Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:An Overview of the Culture of Health Care
Lecture:What is meant by "the culture of health care"
Slide content:Defining Terms: Health Care Health : is a product of broad social and environmental factors, not just health care Food, sanitation, housing, lifestyle Health care : actions principally and explicitly directed at maintaining, restoring health and promoting health Actions by patient, family, etc. (70-90%) Actions by health care system Health care system : collection of structures and actions directed at delivering health care 8
Slide notes:Now that we understand a little more about health, disease, and illness, we can think about what we mean by health care. When we look at health in the broadest sense, its not just the result of health care or a health care system, its the product of broader cultural and social factors. For example, think of the effects of food, sanitation, and housing, and how these have impacted our life expectancy and quality of life in the last century or so. Furthermore, if we think of health care as actions that are principally and explicitly directed at maintaining or restoring health, then its still true that most health care happens outside of the health care system with actions taken by the patient, by family members, or by caregivers constituting between 70% and 90% of the health care that people receive. Thus, most illness episodes never enter the domain of professional care. For health informatics professionals, one implication of this is that health information technologies need to reach beyond the conventional health care system and health professionals to patients and families if they are to reach their full potential. Finally, we can think of the health care system as a collection of structures and actions directed at delivering health care services to the patient regardless of their location. The location can be in a health care provider setting such as a hospital, clinic or physicians office, as well as the patients home. Finally, we can think of the healthcare system as a collection of structures and actions directed at delivering healthcare services to the patient regardless of their location. The location can be in a healthcare provider setting such as a hospital, clinic or physicians office as well as the patients home. 8