title: Community health assessment: diagnosis and prescription.
abstract: Community health assessments are ideally a joint effort by all the major health care providers in the community, working in concert with local government, business, and concerned community groups. A noble activity, no doubt, but clearly a lot of trouble. Physicians, whose potential to contribute to community assessments is obvious, frequently avoid them. Whether in management or clinical practice, they ask: Is this really worth my time? Will it make any difference? Isn't there a better way? But, rightly or wrongly, physicians often have a disproportionate amount of influence on the community assessment process. That influence, whether you attribute it to respect, credibility, or power, adds value to the process. The most important quality the physician brings to the process is genuine concern for his or her patients that generalizes to the health of the entire community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, University of Iowa College of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Rohrer
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Pomrehn
mesh_terms: D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D004465:Economic Competition; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D008486:Physician Executives; D011634:Public Health; D014481:United States