NR443 Week All Discussions (June 2019)

NR 443 RN Community Health Nursing

Week 1 Discussion

Determinants of Health

Purpose

This week’s graded topics relate to the following Course Outcome (CO).

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

The Assignment

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, 2018, 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 https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Determinants-of-Health (Links to an external site.), and click on each determinant to read about it.

Choose one of the five determinants other than individual behavior (as we are all aware of how individual behavior impacts health). In your post, describe this determinant and its importance.

Discuss how a community health nurse (CHN) could use one of the 17 intervention categories from the Public Health Intervention Wheel to address this determinant (Nies& McEwen, 2019).

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2018). Healthy People 2020: About Determinants of Health. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Determinants-of-Health

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Week 2 Discussion

Demographic and Epidemiological Assessment

Purpose

This week’s graded topics relate to the following Course Outcome (CO).

CO 2: Assess the health needs of individuals, families, aggregates, and communities using demographic and epidemiological data to identify population health risks. (PO 4)

The Assignment

For this discussion, you will collect assessment data about your city or county. This post will include information about demographics (general characteristics). You will then find epidemiological data (disease or health behavior rates) about one priority health problem in your community.

Demographic data: Go online to the U.S. Census Bureau at https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ (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.)), and report epidemiological data about one priority health problem in your area. Examples include diabetes, heart disease, addiction, obesity, teen pregnancy, and more. Be sure that you accurately report how each statistic is measured. In the County Health Rankings site, you can hover over the category, and it will explain how it is measured.

How do the demographic characteristics of your community influence the health problem you chose?

County Health Rankings and Roadmaps.(2018). Explore rankings. Retrieved from http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/

U.S. Census Bureau.(2018). State and county QuickFacts. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/

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Week 3 Discussion

Caring for Vulnerable Populations

Purpose

This week’s discussion relates to the following Course Outcomes (COs).

CO 3: Plan prevention and population-focused interventions for vulnerable populations using professional clinical judgment and evidence-based practice. (PO 4 and 8)

CO 4: Evaluate the delivery of care for individuals, families, aggregates, and communities based on theories and principles of nursing and related disciplines. (PO 1)

The Assignment

Review the Week 3 Case Studies by opening the links below.

Child Abuse Case Study (Links to an external site.)

Senior with Dementia Case Study (Links to an external site.)

Maternal Child/Developmental and Mental Illness Case Study (Links to an external site.)

Choose one of the three attached case studies, and reflect on the vulnerable population that the case study portrays.

Identify which case you chose.

Discuss several risk factors that may impact health outcomes for the vulnerable population in your case study.

Identify one agency in your community that can assist this vulnerable group and assess this agency in terms of the 4 A’s (see the lesson). Discuss each of the A’s separately to assess accessibility, acceptability, affordability, and availability for this population.

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Week 4 Discussion

Community Settings

Purpose

This week’s graded topics relate to the following Course Outcomes (COs).

• CO 3: Plan prevention and population-focused interventions for vulnerable populations using professional clinical judgment and evidence-based practice. (PO 4 and 8)

• CO 5: Analyze the nursing roles in providing comprehensive care in a variety of community health settings. (PO 1)

The Assignment

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, 2019, Chapters 30-34). Please do not choose faith community nursing for this discussion because your paper is on faith community nursing.

• School nursing

• Home health nursing

• Occupational health nursing

• Forensic Nursing

• Hospice nursing

• Correctional nursing

Next study levels of prevention in this week’s lesson (primary, secondary, and tertiary). Note that the term primary is used differently than in normal conversation.

• Describe one of the levels of prevention, and discuss how a community health nurse (CHN) in the setting you discussed can implement this level of prevention.

Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2019). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.

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Week 5 Discussion

Disaster Preparedness

Purpose

This week’s graded topics relate to the following Course Outcomes (COs).

CO 3: Plan prevention and population-focused interventions for vulnerable populations using professional clinical judgment and evidence-based practice. (PO 4 and 8)

CO 6: Utilize a systems-based and collaborative approach to address factors that influence the health of a community and population health problems. (PO 2)

The Assignment

Preparing for disasters, terrorist threats, or communicable disease outbreaks is an important part of public health nursing.

Share an overview of a natural or human-made disaster that has occurred in your area in the last 20 years.

Include a URL and reference to the event. This may be a news article.

Describe how your community was impacted.

Describe lessons learned and changes made to preparedness.

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Week 6 Discussion

Environmental Health

Purpose

This week’s graded topics relate to the following Course Outcome (CO).

CO 6: Utilize a systems-based and collaborative approach to address factors that influence the health of a community and population health problems. (PO 2)

The Assignments

Visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s MyEnvironment site at http://www.epa.gov/myenvironment (Links to an external site.), and enter your city and state, ZIP code, or location into the location box.

Choose one of the topic areas.

My Health

My Climate

My Air

My Water

Then, click on the boxes under the Map Contents menu to add data into the map on specific topics. 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 resources.

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

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

Toxic release inventory: https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program

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Week 7 Discussion

Healthcare Policy

Purpose

This week’s graded topics relate to the following Course Outcomes (COs).

CO 4: Evaluate the delivery of care for individuals, families, aggregates, and communities based on theories and principles of nursing and related disciplines. (PO 1)

CO 7: Apply professional nursing standards and ethical principles to provide spiritually and culturally appropriate care. (PO 6)

CO 8: Demonstrate effective communication strategies and teamwork in managing the healthcare of individuals, families, aggregates, and communities. (PO 3)

The Assignment

Locate a news article or story related to a current event in healthcare policy. Some examples may be, but are not limited to healthcare reform, the Affordable Care Act, prescription drugs, healthcare costs, insurance coverage, healthcare fraud, transparency, or underinsured populations.

Provide a brief overview of the article, and include the URL link.

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

How can a community health nurse (CHN) be involved as a change agent for related healthcare policies?

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Week 8 Discussion

Future Directions

Purpose

This week’s graded topics relate to the following Course Outcome (CO).

CO 9: Examine future trends in community health nursing, including the impact of information systems and evidence-based practice. (PO 8)

The Assignment

Review this week’s lesson and assigned reading on the nurses’ role in population health, and reflect on what you have learned in this course. Address the following questions.

What future concerns are likely to impact public health?

How do you see global health concerns impacting your community?

Identify one way that you can implement population health in your community or workplace.

Please share specific examples.