The public health infrastructure has several different components. The main components of the public health infrastructure are effective and robust. They are:
Coordinated and capable agencies in the public health sector
A public health workforce that is well qualified
Information systems and data that are modern (Baum, 2016)
Public health agencies play a crucial role in public health infrastructure. The health departments that are locally placed are situated in the front line and must deliver essential public healthcare services. Therefore, the success of the public health agencies requires a great deal of focus towards coordination with other state healthcare departments and other public federal healthcare agencies. Some of these agencies are the (NIH) National Institutes of Health and (CDC) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These public health agencies have helped in the control of various infectious diseases due to the provision of improved sanitation, clean water, among other services ( Baum, 2016). Most of the infectious diseases have caused great deaths in many populations, but due to the control capabilities of these agencies, they have managed to control most of the diseases. Most of these public health services provided by the agencies are meant to assist as many individuals in the society as possible, and thus, the members in the community have enjoyed many of these services in low cost to free healthcare.
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The public health infrastructure also requires a diverse network which contains healthcare professionals that are adequately trained. From the nurses and doctors to the healthcare researchers and experts of public health policy, there are various types of different professionals who are required to advance the primary goals of public health (Gans, Kralewski, Hammons, & Dowd 2005). Due to their expertise, they provide high-quality healthcare services and come up with current healthcare strategies that deal with some healthcare hardship which affect some patients. Due to their high level of expertise, the entire public healthcare workforce is now able to manage many of the health situations that challenge people in society ( Baum, 2016). Moreover, the workforce has managed to come up with many solutions that have helped in various gains like advanced medicine and advanced research.
The modern information systems (ICT) and advanced data is the primary function and drive force of public healthcare infrastructure. In modern times, technology has continued to develop, and the healthcare sector has to follow the development trend as well. Advanced technology and equipment have helped the public healthcare sector closely monitor patients. The gains had become fruitful because the close monitoring had saved many lives due to healthcare professionals who had identified health problems in patients early enough before they got worse ( Bagula et al., 2016). The up-to-date information systems and data are required for routine surveillance of disease, tracking potential outbreaks of diseases, identifying causes of diseases, and researching the effectiveness of public health services ( Baum, 2016). Moreover, information technology has enabled the public healthcare sectors to relate closely with the patients with various services like 24-hour services that help the patients in times of emergencies ( Gans et al., 2005). Moreover, most of the healthcare equipment are integrated with up-to-date software and data is synched right into the healthcare organization database. Patient information is now easily recorded and saved. In turn, patients are cared for promptly and the recovery time has become shorter and better. Assurance to the patients is now guaranteed since they know they are in safer hands due to accuracy in medical equipment. Technology has made everything easy to handle which is an added advantage to public healthcare as patients can now get easy access to premium healthcare services.
References
Bagula, A., Lubamba, C., Mandava, M., Bagula, H., Zennaro, M., & Pietrosemoli, E. (2016, November). Cloud-based patient prioritization as service in public health care. In 2016 ITU Kaleidoscope: ICTs for a Sustainable World (ITU WT) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Baum, F. (2016). The new public health (No. Ed. 4). Oxford University Press.
Gans, D., Kralewski, J., Hammons, T., & Dowd, B. (2005). Medical groups’ adoption of electronic health records and information systems. Health Affairs , 24 (5), 1323-1333.