Trends,Access and Equity in Health Care

A main part of your experience in this course involves a Position Paper shaped around a health care policy that you will choose this week.Select one health care policy related to access, equity, quality, or affordability that you have noted in your practice that is important to you. This policy will be the main theme of your Position Paper as well as the Assignments for Weeks 2 and 3. Give a detailed description of the health care policy that you selected. Include information on history, root causes for the introduction of the policy, and issues that the policy addresses. Analyze at least one personal impact that this policy has had on you as a professional or in the workplace environment. Provide at least one supporting and one opposing aspect of the policy, its implementation and its impact. A 3-paragraph (at least 350 words) response. Be sure to use evidence from the readings and include in-text citations. Utilize essay-level writing practice and skills, including the use of transitional material and organizational frames. Avoid quotes; paraphrase to incorporate evidence into your own writing. A reference list is required. Use the most current evidence (usually less than or equal to 5 years old). Trends,Access and Equity in Health Care

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Needle Exchange Program

The needle exchange program provides individuals with sterile syringes and needles to prevent them from sharing injecting equipment when using drugs in order to lower the transmission of HIV and other bloodborne viruses like hepatitis B and C (Strike & Miskovic, 2018).  The program also provides other equipment used in preparing and consuming drugs such as sterile water and filters and provides safe means of disposing used needles. The programs also advise the user on how to avoid and manage drug overdose, safe disposal of injecting equipment, safe injecting practices, screening for sexually transmitted infections, among other services (Davis et al., 2018).

The needle exchange program is an important element in preventing transmission of HIV and other bloodborne viruses. Before the introduction of the program, the transmission of HIV and other viruses like hepatitis was very high (Davis et al., 2018).  For example, after the introduction of sterile injecting equipment to drug users after the increased prevalence of HIV and hepatitis B and hepatitis C, the rate of these infections reduced. According to Strike & Miskovic (2018), needle exchange programs have shown efficacy in reducing the spread of HIV and hepatitis among injecting drug users (IDU). The program also leads to improved knowledge and reducing risk behaviors because the IDUs are educated on how to avoid risky behaviors, among other aspects of the program. Moreover, these programs serve as points of contact for the alienated drug users with healthcare providers and therefore they can be helped to improve their health (Davis et al., 2018). Trends,Access and Equity in Health Care

However, needle exchange programs may encourage drug use among IDUs. This is because during the needle exchange programs people continue using drugs yet there are other safer options such as abstaining from drugs. The other options including engaging the drug users in a treatment system where they are rehabilitated from drug use (Paquette et al., 2018).  Apart from HIV and other infections, drug use is associated with other adverse effects such as the risk of drug overdoses, poor mental health, among other effects.

References

Davis, S. M., Davidov, D., Kristjansson, A. L., Zullig, K., Baus, A., & Fisher, M. (2018). Qualitative case study of needle exchange programs in the Central Appalachian region of the United States. PloS one, 13(10), e0205466. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205466.

Paquette, C. E., Syvertsen, J. L., & Pollini, R. A. (2018). Stigma at every turn: Health services experiences among people who inject drugs. The International journal on drug policy, 57, 104–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.04.004.

Strike, C., & Miskovic, M. (2018). Scoping out the literature on mobile needle and syringe programs—review of service delivery and client characteristics, operation, utilization, referrals, and impact. Harm reduction journal, 15(1), 1-15. Trends,Access and Equity in Health Care