The Role of the Community Health Nurse

work with individual families and with families as an aggregate within the population (Clark, 2003). Several areas will be presented such as biophysical, psychological, physical environmental, sociocultural, behavioral and health system considerations. The data obtained during family health assessment enable the nurse to make informed decisions about the health care needs of families (Clark).

Close contact with anyone who is experiencing a fever, cough or shortness of breath and has traveled from the Arabian Peninsula within the past fourteen days should monitor their health beginning with last day of exposure and seek medical attention if they become ill (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015).

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.

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

Community health nurses have the responsibility of assessing the community he or she will be working in to provide the best care to the residents in the community and to gather this data the community health nurse completes a windshield survey (Nies & McEwen, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the findings from the windshield survey completed in Valdosta, Georgia.

McKinney, Texas is “unique by nature”. As one of the fastest growing cities in the US, McKinney has a current population of more than 149,000, located 30 miles north of Dallas and is the seat of Collin County. McKinney offers rolling hills, lush trees, a historic downtown square and unique neighborhoods and developments. The city ranks number 2 in the CNN’s Money Magazine Best Places to Live in America’s list (Live Edit, n.d.). According to the US Census Bureau (2010), McKinney was one of the most populous places to live with a census of 54,369 in 2000 and

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

The community chosen for this fieldwork practicum is Pasadena, California. Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of 2015, the estimated population of Pasadena was 140,881, making it the 183rd largest city in the United States (City Data, 2015). Pasadena is the ninth-largest city in Los Angeles County.

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing"-Theodore Roosevelt. Like Roosevelt, he saw that reflecting off hard work and spending hours interacting has an impact on the people. Nurses spend day and night helping the community and the patients. When one is in need or isn't satisfied they are there. Hard work pays off and nurses have chosen this profession to improve the quality of life for all. Nurses impact environmental health on human community through patients advocacy, informing communities/families, and keeping the environment clean.

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.

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.

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

Public health nurses "play a strategic role in helping reduce environmental and lifestyle-related health hazards by promoting a positive lifestyle, including exercise, stress management, accident prevention, weight maintenance, and nutrition education that is sensitive to socio-economic status and cultural beliefs” ("Obesity's Impact on Public Health Nursing," n.d.). Nurses can help by involving themselves in policy development by being active participants in the policy process as it closely resembles the nursing process. Through community assessments, public health nurses can determine health factors by assessing the socioeconomic, environmental, and behavioral factors of the population to determine interventions

Emotional competencies coping alone at home in the absence of mother for 45 hours will enable the child to develop confidence.