The Importance Of Health Care In The Community

Since 1980, the United States has taken on 10-year plans that outline certain key national health objectives set to be accomplished during a 10-year timeframe (Shi & Singh, 2015). These initiatives are founded on medical care with prevention services, health promotion, education, community health care, and increased access to integrated services. The initiative, Healthy People 2010: Healthy People in Healthy Communities, launched in 2000. The initiative emphasizes the role of community partners such as

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

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2012). Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in the community (8th ed.). Maryland Heights, MO: Mosby Elsev

Community health is the process or characteristics that allow a community’s population and economy to survive. Community health is defined as the meeting of collective needs through identification of problems and

Creating social and physical environment that promote good health is another goal set by Healthy People 2020 that is designed to create and promote a healthy physical as well as social environment by the year 2020. Everyone deserves to have the equal opportunity to make healthy decisions that will promote good and healthy lifestyle. For this to be achieved, health care advances and improvements need to be made. Community integration and planning, social factors such as quality education, community based resources, social support system, hazard free environment all have significant impact on people’s health. With the challenges we face, nurses can promote a safe and healthy environment through nursing education and wellness programs, disease control programs, immunization programs and many more to alleviate and or eliminate burdens, reduce untimely deaths, and create safe environment that promotes a healthy lifestyle for all.

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

This paper seeks to expand upon the 2010 Institute of Medicine’s report on the future of nursing, leading change, advancing health and illustrating its impact on nursing education, practice and leadership. There is an ongoing transformation in the healthcare system necessitated by the need to achieve a patient centered care in the community, public, and primary care settings in contrast to previous times. Nurses occupying vital roles in the healthcare system, need improvements in the areas mentioned above to

When public health nurses collaborate with individuals, the focus is on promoting awareness, behaviors, and values that maintain and improve health, with the ultimate goal being of bettering the overall health of the population. These actions are also essential when interacting with families and communities, where the aim is in promoting family and community standards, attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors that improve their overall health. So in order to have positive outcomes the public health nurses need to also consider how essential it is to work with clients as equal partners. (p Book 8). The public health nurse’s actions must enhance understanding and the need for widespread health planning in collaboration with communities and populations, focused upon the perceptions, priorities, and values of the population.

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

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

Nurses take on educator roles both in educating the public on their health and as educators in clinical practice and academic settings. As a public educator, nurses teach and counsel patients and families to enhance health and well-being. Patient and family health education is an important step in preventing disease. In order to be able to properly educate their clients on health promotion and well-being, nurses must first fully understand “health”. Nurses do not view health as “the absence of illness” but “define health as the extent to which an individual or group is able to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs and to change or cope with the environment in which they live.” (CARNA, 2005, p.2). Nurses hold a holistic view of the person and health and address health within the context of a person’s wholeness, including biological, emotional, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. Incorporating these ideas, nurses use the determinants of health as a way of dealing with and achieving health for an individual. Nurses recognize the broad determinants of health as income & social status, education, culture, physical environments, gender, health services, social support networks, employment & working conditions, health services, personal health practices, and biology & genetic endowment.

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

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