Community Health Nursing Task 1

Competency 7019.1.1: Epidemiology - The graduate applies principles of epidemiology to the assessment of the healthcare needs of communities.
Competency 7019.1.5: Environmental Health - The graduate assesses the impact of the environment on the health of the community.
Competency 7019.1.8: Cultural Competency - The graduate analyzes social and cultural factors that affect the care of diverse populations.

Introduction:

More emphasis is being placed on healthier communities as changes are occurring in the fields of healthcare financing, policy, and focus. One of the primary roles of a community health nurse is to assess the community or population in order to determine its health status in relation to its assets and needs.

Requirements:

A. Identify an appropriate community for which there is published data available (county, state, or national data) that will support the diagnosis.

B. Assess the health needs and risks of the identified community by utilizing the following tools:


Note: The collection of this data should include a variety of data sources, such as focus groups with older adults and/or youth, epidemiological data from the health department or department of vital statistics, investigations of community resources from stakeholders or faith-based organizations, and/or surveys. You do not have to answer every question listed in the assessment tools. Each of these tools can be found either in the web links section or as an attachment to this task.
• Population Economic Status Assessment

• Neighborhood/Community Safety Inventory

• Cultural Assessment Tool

• Disaster Assessment and Planning Guide

• Windshield Survey

• Population Health Scavenger Hunt

Note: The name of each of the six tools should be identified in the needs assessment summary, along with a brief summary of how each of the six tools was used in the needs assessment.
1. Interpret the collected data using concepts of epidemiology and health determinants (e.g., birth rate, death rate, rates of disease, morbidity).

C. Formulate an appropriate community diagnosis for the selected community by doing the following (suggested length of 4–6 pages):

1. Identify the top three problems for the selected community based on the Healthy People 2020 goals.

a. Discuss the problems in relation to the Healthy People 2020 goals.

2. Select one of the problems identified in part C1 that you would like to investigate further, and do the following:

a. Discuss community resources (e.g., Public Health Department, American Red Cross, American Heart) that are available to address this problem.

3. Formulate a primary prevention topic based on the problem you identified in part C2.