“10,000 Steps A Day” Healthcare Promotion

Problem

The rate of chronic diseases in the society has increased greatly due to poor eating habits. For instance, the prevalence of obesity among children and adults has increased. Many people in the society do not know how to stay healthy. Many people continue to consume foods that have high fat content and sugar and this has led to being overweight and hence obesity. The development of the fast food industry has contributed a lot to chronic diseases in the society as companies in the industry offer fast foods to adults and children.


In addition, the increase in rate of diseases like chronic diseases is because of sedentary life style. Many people do not exercise regularly as required and hence are prone to diseases. The “10,000 a steps a day” healthcare promotion activity will be aimed at improving the health of the people and reduce the rate of chronic diseases. The “10,000 steps a day” healthcare promotion activity has been promoted to encourage a healthy heart and also reduce the amount of fat in the body.


The “10,000 steps a day” healthcare activity will prevent high blood pressure by lowering the blood pressure and also preventing the onset of diabetes. The “10,000 steps a day” healthcare promotion entails walking for 30 minutes in a day.  People can do it in three lots of 10 minutes, but it should be brisk. Walking briskly increases the demand for oxygen in the body and makes the lungs, heart and muscles work efficiently.  The “10,000 steps a day” healthcare promotion activity will help eliminate sedentary life style as many people will be able to walk briskly and hence improve their health. Many people walk daily and they are still unhealthy because they do not do it briskly (Stern &Kazaks, 2012).


Budget

Fixed expenses cost
utilities $3000
Employee salaries $40000
Employee benefits $2000
Employee insurance $1000
rent $2000
total $48,000
Variable expenses  
Screening of  participants $500
Health risk assessment $200
Teaching materials $200
Incentive awards given to the participants to motivate them to participate in the activity like pedometer, water, T-shirts etc $300
$1200
Controllable expenses  
Promotions/advertising $200
utilities $3000
repairs $400
total $3600
Unrecoverable costs  
advertising $200
Incentive rewards $300
Education materials $200
total $700

Cost benefit analysis

The cost benefit analysis is aimed at determining how well or poorly an activity will turn out. Cost benefit analysis determines the cost of   pursuing a certain goal or program   and compares the costs with the benefits linked with the program. It determines whether the program or intervention is worthy implementing.  In other cases, nurses are supposed to compare various interventions and select the least costly one. The intervention selected is considered cost effective. In this case, the cost benefit analysis determines whether the “10,000 steps a day” healthcare promotion activity is cost effective.


The “10,000 steps a day” healthcare promotion activity is cost effective. The cost of implementing the activity does not outweigh the benefits.  The project has various costs or expenses.  That is fixed expenses, controllable expenses, variable expenses and unrecoverable expenses. The fixed expenses do not change with change with production, but change with time. The fixed costs are employee benefits, salaries, insurance and utilities.  The fixed expenses total to $48,000.  The variable expenses are expenses that respond directly to the change in the level of activity.


The variable expenses for the health promotion activity are screening of the participants, health appraisal, teaching materials and incentives.  The variable expenses total to $1200.  Moreover, controllable expenses are expenses that the management can control. In this case, the controllable expenses are utilities, advertising and repairs. The managers are able to control the cost of advertising, utilities and cost of repairing items or equipment.  The controllable expenses amount to $700. When implementing the health promotional activity, the management will spend less, but benefit patients and the society at large as the cost of implementing the activity is low (Swansburg, 1997).


The program has a lot of benefits.  First, implementing the health promotion activity will help reduce the rate of chronic diseases in the society and improve people’s health. This is because many people will be encouraged to participate in the program. Providing people with incentives motivates them to take part in the health promotion activity. Many people will be willing to walk briskly daily so as to get the incentives. This will in turn enable them to burn excess body fat and improve the functioning of the heart, muscles and other body parts. This will help reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases as people will be able to leave the sedentary lifestyle. Second, implementing the health promotion activity will help reduce the cost of providing care to patients. The health care cost in the country has increased greatly for the last few years because of the increase in chronic diseases.


The government spends more on providing medical services to people who have chronic diseases. The cost of health care increases as the number of people with chronic diseases increases. The increase in health care cost is associated with lack of disease prevention and failure to see medical treatment early. Many people in the society do not seek medical treatment early when they are suffering from a disease because they do nit understand the disease process.  Hence, they incur a lot of expenses when they seek medical treatment later due to complications that arise (Cox & American College of Sports Medicine, 2003).


Third, implementing the health promotion activity will enable people learn the importance of staying healthy and preventing diseases by exercising daily. Many people do not know the importance of exercising regularly and therefore are not able to prevent diseases.  Educating the society on the benefits of exercising regularly will enable them prevent diseases. They will be able to understand the disease process including the causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention. This will ensure people get medical attention early and reduce the cost of care.


Fourth, implementing the health promotion activity will improve the quality of life by preventing diseases. Chronic diseases affect the quality of life and increase the mortality rate. People can improve the quality of life by staying healthy. People can only stay healthy by exercising at least 30 minutes in day. The “10,000 steps a day” health care promotion activity is the best method of staying healthy and improving the quality of life. Therefore, the health promotion activity should be implemented as it has more benefits than the amount of money that will be used to implement it (Swansburg, Swansburg, 2002).


Reference

Cox,C.C.,&  American College of Sports Medicine.(2003).Acsm’s Worksite Health Promotion Manual: A Guide to Building and Sustaining Healthy Worksites. Human Kinetics

Swansburg,R.J.,Swansburg,R.C.(2002).introduction to Management and Leadership for Nurse Managers. Jones & Bartlett Learning

Swansburg,R.C.(1997).Budgeting and Financial Management for Nurse Managers. Jones & Bartlett Learning

Stern,J.S.,&Kazaks,A.(2012).Nutrition and Obesity.Jones & Bartlett Publishers





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