Running head: HEALTHCARE POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

Healthcare Policy Recommendations

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
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Preventing Obesity: Physical Activity Policy at the Workplace (New Policy)

One of the leading causes of obesity is lack of physical exercise. Most of the formal workplaces

require employees to sit behind their desks for at least eight hours a day (Ostman, Britton,

Jonsson & Wiley Online Library, 2004). Increased prevalence of obesity exposes a person to

further health risks. According to the CDC (2011), obesity is one of the leading causes of

hypertension, stroke, gallbladder disease and Type 2 diabetes, among others. From the economic

and financial perspective, the United States spends approximately US $ 2.0 trillion in managing

obesity (Tremmel et al., 2017). The social impact of the condition is also related to increased

deaths due to opportunistic diseases. The most appropriate policy recommendation is the

implementation of a strict workplace physical exercise culture. The components of the proposed

new policy would include a walk/ride to work behavior change, regular physical exercise and

rotational sitting and standing while at the workplace.

Antibiotic Resistance: Prescription Only Policy (New Policy)

In most instances, patients rely on simple antibiotics to cure them from bacterial infections.

However, over time, the body’s metabolic systems develop resistance to these drugs (Kon & Rai,

2016). The abuse and misuse of antibiotics is a leading cause of resistance to the drugs.

Resistance to antibiotics can lead to increased financial expenses. According to Founou, Founou

and Essack (2017), antibiotic resistance leads to budgetary expansions especially in the

developing countries. The authors also linked the problem to 45% of deaths in African and East

Asia to drug resistance, leading to social gaps. The prescription-only policy is a newly developed

perspective towards minimizing the dangers that patients are exposed to due to dependency on

over-the counter antibiotic medication. Through the implementation of this policy, the patients
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will only be required to acquire medication following prescription by qualified health

professionals.

Oral Health: Voluntary Free Oral Check-up Policy on every Outpatient Visit (New Policy)

Richardson and Richardson (2011), in their analysis of the cost of poor oral health established

that poorly maintained oral health has direct health impacts on individuals. For example, loss of

teeth interferes with a person’s eating habits, leading to diet-related ill-health. In order to ensure

proper oral health among all patients, the policy recommends a free oral check-up for all patients

who make outpatient visits. Through such checkups, doctors would be able to advise patients

properly on any conditions that they might have observed. In addition, the routine oral health

check-ups would make it possible for the patients to discover conditions that might not display

visible symptoms (Medicine, Practice & Literacy, 2013). In addition, the check-ups would

encourage patients to gain interest in oral health examinations. Through the policy

implementation, it would be possible for doctors to detect oral health problems for patients and

recommend the right medical interventions. This policy is appropriate for implementation

because it would ensure that all the patients’ oral health is properly managed. Like blood

pressure and increased heart rates that are regularly examined, the oral health challenges for

patients would be easy to detect and manage on time. Conditions such as bad smell, dental

caries, dental cavities and tooth decay, among others would be minimized through the policy.

This policy is also appropriate because it would add no extra charges to the patients, leading to a

cost-effective way of determining their oral health conditions.

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References

CDC (2011). The Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity. Retrieved on January 5, 2019, from

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html

Founou, R. C., Founou, L. L., & Essack, S. Y. (2017). Clinical and economic impact of antibiotic

resistance in developing countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS one,

12(12), e0189621. Retrieved on January 5, 2019, from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5739407/

Kon, K., & Rai, M. (2016). Antibiotic resistance: Mechanisms and new antimicrobial

approaches.

Medicine, I. ., Practice, B. P. H. P. H., & Literacy, R. H. (2013). Oral Health Literacy.

Washington: National Academies Press.

Ostman, J., Britton, M., Jonsson, E., & Wiley Online Library (2004). Treating and preventing

obesity.

Richardson, B & Richardson, J. (2011). End the decay: the cost of poor dental health and what

should be done about it. Retrieved on January 4, 2019 from

http://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/6081/1/Richardson_End_the_decay_2011.pdf

Tremmel, M., Gerdtham, U. G., Nilsson, P. M., & Saha, S. (2017). Economic Burden of Obesity:

A Systematic Literature Review. International journal of environmental research and

public health, 14(4), 435. Retrieved on January 5, 2019 from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5409636/