Improving Health in the Community; A Role for Performance Monitoring. National Academy Press; Washington Dc; 1997. (Executive Summary)
A brief self-assessment quiz is available by clicking on Quiz 8.
©
2000 Aspen Publishers, Inc. (All Rights Reserved)
Contact the Webmaster at
webmaster@aspenpubl.com