Empowering communities through primary health care requires trust and good communication to work towards a goal. To build a foundation for well-being, empowering the communities to ensure better health outcomes is necessary. This is when community empowerment is necessary for the healthcare industry. Some health policies around the world implement strategies for improving patient empowerment to get them more involved. This blog shares some steps for empowering communities through primary health care.
What is empowering the community, and why is it necessary?
The ideal way to define an empowering community would be to describe the practices to be actively involved in the health care provider services. Empowering the community aims to help them develop self-care and self-awareness and promote an understanding of health care’s importance. Community empowerment through primary health care encourages people so that they can be able to drive the maximum benefits.
The primary health care service providers consider the external non-health outcomes, for example, patient engagement and patient satisfaction. To improve the efficacy of healthcare delivery, healthcare providers need to empower the communities. The patient always looks for a provider who wants to give them better accessibility and knowledge to understand the decisions that go into planning their care. If we examine this more closely, it is evident in some respects that the non-health parameters and health outcomes are linked somewhere.
A meaningful engagement is necessary for patients and helps them to understand and participate in their care. It is necessary to be aware of the community regarding treatment compliance and adherence. This is how you can end up getting healthy outcomes.
Many arguments say there are some cons to empowering the communities because it promotes self-care and minimises the dependency on healthcare providers. However, in some aspects, it is true!
Empowering the community through primary care enhances the engagement between the patient and providers. It encourages better communication and also limits the statistics of getting unwanted diagnoses.
Empowering the community by giving them the right health care information can be done by following the below steps.
How to encourage & empower the community through primary health care?
Ask the community to update & share the medication detail
Ask the community to share their medication history. Ask what medications are being taken, the last details of the prescription and the contradictions. It helps the primary health care providers as well as the patient.
Encourage patients to update their allergies
Patients are not always reminded to offer a complete picture of their health. It includes information about allergies and previous health care concerns. Ask them to update the details so you can make informed decisions about how to care for them and prevent health complications.
Ask them to share information about the wearable device
Healthcare providers can’t track their patients for a long day. However, they can assign a smartwatch or activity tracker that helps with tracking. There are lots of applications which allow patients to sync information from wearable tools. Some health monitoring tools also allow users to track and view measured parameters through their mobile phones.
Promote remote health care services for better control
Another way to empower the patients would be to promote self-management services. The self-reporting of health parameters and remote healthcare services can significantly improve by empowering the community.
Remote healthcare services allow healthcare providers to empower and engage their patients. Through remote healthcare services, patients can update their health parameters periodically. They can manage their health at home by minimising the risk of unhealthy inconsistencies. Remote health monitoring also prevents health complications because of continuous care and review.
Encourage the patients to consult online
Encourage the community to consult online to provide the right information about their health. It empowers the community to make the right decision for care and adherence to medical advice from doctors. It allows the patients to get answers to health queries without waiting for the next appointment. This step provides them with easier and quicker access to healthcare services.
Empowering the community can go a long way in helping patients to understand the important aspect of their healthcare services. Multiple health providers are involved in educating their patients. This is how a foundation for well-being can be built by primary care providers.
