Application Of Community Health And Population Focused Nursing

Los Angeles is the biggest city in the southwestern part of the state of California. Every city has the five themes of geography, which are location, place, human environment interaction, region and movement. Just like every other city, Los Angeles has them too! The location of Los Angeles is 34.05 latitude and -118.24 longitude.

Financial burdens greatly limit the system’s accessibility; however, many in the U.S. are unable to fully utilize either option. Census estimates from 1999 indicate that 43 million Americans live without health insurance even though 75 percent of them have a full-time job or live in a household with at least one member working full-time (Mueller, , 5) In addition to the totally uninsured, census estimates also reveal that approximately 42 million other people in the U.S. are underinsured. This means that they have some insurance, but are still unable to afford all of their needed prescriptions, tests, visits to physicians, or hospital

So why don’t these people get insurance? Well, as is so often quoted, “money makes the world go round.” When it comes to health insurance however, it is not the world, but only America that seems to have a problem with providing health care for a reasonable price to its citizens. 55 percent of uninsured people answered that the reason they are without the safety of insurance is the reason everyone expects--they cannot afford it (NRHA 1).

Mexico won the right to California from the Spanish in the Mexican War of Independence in 1821. The war is what ended Spanish control of what was known as New Spain.

California was ruled by the Spanish until the early 1800 's. Around 1822, news that Spain was backing away from its northern colony reached California and led to some unrest and revolt. The state became fully independent in 1836 and bears the Red Lone Star Flag which contained a single red star on a white background.

According to the UCLA 2011, Adult’s Health Profile, the percent total of uninsured citizens between ages of 18 to 64 inShasta County is 26.5%, which had uninsured rates above the statewide average of 26.4%. The total insured citizens in Shasta County estimated to be 75%, access healthcare coverage through Medicare, Medi-Cal (California’s version of Medicaid for low-income people), employment-based insurance, or private health insurance. To be more specific, about 50.4% of total citizens are on employment-base insurance, 9.6% are under medi-Cal, and 13.6% are under other types of coverage. In 2014, U.S. citizens and legal residents will be required to have health care coverage. Therefore, those uninsured must have access to health care coverage in any way.

Hispanic origin is next with 2,336,076 or 28.6 percent, and black/African American non-Hispanic only constituting 22.8 percent or 1,861,295. Asian non-Hispanic had 12.6 percent of the population or 1,028,119 persons, non-Hispanic of two or more races 1.8 percent or 148,676 persons, and some other race non-Hispanic 1.0 percent or 78,063.

A month later, on June 14th 1846 in California, native English speaking people arrested the Mexican governor and imprisoned him and declared California the California Republic. Sloat claimed Monterey and took control of the California Republic. Later

1. Over 41 million Americans have no health care insurance according to the U.S. Bureau of Census.

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. (n.d.). County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. Retrieved August 1, 2014, f

I. More than 43 million Americans reported being uninsured throughout 2002 and millions more lack coverage for shorter periods. The lack of insurance negatively affects not only the uninsured, but their families, the communities in which they live, and the country as a whole (The Institute of Medicine).

Population health as a framework for examining health is not a new concept. Historically, epidemiologist have used this to formulate etiologies of disease by measuring variations within a population and the impact of environmental factors (Radzyminski, 2007). Governments have also applied this concept to the implementation of interventions geared at improving the health of nations (Radzyminski, 2007). Although the concept is not new, the term population health has only been recently defined and differentiated from the definitions of community health, public health, and population-focused care. This paper will discuss the current definition of population health, its impact on nursing practice, its relation to evidence-based practice, and the importance of interprofessional collaboration in the delivery of population health care.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the world, responsible for 30% of all deaths globally (WHO) 1 -3 deaths in the U .S. (CDC).

In an effort to promote the health needs within a community, a successful community health nurse (CHN) must focus on the entire population. In order to accomplish this task, the CHN utilizes a scientific approach to determine the priority population focused health needs for the community. According to Nies & McEwen (2011), a population focus involving an assessment of the community is a primary tool utilized in order to develop planning, interventions, and evaluations for the community at large. The purpose of this paper is to determine a priority

Community health nursing is a diverse discipline that works to provide equitable health care to all residents of Canada. To achieve this goal, nurses, within this discipline, aid community members in identifying public health concerns, planning feasible interventions, implementing appropriate action or policy, and evaluating the intervention process (Community Health Nurses of Canada, 2016). As part of my Nursing 431 Community Nursing course, I was able to participate in a hydration quality improvement project in Parkridge Centre, a long-term care facility operated by the Saskatoon Health Region. Although there are various health care issues within Parkridge, the community identified hydration as a major concern, after learning about the high percentage of long-term care residents that are at risk for dehydration. As a continuation of the Hydration Project that was initiated by the previous nursing students, our group would work with the community to identify an initiative to be implemented on the neighbourhoods of Eastridge 1 and Southridge 1.