NR 443 – Community Health Nursing Discussions

Week 1 discussion

Determinants of Health

What are some factors that make some people healthy and others ill? Healthy People 2020 identifies five determinants of health that influence the health of individuals and populations. Healthy People 2020 describes them as “a range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that influence health status” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014, About Determinants of Health, para. 1). Determinants fall into five categories including: (a) policy making, (b) social factors, (c) health services, (d) individual behavior, and (e) biology and genetics.

Go to the “Determinants of Health” link at http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Determinants-of-Health (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and click on each determinant to read about them.

Choose one of the five determinants. In your post, describe this determinant and its importance.

Discuss how this determinant relates to one intervention from the Public Health Intervention Wheel (Nies & McEwen, 2015, pp. 14–15).

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2016). Healthy People 2020: About Determinants of Health. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Determinants-of-Health (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

NR 443 – Community Health Nursing Discussions – Week 2 discussion 

Demographic and Epidemiological Assessment

For this discussion, you will collect assessment data about your city or county. This post will include information about demographics (general characteristics) and epidemiological data (disease or health behavior rates) of your community.

Demographic data: Go online to the U.S. Census Bureau at https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Obtain a range information about the demographic characteristics of the population for your city or county of residence. You may have to look at county data if your city is not listed. Discuss demographic data about age, ethnicity, poverty levels, housing, and education.

Epidemiological data: Go to your city or county health department website (search the Internet) or County Health Rankings (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) and report epidemiological data about your area.

Identify several priority health concerns for your area.

The Instructions on Finding Demographic Data on the U.S. Census Website (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. will assist you in using this website as a resource.

Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2015). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.

NR 443 – Community Health Nursing Discussions – Week 3 discussion

Caring for Vulnerable Populations

Review the Week 3 Case Study (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. This case study focuses on a vulnerable young woman who is facing many risk factors.

Discuss several risk factors that may impact health outcomes for vulnerable populations.

Assurance is one of the three core functions of public health. Find a resource in your community (other than WIC) that could assist Mary during her pregnancy. Start by searching the Internet for your local health department’s website. What services does it provide for pregnant women, those living in poverty, or those with mental health concerns? What about your local welfare office? Does it provide prenatal or mental health services? Are there any service organizations, crisis pregnancy centers, or churches providing help for pregnant women or those experiencing mental health concerns? (The Internet, your local newspaper, and the telephone book may also help you locate resources.)

Briefly describe the types of services that you found.

Choose one agency and assess this agency in terms of the 4 A’s. Is it accessible, acceptable, affordable, or available for Mary or other pregnant women that you case manage?

Are there adequate resources for other vulnerable populations in your community?

NR 443 – Community Health Nursing Discussions – Week 4 discussion

Healthy People Objectives for Community Settings

Community health nurses practice in a variety of settings. Choose one of the following CH settings and describe what you have learned about the setting and the role(s) of the nurse in that setting (see Nies & McEwen, 2015, Chapters 29–33).

School nursing

Occupational health nursing

Faith-based or parish nursing

Home health nursing

Hospice nursing

Forensic nursing

Correctional nursing

The federal government developed Healthy People as a set of national health objectives that are revised every 10 years. These objectives are very specific in order to guide and measure our nation’s progress related to public health. Please visit http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Click on a topic area that relates to a role you chose to discuss. Click on the green Objectives tab in that topic area to choose one Healthy People 2020 objective.

Discuss one specific, numbered Healthy People 2020 objective (not a goal) related to this community health role.

How could a community health nurse help meet this objective?

Introduction to Healthy People 2020 website (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. is an aid to help you navigate the HP 2020 website.

Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2015). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2016). Healthy People 2020: Topics & Objectives. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

NR 443 – Community Health Nursing Discussions – Week 5 discussion

Disaster and Communicable Disease Preparedness

Preparing for disasters, terrorist threats, or communicable disease outbreaks is an important part of public health nursing. Visit the websites http://www.ready.gov (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and http://www.ready.gov/pandemic (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Review the steps for being prepared for a disaster or pandemic.

Choose a natural or man-made disaster that could impact your community and discuss how a CHN can help the community to prepare or respond to this disaster.

Choose a potential infectious disease outbreak and discuss how a CHN can help to prevent or respond to an outbreak.

How well is your community prepared for a potential outbreak or disaster?

Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2016). Ready: Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. Retrieved from http://www.ready.gov/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..

Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2016). Pandemic. Retrieved from http://www.ready.gov/pandemic (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..

Week 6 discussion

Environmental Health

Visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s MyEnvironment site at http://www.epa.gov/myenvironment (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and enter your city and state, ZIP code, or location into the location box. Explore the site to learn more about your environment and things that might be impacting the health of its citizens.

Identify something new you learned about your environment and how it could be affecting health by completing this statement: “I didn’t know _____.”

How could you, in the role of a community health nurse, address these concerns?

Optional: For more environmental health information, you can also visit the following websites.

Environmental health tracking: http://ephtracking.cdc.gov/InfoByLocation/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Air quality: http://www.airnow.gov/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Toxic release inventory: http://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

NR 443 – Community Health Nursing Discussions – Week 7 discussion

The Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act is a controversial topic, and there probably are many different viewpoints represented in our class. For this discussion, let’s start by focus on understanding the basics of the Healthcare Marketplace so that we can provide accurate information to our patients and communities. Please explore the healthcare marketplace website at https://www.healthcare.gov/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Choose the Get Answers tab toward the top of the page.

Review several of the topics in this tab and share two things that you learned about how the marketplace works.

How does this information apply to those in your community?

As a healthcare provider, has this raised any ethical questions or concerns for you?

NR 443 – Community Health Nursing Discussions – Week 8 discussion

Future Directions

Reflect on what you have learned in this course.

What future concerns are likely to impact public health?

How do you see global health concerns impacting your community?

How can you apply what you have learned in this course to your current practice?

Week 2 Milestone 1 Community Windshield Survey

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to complete a direct observational assessment of a community in your area. This windshield survey will be the initial step in uncovering a community health problem in your area and identifying community dynamics. This problem will be further assessed in the following two assignments.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcome.

CO2: Assess the health needs of individuals, families, aggregates, and communities using demographic and epidemiological data to identify population health risks. (PO 4)

Due Date

Submit your completed windshield survey form by 11:59 p.m. MT Sunday of Week 2.

Points: 150 points

Directions

Download the Community Windshield Survey form (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Type your name and answers directly onto this Word document. Your form does not need to follow APA formatting; however, you are expected to use a professional writing style with complete sentences, accurate grammar, and correct spelling. If references are used, they must be cited in the text and the complete reference should be included in the reference box in APA format. References are optional.

Watch Caring for Populations project overview and Milestone 1 tutorial (click this link or copy and paste it into your browser): http://www.brainshark.com/devry/CourseProjectandMS1_2016. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (transcript (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.)

Save the form by clicking Save as and adding your last name to the file name; for example, NR443 Windshield Survey Form_Smith.

Submit the completed form by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT at the end of Week 2.

Length: The completed form should be three to four pages in length (not including any optional references).

Guidelines

Below are the requirements needed for successful completion of the Windshield Survey Form.

Introduction to the Community: Identify the community you will be using for this assignment with the city and state and provide a brief, one paragraph description of the community. Your community should be the area where you live or the area surrounding your work setting. The community must include a residential area and be broad enough to answer the survey questions. You do not need to include demographic data.

Windshield Survey: Assess your community by doing a windshield survey. Information about the components of a windshield survey is located in your textbook, Nies & McEwen (2015) on page 98 (Box 6-2). Drive through the area and report your observations by describing each of the following six areas using a majority of the questions from each category of Box 6-2 as your guide (one to two in depth paragraphs for each category). Be sure to include what you observed related to each of these categories, and also include any significant items that are missing in your community because this may be equally important in identifying a community health problem.

Community vitality

Indicators of social and economic conditions

Health resources

Environmental conditions related to health

Social functioning

Attitude toward healthcare

Note: It is helpful to conduct this assessment at least two different times: during the day or evening, on a weekday and/or on the weekend. If possible, plan on asking someone to drive during your survey so that you can take notes.

Vulnerable population: Identify an aggregate or vulnerable population in your community based on your observations. What did you observe about this population? See Units five (5) and six (6) in Nies and McEwen (2015) for examples of vulnerable populations and aggregates.

Conclusion: Provide a summary of your findings. Describe several potential community health problems for the vulnerable population that you identified.

