Nurse As Epidemiologist

We have prisons all over the United States that are overpopulated and this can lead to many problems. While being incarcerated for a crime, all inmates have the right to proper health care. When a person who is in prison gets sick, they do not have the liberty to make an appointment with a doctor, go to the emergency room, or even run down to the local pharmacy to get some over the counter medications. Inmates are solely at the hands of medical

“Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles” (ICN 2010)

Inmates within the prison system experience a vast array of medical issues. Their medical issues are costly and require medical personnel with a multitude of experience to be available to inmates. Inmate health care is more reactive than it is preventative, which results in expensive treatments. If we were to implement a more comprehensive preventative system within our prisons, we would see a drastic decline in inmate medical issues.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff 's Department is tasked with providing health care services to all incarcerated prisoners within a jail system which at present exceeds 18,500 inmates. Correctional Treatment Center (CTC) provides care and treatment for inmates requiring inpatient medical and or psychiatric care in this 196-bed rated medical unit located in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles. The inmate population is in poor health, largely due to the lifestyle choices of the inmates which often include substance abuse, violence, and living on the streets of Los Angeles. They require the same basic medical care that all residents of Los Angeles County require, including routine illness to advanced medical issues such as tuberculosis (TB), AIDS/HIV+, heart disease, diabetes, dialysis, paraplegics, and acute mental health problems. Additionally, problems associated with aging are becoming common as the jail population increasingly includes older inmates. In the wake of chronic overcrowding in the county lockups, the Sheriff 's Department has been struggling to provide adequate care for thousands of inmates, many of whom have never been treated, with illnesses ranging from tuberculosis to AIDS to schizophrenia. Reported rates of tuberculosis in jails and prisons are more than six times higher than those for the general population. Jails and prisons concentrate individuals at high risk for TB or noncompliance with therapy, including those who are

Community health nursing is a vocation; striving to improve the health of the community by promoting, stabilizing and protecting the health of individuals, families and identified aggregates. We are able to have the furthest reach when we can isolate a specific deficit of an aggregate through assessment and subsequently the development of a community support program. Community support programs promote health, access to services and self-advocacy.

Community health nurses face many concerns that can create environmental and global health issues. In history, humans have battled many health epidemics, from as early as the black plague, to polio, and more recent issues of measles, small pox, and HIV/AIDS. Many vaccines have been created and billions of lives have been saved, but there is still many unimmunized. Communities worldwide are at risk for many communicable diseases and should be prepared and knowledgeable about their community’s risks, protocols, and how to keep their community members safe.

Overcrowding, violence, poor nutrition, unsanitary conditions, and solitary confinement are all issues that contribute to public health consequences all over the world (Cloud, 2014). Being incarcerated exposes inmates to health risks such as risky sexual behavior with little access to condoms and shared needles for drug use and tattooing (Dumont, 2012). Compared to the general population, the people that seem to be incarcerated the most seem to come from poor communities, where there seems to be higher rates of chronic diseases. For example these diseases include the higher rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, hepatitis C virus, HIV, and syphilis all occur within correctional facilities. Furthermore, when these individuals return home, correctional facilities lack in providing them with access to valuable health care services and resources, and this ultimately further exacerbates the negative consequences of their health which contributes to population health disparities. Overall, public health agencies need to play a more active role for the incarceration

Community health nurses incorporate community participation and knowledge about the total population with personal, clinical understandings of the

A health system consists of many parts, people, and duties, all of which are to help improve the health of the community as a whole. Nurses are just a small part of the system, but at the same time they also play a big role in it. Nurses and the health care system both share a simple, common goal of improving the health of the population. In order for a health system to work there has to be people who are willing to fulfill the roles, which is exactly what nurses are helping to do. A health system describes what needs to be done in order to achieve better health. Nurses put themselves at risk everyday facing illnesses and diseases, but that does not stop them from doing their job. They are so determined to cure as many people as they possibly

Could treating prisoners for Hepatitis C (HCV) reduce the spread of this disease? The growing number of citizens that are testing positive for HCV is shocking, and the epidemic is just getting worse. One out of every one hundred people in the general population has Hepatitis C, but the ratio is higher in prisons. One out of every three inmates has Hepatitis C (CDC 2013). Among that ratio 50%-90% are injection drug users (CDC 2015). Hepatitis C (HCV) is a blood disease that is caused by a virus that affects the liver. Unfortunately there is no vaccine to prevent this disease. HCV causes chronic liver disease more rapidly than HIV (CDC 2015). HCV just like HIV, is a blood disease that is spread through contact with an infected person’s blood, and there are many ways to contract this disease. Injection drug users, physical altercations, sexual contact, tattooing, sharing razors or toothbrushes and mother to infant infection are just some of the ways this disease can be spread. Individuals who are incarcerated are more likely to take part in these high-risk behaviors (Wegner et al, 2014). Part of the problem is that prison officials have not been educated enough about the seriousness of this disease; therefore they don’t feel the same way. To reduce the spread of this disease testing inmates is very important. Since prison is where HCV is spread most frequently, we need to enforce proven strategies while inmates are contained in one place in order to reduce the spread of this

The roal of public health nursing is to promote and protect the health of the population. This proactive approach does not limit their scope of practice to health concerns of individuals but also to developing and implementing programs and policies that help enhance the health of populations. The role of public health nurses is to focus on population centered care with the outcome of promoting health, preventing disability and disease, and improving the quality of life. An effective public health nurse is able to evaluate assessment data to define population diagnoses and set priorities accordingly. They can also serve as advocates for individuals and families in the population to develop policies, access resources, and protect their

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

Community health nurses find out information about the community’s involvement and knowledge. They use their clinical understanding and experience to bring information to the community’s about different health issues in that area. For example if HIV was increasing in their area they would collect the numbers and data and bring it to the attention of other health care agencies to bring

As the principal science of community health practice, epidemiology plays a major role in community/population nursing practice (Nies & McEwen, 2015). Without the relevant data on the variables that describe disease patterns and etiology, it would be difficult for the community health nurses to appropriately carry out the health promotion and disease prevention interventions in the community. As cited by Nies and McEwen (2015) “The central goals of epidemiology are describing the disease patterns, identifying the etiological factors in disease prevention measures” (p. 78). One chief task of the epidemiologists is to present in numbers, the data that were collected, which a community health nurse would then use to “assess health problem,

The role of the community health nurse in the participating family’s community is to focus on the health needs of the aggregate or group. Community health nursing refers to a systematic, comprehensive focus on wellness, health protection, and disease, and injury prevention for the population residing in a specific area. The nurse functions as advocate, case manager, consultant, health care provider, educator, and collaborator with other agencies for healthy outcomes of the entire community. Nurses involved in the health of a specific community such as the family participating will assess the members living in the demographic