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Health Care Professional Work Force Matrix

Part 1. Demographics for your own area (state, county, or region – your choice)

Part 2: Do these facilities meet the needs of your community? In your own words, explain why or why not. What is your recommendation for sustaining or improving the health care services offered in your area?

What I have learned from the statistics above is that Louisiana is well represented by all categories of medical care. Concerning hospitals, my area has many hospitals averaging about 1 hospital per square mile. The wider Louisiana has about 4.65 million people which makes it one of the densely populated cities in the United States of America. An average of 1 hospital per square miles means that the ratio of hospitals and the population is averagely matched.

Concerning primary care facilities, my area, New Orleans Louisiana has 55 active primary healthcare facilities spread across the city. Compared to the population of New Orleans, this number is low which means that some populations have poor access to primary health care facilities due to geographical distance (Glick et al., 2018). There is limited competition in this area due to the few numbers of primary care facilities in the New Orleans region.

On Mental facilities, Louisiana has about 15 mental facilities serving a population of 4.6 million people. This number is not proportional considering the rising cases of mental problems in New Orleans (Felker-Kantor, 2019). This means that the area needs more mental facilities to cater to the rising number of mental disabilities in the state. There is little competition in this industry because there are only 15 mental facilities in the whole of New Orleans.

Regarding pharmacies, New Orleans has numerous pharmacies serving its population. There are about 3 pharmacies per square mile in New Orleans meaning that every resident irrespective of the location can easily access a pharmacy. Furthermore, several pharmacies operate 24-hours meaning that getting medication from pharmacies is not a problem in New Orleans. Concerning dentists, New Orleans is served by an adequate number of dentists (Paige et al., 2018). Most dental practices are concentrated in the town or city center which means that for some members of New Orleans to see a dentist, they have to commute to the city. In the city center, competition is fierce while in the outskirts of the city, the competition is not too much.

To conclude, my area is well served by primary care facilities, nursing facilities, hospitals, and pharmacies. However, there is a need to increase the number of mental health facilities in the area. Currently, my area has only 15 mental care facilities serving a city of 4.6 million. Due to the rising cases of mental disorders in the city, it is prudent to have more specialized facilities to take care of the city’s mental health. Regarding Primary care, the city needs to have more primary care facilities as the existing ones are too few to cater to the needs of the members of New Orleans.

References

• Glick, J. L., Andrinopoulos, K. M., Theall, K. P., & Kendall, C. (2018). “Tiptoeing around the system”: Alternative healthcare navigation among gender minorities in New Orleans. Transgender Health, 3(1), 118-126. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2018.0015
• Felker-Kantor, E.A., Wallace, M. E., Madkour, A. S., Duncan, D. T., Andrinopoulos, K. & Theall, K. (2019). HIV Stigma, Mental Health, and Alcohol Use Disorders among People Living with HIV/AIDS in New Orleans. Journal of Urban Health, 96(), 878–888. doi:10.1007/s11524-019-00390-0
• Paige, J. T., Fairbanks, R. J. T., & Gaba, D. M. (2018). Priorities related to improving healthcare safety through simulation. Simulation in Healthcare, 13(3S), S41-S50. https://doi.org/10.1097/sih.0000000000000295