References: The purpose of this assignment is to document your observations of your community. Outside sources are not required. However, if sources are used, these sources must be cited within the form (Author, year) and listed in the reference section in APA format (see APA resources for help with formatting).

Best Practices in Completing the Form

The following are best practices in preparing this project.

Make sure all elements of the form are included.

Review directions and grading rubric below thoroughly.

Cite any outside references as above (these are optional).

Use a professional writing style with complete sentences.

Proofread prior to final submission.

Check for spelling and grammar errors prior to final submission.

Abide by the Chamberlain academic integrity policy.

Week 4 Milestone 2 Vulnerable Population Assessment

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess an aggregate or vulnerable population in your community. You will also describe one community health problem that impacts this group. This problem must be one that a community health nurse could positively impact.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes:

CO2: Assess the health needs of individuals, families, aggregates, and communities using demographic and epidemiological data to identify population health risks. (PO 4)

CO6: Utilize a systems-based and collaborative approach to address factors that influence the health of a community and population health problems. (PO 2)

Due Date

Submit the paper by 11:59 p.m. MT Sunday by the end of Week 4.

Points: 225 points

Rubric

Click to view and download the NR443 Milestone 2: Caring for Vulnerable Populations Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..

Directions

Watch the Milestone 2 tutorial at http://www.brainshark.com/devry/Milestone2_2016 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

This APA paper is expected to be no more than four pages in length (not including the title page and reference list). Below are the requirements for successful completion of this paper. Please use the categories described below as the first level headings on your paper (note: the introduction does not carry a heading of “introduction,” instead the title of the paper is repeated and centered at the top of the second page in plain text). APA formatting helps you to format your paper in a professional manner and provides consistent methods for citing your sources within the paper and providing the complete reference on the reference page. See the APA resources for assistance with APA formatting. There is an APA template that you can use to type on and this will help with APA formatting. The SSPRNBSN Student Success Strategies resource has a module on writing scholarly papers and APA formatting. You may access SSPRNBSN by finding its tile in your dashboard, or clicking on the link in your course list.

Based on your community assessment, including your windshield survey and the assessment information from your discussions, identify one aggregate or vulnerable population in your community that faces a community health problem. See units five (5) and six (6) in Nies and McEwen (2015) for examples of vulnerable populations and aggregates. Your community must be the area where you live or work.

Introduction (one paragraph): The introduction should be interesting and capture the reader’s attention.

Provide a brief description of your community including the city name and state and key features.

Briefly introduce one aggregate or vulnerable population that you identified in your assessment.

Discuss the purpose of your paper. The purpose statement of the paper should relate to assessing this vulnerable population in your community.

Note: the introduction does not carry a heading of “introduction,” instead; the title of the paper is repeated and centered at the top of the second page in plain text.

Vulnerable Population Overview (one to two paragraphs):

Describe one aggregate or vulnerable group in your community in greater detail.

Include your observations about this group from the windshield survey.

Discuss events or trends that have affected this vulnerable group such as economic conditions, trends in health related behaviors or disease rates, etc.

Strengths, Risk Factors, and/or Barriers (two to three paragraphs):

Discuss the strengths, risk factors, and/or barriers that impact this vulnerable population’s health.

Include support from at least one scholarly peer-reviewed journal article in this discussion. Go to the Chamberlain library at http:/library.chamberlain.edu (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Search peer reviewed journals to find a scholarly article that discuss the strengths, risk factors, and/or barriers faced by this vulnerable group. Summarize what you learned from this article and cite the source in the text and reference page (Author, year). For this section, you must choose at least one scholarly article from a peer-reviewed journal. The article must be less than 10 years old (less than 5 years is best). You may include and cite your textbook or other scholarly sources as well, but they do not count as the scholarly journal article.

Please do not include more than two short quotations, at the most. You will need to summarize and analyze the information from the article in your own words.

Community Resources (one to two paragraphs):

Search your local public health department website, the internet, the local newspaper and/or telephone book for health resources available in your community for this vulnerable group.

Briefly describe the resources in your community that are available for this group.

Are these resources adequate? If so, why? If not, discuss gaps in services that you identified.

Community Health Problem Diagnosis (one to two paragraphs):

Based on your assessment and the Healthy People 2020 objectives, identify and discuss one priority community health problem that a community health nurse could positively impact. Examples include an increase in teen pregnancies, prevalence of cancer, high incidence of tobacco use, above average infant mortality etc. The problem must relate to the aggregate or vulnerable population you identified.

