Overview

Prepare a 3–4 page report on a critical health issue in a community or state. Describe the factors that contribute to the health issue and interventions that have been implemented. Explain the scope and role of nursing in the interventions, and recommend ways the scope of the interventions might be expanded.

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 1: Explain the factors that affect the health of communities.

Explain the factors that contribute to a critical health care issue within a specific community.

Competency 2: Apply evidence-based interventions to promote health and disease prevention and respond to community health issues.

Describe current interventions to target a critical health care issue within a specific community.

Describe the scope and role of nursing in current interventions that target a critical health care issue.

Recommend evidence-based ways to expand the scope of interventions to target a critical health care issue.

Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations of a nursing professional.

Describe a critical health care issue within a specific community.

Write content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

Correctly format citations and references, using current APA style.

Context

Community/public health nursing is nursing care that is population-focused and occurs in non-hospital settings. Numerous nursing theories can provide the structure for community/public health nursing; however, nursing theories that incorporate components of the general systems theory frequently provide the framework for the practice of community/public health nursing.

Historically, nurses have made significant contributions to the field of public health. From providing maternal-child care to poor women in the late 1800s, to promoting hygiene among school aged children in the early 1900s, to providing environmental and safety care to industrial workers during World War I, nurses have been instrumental in shaping health policies (Maurer & Smith, 2013). Today, community/public health nurses have a key role in identifying and developing plans of care to aIDress local, national, and international health issues.

Many factors influence the health of communities and populations, including national policies that focus on health promotion. Healthy People, a major national health promotion program issued by the U.S. Surgeon General, identifies major health problems of the nation and sets national goals and objectives targeting health promotion (Maurer & Smith, 2013). If adopted, activities that target health promotion can result in disease prevention.

Reference

Maurer, F. A., & Smith, C. M. (2013). Community/public health nursing practice: Health for families and populations (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: W. B. Saunders.

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Questions to Consider

To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.

What kinds of public health care services are available in your community? Do you think these services adequately meet the needs of the community?

How would you improve the scope of the services?

Suggested Resources

1. Library Resources

The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course:

Severance, J. H., & Zinnah, S. L. (2009). Community-based perceptions of neighborhood health in urban neighborhoods. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 26(1), 14–23.

Schofield, R., Ganann, R., Brooks, S., McGugan, J., Bona, K. D., Betker, C., Dilworth, K., … Watson, C. (2011). Community health nursing vision for 2020: Shaping the future. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 33(8),1047–1068.

Mendez-Luck, C. A., Bethel, J. W., Goins, R. T., Schure, M. B., & McDermott, E. (2015). Community as a source of health in three racial/ethnic communities in Oregon: A qualitative study. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 1–10.

Galloway-Gilliam, L. (2013). Racial and ethnic approaches to community health. National Civic Review, 102(4), 46–48.

Internet Resources

Access the following resources by clicking the links provided. Please note that URLs change frequently. Permissions for the following links have either been granted or deemed appropriate for educational use at the time of course publication.

HealthyPeople.gov. (n.d.).  Healthy People 2020. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/

Benson, G. A., Sidebottom, A., VanWormer, J. J., Boucher, J. L., Stephens, C., & Krikava, J. (2013). HeartBeat connections: A rural community of solution for cardiovascular health. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 26(3), 299–310. Retrieved from http://www.jabfm.org/content/26/3/299.full.pdf+html

Bookstore Resources

The resources listed below are relevant to the topics and assessments in this course and are not required.

Maurer, F. A., & Smith, C. M. (2013). Community/public health nursing practice: Health for families and populations (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: W. B. Saunders.

Chapters 12, 2, 3, 10, 18, and 20.

Assessment Instructions

Preparation

Suppose your organization is concerned about a number of health issues that have either affected an increased number of the residents in the community or show the probability of affecting a larger number of people in the population. Your organizational leaders have asked different health care professionals within the organization, including you, to examine the issues from your perspective, and to submit a report that includes evidence-based ways to aIDress the issues.

You will first need to identify a critical health care issue in your community or state. You may choose either a public health issue, such as suIDen infant death syndrome (SIDS), measles, Lyme disease, asthma, et cetera; or a community health issue, such as uncontrolled diabetes, congestive heart disease, 30-day readmission, et cetera.

Then, look in the Capella library and on the Internet for statistics and peer-reviewed or professional resources to use in preparing your report.

Requirements

Format this assessment as a professional report. It may help to look at reports or other documents used within your organization and to follow that formatting. You must still follow APA guidelines for in-text citations and references, and include a title page and reference page.

Within the report:

Describe one critical health issue in your community or state that has grown larger or has the potential to become larger. Be sure to include any statistics available on the health issue. Tip: check your county and/or state health department Web site.

Explain the factors that contribute to this health issue. Consider things such as access to health care services, economics, culture, attitude, education, health care policies, and so on.

Describe any interventions your community or state has put in place to aIDress the health care issue. Include information on how long the interventions have been in place, how the community was made aware of the interventions, and so on.

Describe the scope and role of nursing and public health nursing in the interventions to reduce the health issue.

Recommend evidence-based ways the scope of the interventions could be expanded to increase positive health outcomes. Think in terms of cost, efficiency and access, effectiveness, and the use of both conventional and unconventional interventions.

AIDitional Requirements

Complete your assessment using the following specifications:

Title page and reference page.

Number of pages: 3–4 (not  including the title and reference pages).

At least 3 current scholarly or professional resources.

APA format for citations and references.

Times New Roman font, 12-point, double-spaced.