WK-2 Assignment: Health Policy Formulation and Analysis

Health Policy Formulation and Analysis
Name
Grand Canyon University: HLT-314V
November 20, 2016
Health Policy Formulation and Analysis
According to WHO (2016), a health policy refers to resolutions, strategies, and activities that are carried out to accomplish specified health care goals in a society. A well-developed heath policy clearly states a vision, which is a point of reference and acts as a guide for the goals to be achieved. It also indicates the roles that different teams are expected to play in addition to informing people. This paper uses seven steps in developing a health policy that shows the need to change techniques used in diagnosing the probability of aspiration pneumonia in ischemic stroke patients.
Problem Definition
Many ischemic stroke patients have difficulty in swallowing because they suffer a neurological injury (Armstrong & Mosher, 2011). Swallowing difficulty results to blocked wind pipe, malnourishment and aspiration pneumonia which are life threating to patients. It is, therefore, important to diagnose this problem as early as possible so that the necessary treatment can be administered to save lives. Caregivers perform simple screening techniques like assessing chest vibrations, observing coughing after water swallow tests and laryngeal cough impulse tartaric acid inhalation. These cursory screening techniques are good because they are natural and simple to administer but the major setback is that they are not consistent in noticing inaudible sounds, and the diagnosis may be done when the damage has already been done.
Evidence of the Problem
Many lives can be saved if the difficult in swallowing in ischemic stroke patients is detected early especially in the United States where in every 40 seconds somebody suffers a stroke and about 87% of these people suffer an ischemic stroke (ASA, 2016). In 2008, it was estimated that there were approximately 5.8 million stroke survivors. As these patients are recovering their morbidity and mortality increases because of chest infections. Chest infections such as aspiration pneumonia result from impaired swallowing system which Armstrong & Mosher (2011) claim contributes the highest to the mortality rate of ischematic stroke survivors.
Alternative Solution to the Problem
For these statistics to drop, it is good for health care providers to adopt methods that reduce the risk of aspiration pneumonia. The best alternative technique to cursory screening procedure is videofluoroscopic swallow assessment. This technique is more effective in detecting swallowing difficulties in stroke patients because it enables the caregivers to observe the whole process of swallowing thus slight physical and functional disorders from the mouth to the throat can be detected. In addition, once treatment has begun care givers can also be able to monitors how patients are responding (Scheeren, Maciel, & De Barros, 2014). This technique works by giving patients barium sulfate to swallow so that the parts, which it coats, can be visible in X-ray images. Barium sulfate is radio-opaque and safe to ingest which is the reason it is recommended for this procedure. The images recorded are analyzed to determine whether all organs are responding the way ...