Go to the Healthy People topic areas at http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Find a topic area that relates to your aggregate or vulnerable population. Click on the topic area and then click on the green “Objectives” tab. Find and state the Healthy People 2020 specific numbered objective (not just a goal) that describes your problem (ex. for teen pregnancy, the topic area Family Planning is relevant, click the green objectives tab and you might choose FP-8.1 “Reduce pregnancies among adolescent females aged 15 to 17 years” (US Department of Health and Human Services: Healthy People 2020, 2016, Objectives: Family Planning, para 8).

Summary (one paragraph):

Summarize important points from the body of your paper including the aggregate or vulnerable group you identified and key factors that you discussed above that affect the health of this group.

Include a statement about the priority problem you identified.

End with a concluding statement.

Reference Page:

The Reference Page should start on a new page (insert a page break). All references should be cited within the body of the paper as (Author, year) and the full reference should be included in APA format on the reference page. A URL link alone is not an adequate reference. See the APA Guidelines in Course Resources for examples of properly formatted references.

Guidelines

Application: Use Microsoft Word 2010™ or later to create this assignment.

Scholarly Writing: APA format is required. Review the APA resources and take advantage of the free tutorial resources.

Use the categories above as APA headings for the sections of your paper.

Length: This paper is expected to be no more than 4 pages in length (not including the title page and reference list).

Quotations should be minimal – please paraphrase your sources. A maximum of two short quotations should be used for this paper.

Submission: Submit your paper by 11:59 p.m. MT Sunday of Week 4.

Save your paper with your last name in the document title (e.g., Smith Vulnerable Population Assessment).

Late Submission: See the Policies on late submissions.

Best Practices in Preparing the Paper

The following are best practices in preparing this project.

Use the assessment information that you collected in your windshield survey and weekly discussions to identify the aggregate or vulnerable group of interest.

Choose one nursing problem specific to your community that this aggregate or vulnerable group faces.

Find one article about this vulnerable group from the Chamberlain library from a peer reviewed journal.

Visit the SSPRNBSN Student Success Strategies resource for help with writing a scholarly paper, APA formatting, and library navigation. You may access SSPRNBSN by finding its tile in your dashboard, or clicking on the link in your course list.

Make sure all elements of the paper are addressed and headings for each category are included.

Review directions thoroughly.

Cite all sources within the paper as well as on the Reference page.

Proofread prior to final submission.

Check for spelling and grammar errors prior to final submission.

Use the first column of the rubric below to ensure that you have included all the needed elements.

Week 6 Milestone 3 Intervention and Evaluation

Purpose

The purpose of this PowerPoint presentation is to provide an opportunity to develop a community health nursing intervention and evaluation plan for a community health problem that you identified in your community (described in Milestone 2: Vulnerable Population Assessment). You will apply the components of the nursing process to assist this vulnerable population and develop a proposal that could be presented to community leaders.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes.

CO1: Apply principles of nursing theory to the public health system by analyzing determinants of health and the public health intervention wheel. (PO 1)

CO3: Plan prevention and population-focused interventions for vulnerable populations using professional clinical judgment and evidence-based practice. (PO 4, 8)

CO4: Evaluate the delivery of care for individuals, families, aggregates, and communities based on theories and principles of nursing and related disciplines. (PO 1)

Due Date

Submit your PowerPoint presentation by 11:59 p.m. MT Sunday by the end of Week 6.

Points

This assignment is worth a total of 225 points.

Scenario

You are a community public health nurse (C/PHN) working with the vulnerable population you identified in Milestone 2. You will choose a specific community health role that would serve this population. You have analyzed the data collected from your windshield survey and vulnerable population assignments (the first two milestones) and identified one community health problem that a nurse can impact. Now, review the scholarly literature or scholarly websites listed below and identify one specific evidence-based nursing intervention that has the potential to improve the health of this group. Then develop a proposal to implement this intervention and a plan to evaluate the outcomes of this intervention. Create a PowerPoint that you could use to present to an organization in your community to request approval for funding and support for this intervention. (You are not required to implement the intervention or present your PowerPoint, though you may want to consider implementing your project in the future).

Directions

Watch the Milestone 3 tutorial at http://www.brainshark.com/devry/Milestone3_2016 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..

