Development of health promotion in the hospital setting—programme development

Abstract

The role of the hospital has expanded and changed immensely. Now it is viewed as a self-contained community health centre, not just a place for the sick. The hospital has become a focal point in the community, with an obligation to promote, organise, implement and evaluate health education activities. The growing interest in the potential of hospital based health education is due to the variety of benefits including cost-effectiveness. A large section of the community can be contacted as most of the patients to the hospital are accompanied by one or two relatives. The literature highlights that a few million dollars spent on the consumer/patients to help them develop a lifestyle conducive to positive health or to understand and cope more effectively with health problems could turn out to be far more cost-effective than billions of dollars spent on the development of exotic new medical technology and expensive inpatient programmes. An experience of developing hospital based health education under the supervision of the department of medical education is highlighted here. Health education programmes were developed in the areas of diabetes education, anti-smoking education and general health education.