Nurse Home Care

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.

This paper will explore a community health concern from a population focused nursing perspective. The health concern will be a relevant and validated health concern for the community indicated. The relevancy was determined by the Health People 2020 (HP2020) health indicators and the validation of the concern was compared to past objectives being met and current objectives working forward, and the gap in satisfying the target goals set forth ("2020 Topics & Objectives – Objectives A-Z | Healthy People 2020," 2015). A major force in the community of concern is the Kern County Public Health

One of the suggestions is for licensed practical nurses and registered nurses to incorporate health care education and counseling, using evidenced based clinical guidelines, to patients with chronic conditions through continued care offered via home visits and telephone follow-up calls (Institute of Medicine, 2010). It is also recommended to utilize APRNs as primary care providers in both outpatient and inpatient settings as this decreases the provider to patio ratio thus potentially enhancing the quality of care, and it allows the APRNs to practice to their fullest abilities (Institute of Medicine, 2010). APRNs participating as primary care providers widen the opportunity for health promotion, disease prevention, and limiting disabilities via early diagnosis and treatment. Transformation to a health care system driven by primary care practice as suggested by the IOM report will create a more qualified, accessible, and value driven health care system (Tri-Council for Nursing, 2010).

I view Community/Population Nursing “As an extension of public health that includes organized health care services to the community through public and private agencies in addition to government agencies” (Nies & McEwen, 2015, p.). Community/population nursing implements the Core Functions of Public Health (assessment, assurance, and policy development) by integrating their clinical knowledge and their understanding of the entire population and its health and illnesses and communicates that knowledge to health planners and policy makers. Nurses promote public health through nursing interventions, programs, and advocacy and focus on the prevention of illness, injury or disability, the promotion of health, and maintenance of the health of populations

Meeting these goals will help the disparity in the community. The public health nurse is out in the community, they can see what changes in the community need to be done to better the health in the population. They work with the local health departments to understand what the greatest need is for funding to make the improvements in the community. As the American Public Health Association reports, “only 3 percent of our health care spending is focused on prevention and public health, when chronic conditions—the most common, costly and preventable of all health problems— account for 86 percent of our health care costs”. The Health Care Reform has made a special funding geared toward public health. As the American Public health Association reports, “the Prevention Fund is the nation’s first mandatory funding stream dedicated to public health programs”. A compentcy in the public health nurses position would be to collaborate with the community, local businesses, health oraginazations and local health departments to address the need of the community. Garcia et al. (2014) explain, “an important skill is learning how to develop collaborative community partnerships to

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

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

The public health nurses are integral part of the nursing workforce, who are caring for the entire populations. They are involved in educating people about health issues, identifying health risk factors unique to specific communities, provide health-related interventions based on community needs, conducting health prevention activities such as immunizations and screenings, and advocating to improve health care access for underserved communities (Explore Health Careers, 2016). The public health nurses are involve in illness prevention, and health promotion by reaching

First of all, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (ARHQ, n.d.) a medical home is not a home, but a concept of a primary care practice that incorporates a variety of medical services under one roof. This is where a patient will receive care from an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, pharmacists for a variety of health needs, and this care will treat the patient’s health needs as a whole. This type of patient-centered care can be obtained at a community

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

Smith, C., & Maurer, F. (2013). Community/Public Health Nursing Practice (5th ed.). :. []. http://dx.doi.org/. Retrieved from www.evolve.elsiver

Proceeding admission to home health care, the nurse establishes services including nursing care, physical and occupational therapy, home health aide, social work, and other medical assistances. The goals of home health care services are to help individuals to improve their function and live with greater independence, to promote the client’s optimal level of comfort, and to assist the patient to remain at home, avoiding hospitalization or admission to long-term care institutions.

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