Selected Population
The selected population for this report is college students aged between 19 and 24 years. The chosen students are from diverse cultural backgrounds and gender. From a socioeconomic perspective, the selected population consists of students, who have not graduated into the job market as of yet.
Regarding their health care needs, the need selected revolves around a lack of awareness on sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Some of the common STIs affecting college students include herpes, chlamydia, and HIV/AID, and gonorrhea. The university managements often consider this as a serious health challenge that they ought to deal with taking into account the rate of transmission among students engaging in unsafe sexual behaviours (Pfeiffer, McGregor, Van Der Pol, Hansen, & Ott, 2016). The main issue of concern has been on the fact that there exists a gap in the education of college students on safe sexual behaviours and how this would be of value towards reducing their exposure to STIs.
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Porter, Cooper, Henry, Gallo, & Graefe (2019) indicate that the number of college students that are diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is on a steady increase with the main causation factor being a lack of awareness among the students. That reflects on a significant health need that ought to be considered as part of the structured approach through which to ensure that the students' health is improved. Additionally, the consideration of this health need will also help in reducing the rates of exposure, which is one of the critical health challenges among college students today. From that view, what is clear is that the adoption of a health strategy ought to focus on creating awareness as one of the ways through which to reduce exposure of college students to STIs as a result of unsafe sexual behaviours.
Telehealth
The adoption of telemedicine as one of the strategic approaches to dealing with STIs among college students is considered as being practical, as it will focus on both clinical care and provider education. From a clinical care perspective, college students will be accorded safe and confidential care services that would match their expected needs concerning dealing with the health challenges associated with STIs. Ingram, Macauda, Lauckner, & Robillard (2019) indicate that a significant number of college students suffering from STIs opt not to seek intervention attributed to the risk of being stigmatized; thus, exposing the other students to severe risks of infection. It is from this perspective that the value and importance of telehealth are recognized taking into account that it becomes much easier for the students to use technology as a tool allowing them to access quality and confidential care services.
On the other hand, the adoption of telehealth would also be quantified as being a practical approach to meeting the health needs of college students with STIs, and it creates a platform through which to promote education on reproductive health. Through the use of technology, it becomes much easier to educate the students on how they would be able to protect themselves from risks of STIs by encouraging safe sexual behaviours. That means that the adoption of telehealth would be seen as a fundamental approach through which to ensure that awareness is created among college students with the sole intention being towards minimizing their risks of infection. For those that have been affected by the STIs, the education offered through telehealth would serve as one of the ways through which to maximize on their need for having to seek quality health care services.
PICO
Population : College-going students between 19 and 24 in a specific university
Intervention : Use of public advertisement to help in creating awareness on STIs among the students. The students will be separated into two groups with one being exposed to generic ads on STIs with the other not exposed to the same ad as a way of determining their perception concerning the impacts associated with exposure to these infections.
Comparison : Lack of an awareness campaign focused on education on STIs. By comparing the responses that the two groups of students had concerning the public attacks, it becomes much more comfortable in trying to determine the effectiveness of the awareness created.
Outcome : Improved engagement in safe sexual behaviours as a way of reducing the possibility of exposure to risks associated with STIs.
Plan of Care
The plan of care would involve having to create a safe environment where students can be tested and treated if they are diagnosed with STIs, without any form of discrimination. The safe environment created must be student-friendly in the sense that it must be appealing to the students while seeking to ensure that they understand the health implications of not having to seek treatment for STIs. After the students have been tested and treated, they are then taken through a training program on how they would help minimize their exposure to STIs in the future. The training program will seek to engage in a discussion on safe sexual behaviours, which include the use of condoms as a way of ensuring that the spread of STIs is minimized, as well as, improving the health outcomes of the students.
References
Ingram, L. A., Macauda, M., Lauckner, C., & Robillard, A. (2019). Sexual behaviours, mobile technology use, and sexting among college students in the American South. American journal of health promotion , 33 (1), 87-96.
Pfeiffer, E. J., McGregor, K. A., Van Der Pol, B., Hansen, C. H., & Ott, M. A. (2016). Willingness to disclose STI status to sex partners among college-age men in the United States. Sexually transmitted diseases , 43 (3), 204.
Porter, A., Cooper, S., Henry, M., Gallo, J., & Graefe, B. (2019). The nature of peer sexual health communication among college students enrolled in a human sexuality course. American Journal of Sexuality Education , 14 (2), 139-151.
