Foundations of Community Health Nursing Flashcards
Community Health
Identification of needs & the protection and improvement of collective health w/in a geographically defined area (Community)
Concept of Community
Geographic: Neighborhood
Common-Interest: Boarding-school, assisted living, homeless shelters
- Those who share
Solution: How can we improve our community
Ex) Gun control
Aggregate: People who live in a community
- How do they interact w/ one another
- Population
Public Health
Activities that society undertakes to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy
Public Health Nursing
Nursing that is community-based & is population focused
Primary Level of Prevention
Promote & educate to keep the disease process from occurring
Ex) Prevention of falls, hand-washing
Secondary Level of Prevention
An early diagnosis to provide interventions of early detection early in their occurrences
Ex) Mammogram, pap smear
Tertiary Level of Prevention
Prevent damage & pain from the disease
Slow down the disease
Prevent complications
Provide rehabilitation & restore health
Characteristics of Community Health Nursing
Field of nursing w/ shift from individual to aggregate
Combines nursing science w/ public health science
- Community based & population focused
- Public health outcomes and nursing theory
Focuses on population-level outcomes
Emphasis on prevention
What is the primary obligation of community health nursing?
To achieve greatest good for greatest number of people or population as a whole
There is also an obligation to actively reach out to all who might benefit from a specific activity
- Providing resources to ensure the best overall improvement in the population’s health is a key element.
Collaboration with various other professions, organizations, and entities is the most effective way to promote and protect people’s health
What is the nursing process for community health nursing?
Processes used include working with the client as an equal partner
Primary prevention is the priority
Strategies are selected to create health environmental, social, and economic conditions in which populations may thrive
Which activity would reflect a community health nurse working at the primary prevention level?
A) Teaching safe sex practices to a 6th-grade class
B) Performing adult hypertension screening
C) Encouraging women to do breast self-examination
D) Helping w/ a post-mastectomy exercise program
Answer: A) Teaching safe sex practices to pre-teens
-Rationale: An educational program that teaches safe-sex practices is an example of primary prevention.
Performing hypertension screening and encouraging breast self-exam are examples of secondary prevention level activities.
A postmastectomy exercise program would be an example of a tertiary prevention level activity.
Florence Nightingale
Pioneer of Modern Nursing
Advocated for patient sanitary practices (changing sheets daily)
Clara Barton
AKA “Angel of the Battlefield”
Participated in the office for Missing Soldier’s for Family Unification
Founder of the American Red Cross (1871)
- Known activity is blood collection
Lilian Wald
“Baptism by Fire”
Helped reduce child mortality rate
Founder of the Organization for Community Health Nursing
Advocated for children in child labor laws and women in minimum wave
Mary Brewster
Assisted Lilian Wald to form the Henry Street Settlement
Mary Breckenridge
Pioneered the Frontier Nursing Service
Traveled in rural areas
Population she focused on were women and infants in Southeast Kentucky
Clinician Role in Community Nursing
Care provider
Home health
Urgent care
Health department
And others
Focus on holism, health promotion, and prevention while using expanded skills
Educator Role in Community Health Nursing
Health Teacher
Plan for community-wide impact
Advocate
Pleader of the client’s cause or actor on behalf of the client
Support the client’s self-determination and independence
Make the system responsive & relevant to the client’s needs
MUST
- Be assertive
- Take risks
- Communicate & negotiate well
- Identify & obtain resources for the client
Manager Role in Community Health Nursing
Administrative direction of goals
- Plan
- Organize
- Lead
- Control
- Evaluate
Participative approach w/ community
Collaborator Role in Community Health Nursing
Joint working w/ others
Multidisciplinary collegiality & leadership
After a class discussion about the contributions of Lillian Wald to the advancement of community health nursing, which of the following if stated by the class indicates that the discussion was effective?
A) Establishment of family-centered nursing and outreach services in New York City at the turn of the 20th century
B) Use of clean and safe nursing care practices to soldiers during the Crimean War in the 1850s
C) Assistance to high-risk populations experiencing tropical diseases in Central America and the Caribbean in the late 1800s
D) Creation of home nursing services in London, marking the beginning of district nursing in the 1860s
A) A) Establishment of family-centered nursing and outreach services in New York City at the turn of the 20th century
A community health nurse is engaging in assurance activities. Which of the following would best explain these activities?
A) Gathering and analyzing information that will affect the health of the people to be served.
B) Providing leadership in facilitating community groups toward meeting their needs, often involving changes in and additions to existing laws
C) Being involved in activities to make certain that necessary services are being provided to the community
D) Accessing relevant data that enable identification of strengths, weaknesses, and needs within the community
C) Being involved in activities to make certain that necessary services are being provided to the community