Introduction: (average of 2-3 slides)

Describe the identified problem

Include at least two important findings that demonstrate that this is a problem in your community.

Describe your specific community health role: Some examples of roles are school nurse, parish nurse, home health nurse, occupational nurse, health department nurse etc.

Identify the purpose of the presentation which is related to proposing a community health intervention and evaluation plan.

Identify an evidence based intervention: (average of 2-3 slides).

Find an evidence-based nursing intervention from a peer-reviewed journal article OR one of the following databases. These databases evaluate research evidence about community health interventions. Be sure that your intervention is one that is recommended. Cite your source on the slide with the author or organization and year.

Use at least one of the following to identify an evidence based intervention:

A peer reviewed journal article demonstrating that your intervention has been successful

The Community Guide (http://www.thecommunityguide.org/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) Choose one of the topics in the topic tab to find interventions.

The CDC Community Health Improvement Navigator Database of Interventions (http://wwwn.cdc.gov/chidatabase (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.)

Healthy People 2020 evidence-based interventions. Find a relevant topic area at (http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.), click on that topic area, and then click on the “Interventions and Resources” tab to see the evidence-based interventions list for that topic area

Provide a brief overview of your intervention.

Discuss why this intervention is a good fit for your community (why you expect it to be effective in your community).

Intervention Implementation: (average of 3-4 slides).

Describe how you would implement your community health nursing intervention in your community

Discuss the actions will you take as the community health nurse to accomplish this intervention.

Relate your actions to the Public Health Intervention Wheel (Nies & McEwen, 2015, p. 14, Figure 1-3)

Identify your target population.

Describe how you will reach out to your target population.

Include strategies to engage your target population.

Describe where the intervention will take place.

Identify when your intervention will take place

Will it take place once or multiple times?

Identify those in the community that you will collaborate with (e.g., physician’s office, church, local resources, etc.).

Explain what level(s) of prevention is your intervention addressing (primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention)?

Proposed Evaluation Methods: (average of 2-3 slides)

Your presentation must include at least one proposed quantitative or qualitative evaluation method that you would use to determine whether your intervention is effective. Outcome measurement is a crucial piece when implementing interventions.

Describe the method you would use to evaluate whether your intervention was effective. (The Qualitative and Quantitative Education Methods (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. handout can help with understanding qualitative and quantitative methods of evaluation).

Identify the outcomes you would track to show whether your intervention works (eg. BMI would be one outcome you could track for a weight loss intervention).

When would you measure these outcomes?

Describe the short-term and long-term impact on your community if the intervention is successful.

Summary: (average 1 slide)

The summary should reiterate the main points of the presentation and conclude with what you are asking to be accomplished; for example, “Based on ABC, it is imperative our community has XYZ. Can we count on your support? Thank you for your consideration.”

In addition to the slides described above, your presentation should include a title slide with your name and role and a reference slide. Cite all sources used with (Author, year) on the PowerPoint slide.

The slides should include the most important points in short bullet pointed phrases. Do not include full sentences or paragraphs on the PowerPoint slides. You may add additional comments in the notes section to clarify information for your instructor.

The slides should be visually appealing and not overcrowded. Use an interesting template and include some clipart or graphics for interest.

Guidelines

Application: Use Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 or later.

Length: The PowerPoint slide show is expected to be no more than 20 slides in length (not including the title slide and reference list slide).

Save the assignment with your last name in the file title: example: “Smith Intervention and Evaluation.”

Submission: Submit your PowerPoint file by 11:59 p.m. Sunday by the end of Week 6.

Late Submission: See Policies on late submissions.

Tutorial: For those not familiar with the development of a PowerPoint slideshow, the following link to the Microsoft website may be helpful. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/training-FX101782702.aspx (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. The SSP Chamberlain Student Success Strategies offers a module on Computer Literacy that contains a section on PowerPoint. The link to SSP CCSSS may be found on your course list in the student portal.

Best Practices in Preparing PowerPoint

The following are best practices in preparing this presentation.

Be creative.

Incorporate graphics, clip art, or photographs to increase interest.

Make easy to read with short bullet points and large font.

Review directions thoroughly.

Cite all sources within the slides with (author, year) as well as on the Reference slide.

Proofread prior to final submission.

Spell check for spelling and grammar errors prior to final submission.