Community and Public Health Nursing Reflection

Introduction

Community health assessment is a critical tool in locating the health dynamics within a geographical region. Community and public health assessments provide the necessary data in understanding the health concerns, health policies, health indicators, and other health needs of a community. Thus, this analytical treatise attempts to carry out comprehensive community and public health assessments for the Hope family community.

Role of community health nursing and community partnerships

As the nursing fraternity, it would be necessary to roll out community-based initiatives for addressing the normative and comparative needs of those infected and affected by cancer, hypertension, stroke, and alcoholic addiction through partnerships with the YWCA and the Senior Citizen Center. Normative needs represent the standard state of variances between a group and individuals sharing the same average summation criteria, as in the case of the family of Mr. Hope.

On the other hand, a comparative need is a quantifiable discrepancy that may exist in a group as compared to others that share characteristics that are similar as described in the Watson theory of human care. Thus, a partnership between the community health nurses and the other stakeholders will make the proposed interventions sustainable and acceptable among the targeted subjects (Fielding & Briss, 2006).

Influence of cultural diversity and vulnerable population

Vulnerable population in health status refers to groups within the populace that are victims to the worst health risks due to healthcare policy discrimination. For instance, the community consisting of Mr. Hope’s family falls in the bracket of the vulnerable population. There are different ages among the targeted community. The notable groups in the Hope family community are the youths and the aged. The aged cannot afford health care and are very vulnerable. For instance, Mr. Hope and Mrs. Hope are the most vulnerable. They cannot afford therapy due to a lack of insurance. Their children are also vulnerable since cancer therapy and curing alcohol addiction require a lot of emotional and social support. The lack of centers to provide these services make this community vulnerable.

Leading Health Indicator about the community

Accessibility of health care services is a major indicator of Healthy People 2020. This indicator measures the reliability, quality, and accessibility of different community health services within a geographical location (Healthy People 2020, 2013).

Community nursing diagnosis based on health care accessibility

Social and counseling support: The social and counseling support services are lacking in this community, despite the existence of the YWCA and aged centers. This indicates that the health care accessibility indicator is dismal.

Medical and therapeutic support: Despite the existence of a medical center, there is a clear indicator of lack of medical support. None of the members of Mr. Hope’s family can afford the medical services they need, and there is no support coming from any quarters. Mr. Hope and Mrs. Hope have to do without therapy. Their children must learn to cope with their health challenges without emotional support. Lack of medical support among the vulnerable members of this community is a strong indicator of health care inaccessibility.

Financial support: Lack of insurance in this community translates into improper treatment or therapy. The vulnerable members such as Mr. Hope has to accept home care as the only alternative to recovery, even when he knows it is not the best alternative to full recovery. This aspect indicates that this community cannot access affordable care.

Potential nursing intervention

Social and counseling support: The community should introduce a volunteer nursing program in the society to provide free home visits, counseling, and social support to vulnerable members such as the family of Mr. Hope. This will improve the prevention element in health care provision.

Medical and therapeutic support: The community may integrate a comprehensive community nursing program that aims at rotational health care services to the vulnerable members of this community. This is achievable through the creation of a standard of treatment for individuals in the service charter to address hypertension, Alzheimer’s, and other chronic ailments in the community. This will improve health care provision coverage.

Financial support: The community nursing program should be introduced to solicit funds from the stakeholders. The funds may be in the form of donations to the YWCA and aged centers. The funds may be used to subsidize the cost of treatment in the community. Thus, health service provision will be affordable among the vulnerable members of this community.

Community health partnership influencing the LHI

The development and implementation of wellness programs and health programs are initiated and managed by nurses. For instance, the volunteer counseling and home therapy program as a result of a partnership between the community nurses and other stakeholders could expand the regional accessibility to such vital services. The increased presence of voluntary counseling and therapy services will ensure that there is a rise in the inaccessibility of affordable, quality, and convenient health care. These parameters are the key elements in the health care accessibility indicator (Healthy People 2020, 2013).

How nurses can advocate for community involvement in change

Leadership inspires the need to contribute proactively towards the creation of a suitable environment for closing the gap that may exist between a challenge and its solution. A nurse participating in the proposed health care solutions in the Hope family community may offer creative leadership which is a rich recipe for acceptance, sustainability, and relevance of the proposed changes in the current community health care system (Novick & Kerkering, 2003).

References

Fielding, J., & Briss, P. (2006). Promoting evidence-based public health policy: Can we have better evidence and more action? Health Affairs Journal, 25(4), 969-978.

Healthy People 2020. (2013). Healthy People 2020 standards. Web.

Novick, F., & Kerkering, K. (2003). Community health assessment: Pitt County, North Carolina. Web.