Need for redefining needs
- PDF / 496,284 Bytes
- 5 Pages / 610 x 792 pts Page_size
- 95 Downloads / 270 Views
Open Access
Commentary
Need for redefining needs Mohsen Asadi-Lari1, Chris Packham2 and David Gray*1 Address: 1Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University Hospital, Nottingham, UK, NG7 2UH and 2Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK Email: Mohsen Asadi-Lari - [email protected]; Chris Packham - [email protected]; David Gray* - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 21 August 2003 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2003, 1:34
Received: 03 June 2003 Accepted: 21 August 2003
This article is available from: http://www.hqlo.com/content/1/1/34 © 2003 Asadi-Lari et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
Abstract Defining needs is difficult due to the inherent complexity of the concept of 'need', so it is not surprising that numerous definitions have been proposed. 'Health' consists of a wide range of characteristics so 'health needs' ought to include personal and social care, health care, accommodation, finance, education, employment and leisure, transport and access. Target-driven standards in areas of health care with a high political profile appear to be replacing the concept of universal provision and clinical need; this major change in clinical care warrants a reevaluation of health care outcomes. Identifying who might benefit from this new approach to health care is equally important if scarce resources are to be fully and appropriately utilised. If the goal of care is 'optimal health', the key marker of success ought to be to ascertain individual patients' health care needs (HCN) and tailor services accordingly. Wide variation in the description of 'needs' directly affects policies and services intended to meet a population's health care needs. Consequently, the definition of 'needs' has important implications for healthcare provision- the more constrained the definition, the less healthcare will be made available and vice versa. This paper describes some common definitions of needs and discusses their respective benefits and disadvantages in terms of health care provision and their potential impact on health policy.
Introduction
Defining 'need'
In health care, need has a variety of meanings which may change over time so it is not surprising that different groups of health professionals refer to 'needs assessment' in very different ways [1]. Stevens et al [2] considered that interest in a needs-driven health system passed through several stages. A sociological approach in the 1960s was followed by 'rational planning' and resource allocation based on deprivation and epidemiology (RAWP [3]) in the 1970s; in the 1990s, National Health Service reform introduced need-target resource allocation and by the year 2000 the focus was on 'collaborative action" where the need for health care was to be collectively identified by interested 'st
Data Loading...
