Community Health

Community Health

• 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 address 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 sudden 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 address 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.

Additional 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.

• 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?
• 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 address local, national, and international health issues.

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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.

• 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:

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• 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.

Competency Map

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Community Health Scoring Guide

Community Health Scoring Guide Grading Rubric
Criteria	Non-performance	Basic	Proficient	Distinguished
Explain the factors that contribute to a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Does not list the factors that contribute to a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Lists the factors that contribute to a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Explains the factors that contribute to a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Explains the factors that contribute to a critical health care issue within a specific community, and clearly illustrates how the factors affect the critical health care issue.
Describe current interventions to target a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Does not describe interventions to target a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Identifies interventions to target a critical health care issue within a specific community, but does not clarify whether the interventions are current.	Describes current interventions to target a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Describes current interventions to target a critical health care issue within a specific community, and includes details on duration, communication methods, and effectiveness.
Describe the scope and role of nursing in current interventions that target a critical health care issue.	Does not describe the scope and role of nursing in current interventions that target a critical health care issue.	Describes the scope and role of nursing in current interventions, but does not show how the interventions target a critical health care issue.	Describes the scope and role of nursing in current interventions that target a critical health care issue.	Explains how the scope and role of nursing in current interventions that target a critical health care issue contribute to positive health outcomes.
Recommend evidence-based ways to expand the scope of interventions to target a critical health care issue.	Does not recommend ways to expand the scope of interventions to target a critical health issue.	Recommends ways to expand the scope of interventions to target a critical health issue, but does not support recommendations with sound evidence.	Recommends evidence-based ways to expand the scope of interventions to target a critical health issue.	Recommends evidence-based ways to expand the scope of interventions to target a critical health issue in terms of cost, efficiency and access, and effectiveness. Includes both conventional and unconventional interventions.
Describe a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Does not identify a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Identifies a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Describes a critical health care issue within a specific community.	Describes a critical health care issue within a specific community, and provides statistical information related to frequency, severity, and population most affected.
Write content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.	Does not write content clearly, logically, or with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.	Writes with errors in clarity, logic, grammar, punctuation, and/or mechanics.	Writes content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.	Writes clearly and logically with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics; uses relevant evidence to support a central idea.
Correctly format citations and references, using current APA style.	Does not correctly format citations and references, using current APA style.	Uses current APA style to format citations and references, but with numerous errors.	Correctly formats citations and references, using current APA style with few errors.	Correctly formats citations and references, using current APA style with no errors.