Apprenticeship Learning Log

 

Date of Learning: 30/04/2025

Time: 9:30 – 16:30

Title of learning activity: Introduction to Public Health and Health Promotion (Social Determinants of Health and Cultural Influences. Epidemiology and Demographics)

Introduction to the oxygen therapy.

 

Public Health – is the science and practice of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organised efforts of society, organisations, public and private sectors, communities, and individuals. It focuses not just on treating illness, but on preventing it and addressing the factors that lead to health disparities.

 

Health Promotion – involves enabling people to increase control over, and improve, their health. This includes education, policymaking, and community development aimed at fostering healthier lifestyles and environments.

 

Social determinants of health – refer to the non-medical factors that influence a person’s health outcomes, including their living and working conditions, social relationships, and overall well-being. These determinants significantly impact health equity, influencing factors like access to healthcare, education, employment, and quality of life. 

Cultural influences significantly impact health in various ways, affecting perceptions of illness, treatment seeking behaviour and overall health outcomes. Cultural beliefs, values, and traditions shape how individuals understand health, define illness, and engage with healthcare systems. Furthermore, cultural factors can influence mental health, access to care, and adherence to treatment recommendations.

Epidemiology is the study of how diseases spread, their patterns, causes, and effects in populations. It provides essential data for:

• Identifying risk factors
• Designing public health interventions
• Evaluating health services
• Tracking outbreaks and health trends

 

Demographics – are crucial for tailoring health promotion strategies to specific population groups.

Demographics refer to statistical data about populations, such as: age, gender, ethnicity, income, and education levels. These data help to understand population health needs, plan and allocate healthcare resources, identify vulnerable groups, forecast future public health trends.

Disease surveillance is the ongoing collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data essential for planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice.

Epidemiology helps define what to monitor (e.g., symptoms, transmission patterns).

Demographic data pinpoints where to focus efforts and what populations are at risk. Enables early detection of outbreaks (e.g., flu, COVID-19) Facilitates response planning, including isolation, vaccination, and communication strategies.

Social factors influencing health – often referred to as the social determinants of health – the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These factors have a profound impact on health outcomes and are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources.

Associations between social class, gender, and ethnicity with health is a key to addressing health inequalities. Factors interact in complex ways, influencing access to healthcare, quality of treatment, and health outcomes.

 Social Class and Health Association – People from lower socioeconomic classes often have worse health outcomes.

Reasons include:

• • Poor housing and working conditions
  • Lower educational attainment
  • Limited access to nutritious food
  • Higher exposure to environmental risks
  • Reduced access to healthcare and preventative services

Working-class communities in industrial areas often experience higher rates of chronic illnesses (e.g., heart disease, diabetes) and lower life expectancy.

 Gender and Health Association – women generally live longer than men but often report poorer mental health and are more likely to suffer from conditions like depression or anxiety. Men are more likely to engage in risky behaviour, less likely to seek help, and have higher rates of fatal illnesses and suicide. Gender also affects access to healthcare, especially for trans and non-binary individuals, who may face discrimination or lack of appropriate services. Men in manual labour jobs may have higher rates of injuries and occupational diseases. Women may face delays in diagnosis of conditions like heart disease because symptoms are often studied based on male models.

Ethnicity and Health Association. Ethnic minority groups may experience poorer health outcomes due to racism and discrimination, cultural and language barriers in healthcare, socioeconomic disadvantages, genetic predispositions (e.g., higher rates of sickle cell anaemia in black populations) Black and South Asian communities in the UK have higher rates of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Indigenous populations (e.g., in Canada or Australia) often have much lower life expectancy and higher rates of chronic disease compared to non-Indigenous populations.

Theories of the social determinants of health (SDOH) aim to explain how social, economic, and environmental conditions influence health outcomes. These theories provide frameworks for understanding the root causes of health disparities and guide policy and intervention strategies.

Oxygen therapy is a medical treatment, provides supplemental oxygen to individuals who are unable to get enough oxygen naturally through breathing. It is commonly used in hospitals, clinics, and sometimes at home to treat conditions that affect the lungs or overall oxygen levels in the blood.

The main purpose of oxygen therapy is to:

• Increase the amount of oxygen in the blood.
• Reduce the work of breathing.
• Relieve symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue.
• Improve overall tissue oxygenation and organ function.

Conditions Treated with Oxygen Therapy

• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Pneumonia
• Asthma (during severe attacks)
• Pulmonary fibrosis
• Heart failure
• Sleep apnea (with devices like CPAP or BiPAP)
• COVID-19 and other respiratory infections

Oxygen can be delivered using various devices depending on the patient’s needs:

Nasal cannula – A lightweight tube with two prongs that fit into the nostrils.

Face mask – Covers the nose and mouth for higher oxygen concentration.

Non-rebreather mask – Provides high levels of oxygen.

Venturi mask – Delivers a precise oxygen concentration.

Mechanical ventilators or CPAP/BiPAP machines – For patients with severe respiratory distress or sleep apnea.

Oxygen is considered as medication, which should be carefully prescribed and monitored to ensure the correct dose (litre per minute or oxygen concentration) prevent complications such as oxygen toxicity or carbon dioxide retention.

Diary of Learning activity

(itemise learning activity and reflect on the main points of learning from each. You should identify for each entry the relevant KSB)

Reflection on Learning Activity (include model of reflection e.g. Driscoll or Gibbs):

 

 

KSBs addressed:

K10: Understand the principles of epidemiology, demography, and genomics and how these may influence health and well-being outcomes

K11: Understand the factors that may lead to inequalities in health outcomes

K13: Understand the contribution of social influences, health literacy, individual circumstances, behaviours and lifestyle choices to mental, physical and behavioural health outcomes