NR 442 Community Health Nursing

Chapter One – Focus Study Plan Topics

 Define – Community Health Nursing- is the synthesis of nursing practice and public
health practice. The major goal of public health nursing is to preserve the health of the
community and surrounding populations by focusing on health promotion and health
maintenance of individuals, families, and groups within the community.
 Define - Community- is seen as a group or collection of individuals interacting in social
units and sharing common interest, characteristics, values, and goals.
 Define- Homogeneous population- composed of parts or elements that are all of the
same kind; not heterogeneous: a homogeneous population. 2. Of the same kind or nature;
essentially alike.
 Define Coalitions- An alliance for combined action
 Community cooperation- the process of working together to the same end
 Collaboration- the action of working with someone to produce or create something.
 Aggregate- A subgroup or subpopulation that have come common characteristics or
concerns.
 Population- is typically used to denote a group of people having common personal or
environmental characteristics. It can also refer to all of the people in a defined
community.
 Which factors contributes to an individual’s health- genetics, lifestyle choices
 Health Peoples 2020 leading Health indicators- access to health services, clinical
preventative services, environmental quality, injury & violence, maternal, infant, and
child health, mental health, nutrition, physical activity, and obesity, oral health,
reproductive and sexual health, social determinants, substance abuse, and tobacco.
 What are PH nurses 2 most important priorities
 Identify 3 primary goals of Healthy People 2020- Increase the span of healthy lives for
Americans, reduce health disparities among Americans, and achieve access to preventive
services for all Americans.
 Why are American concerned about health care- Because Americans are very
unhealthy compared to the rest of the world and health care is not equally available to all
Americans.
 Where are the greatest number of Nurses employed
 Which ethical belief is considered the most helpful in today health care crisis
 ANA Code of Ethic the reaches beyond giving excellent patient care
 Health issue of the most concern in the United States TODAY
 Why do PHN want to know about Morbidity and Mortality statistics, local, state and
national level
 How do Public Health efforts differ from medical efforts in improving health

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  Define- Primary (or Specific) prevention- Prevention of problems before they occur/
Health promotion and health protection (immunization)
 Secondary prevention- Early detection and intervention/ Early diagnosis and treatment
(screening for STI)
 Tertiary prevention- Correction and prevention of deterioration of a disease state/
Limitation of disability and rehabilitation (teaching insulin administration in the home)
 Health education - is any combination of learning experiences designed to help
individuals and communities improve their health, by increasing their knowledge or
influencing their attitudes.
 What are some of the TASK the PHN can employ to help the health agency meet there
goals
 What type of nursing care is provided to a patient in the home
 Relationship of PHNP to PHIW
 Define Health (as per WHO) - The extent to which an individual or group is able, on the
one hand, to realize aspirations and satisfy needs; and, on the other hand, to change or
cope with the environment. Health is, therefore, seen as a resource for everyday life, not
the objective of living; it is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources,
and physical capacities.

Chapter TWO – Focus Study Plan

 Explain why some people use Folk Healers - Societies retain folk practices because
they offer repeated success. Most cultures have a pharmacopoeia and maintain
therapeutic and preventive practices, and it is estimated that one fourth to one half of folk
medicines are empirically effective. Indeed, many modern drugs are based on the
medicines of primitive cultures (e.g., eucalyptus, coca, and opium)
 Set up a table identifying Lillian Wald’s contribution to PH/CH nursing –
 Established Henry Street Settlement in 1893 (along with Mary Brewster)
 Played an important role in establishing public health nursing in the United States—
later called “Visiting Nurses Association of NYC”
 Role of Henry Street Settlement was “one of helping people to help themselves”
(Wald, 1871)
 The Children’s Bureau and the Social Security Act Legislation formed as a result of
these efforts
 Discuss the primary focus of health care efforts in the united States- Focus on health
and not so much disease management and cure.
 Outline Florence Nightingale contribution to evolution to modern health care-
 Credited with establishing “modern nursing”
 Concern for environmental determinants of health
 Emphasis on sanitation, community assessment, and analysis
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  Use of graphically depicted statistics and comparable census data
 Political advocate
 Education reform for nurses
 Discuss role of John Snow to decreasing patient death rate from Cholera- A very
critical event in the development of modern public health occurred in 1854, when an
English physician, anesthetist, and epidemiologist named John Snow demonstrated that
cholera was transmissible through contaminated water. In a large population afflicted
with cholera, he shut down the community’s water resource by removing the pump
handle from a well and carefully documented changes as the number of cholera cases fell
dramatically.
 What disease provided immunity to smallpox- immunity to smallpox resulted from an
inoculation with the cowpox virus.
 What public Health practice provided a means of self-Protection from Black Death
(bubonic plague)- This plague, or Black Death, claimed close to half the world’s
population at that time; and for centuries, medicine and science did not recognize that
fleas, which were attracted to the large number of rodents inhabiting urban areas, were
the transmitters of plague. Modern public health practices such as isolation, disinfection,
and ship quarantines emerged in response to the bubonic plague. During the Middle
Ages, clergymen often acted as physicians and treated kings and noblemen. Monks and
nuns provided nursing care in small houses designated as structures similar to today’s
small hospitals. Medieval writings contained information on hygiene and addressed such
topics as housing, diet, personal cleanliness, and sleep.
 Define Prevalent - widespread in a particular area at a particular time.
 Endemic- Diseases that are always present in a population (e.g., colds and pneumonia).
 Epidemic- Diseases that are not always present in a population but flare up on occasion
(e.g., diphtheria and measles).
 Pandemic- The existence of disease in a large proportion of the population—a global
epidemic (e.g., HIV, AIDS, and annual outbreaks of influenza type A).
 Modern medical care- Philanthropic foundations influenced health care efforts. (1916:
Rockefeller Foundation established first school of public health at Johns Hopkins.

Chapter SIX – Focus Study Plan

 What is a windshield Survey and how can CHN used this tool-
 Gain an understanding of environmental layout by “driving or walking through an area
and making organized observations.
 Locate possible areas of environmental concern through “sight, sense, and sound”
 Gives nurse an opportunity to observe people and their role in the community
 Deals with community vitality, indicators of social and economic conditions, health
resources, environmental conditions related to health, social functioning, attitudes
towards health and health care.

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  Explain the role of a community health nurse-
 What tool does the CHN assist the community to develop that address future problems -
 What tool is used by the CHN to gain an overview of a community – Windshield
Survey, census data, and vital statistics
 State information the CHN use from the U.S. Census Bureau – characteristics such as
ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and housing class. Also demographics such as
population size, and the distribution of age, sex, race, and ethnicity.
 What is the role of the National Center for Health Statistics – prevalence of disability,
illness, and other health related variables, and other emerging health problems and
specific risk behaviors by state.
 What information can the CHN use from the Community Assessment – income,
poverty, and occupational factors.
 Write a community Health diagnosis- Increase risk of Heart disease among the Indian
community of Devon in Chicago related to a diet high in fat as demonstrated in public
health record.
 List the central component of the definition of Community- Health planning for and
with the community is an essential component of community health nursing practice. The
term health planning seems simple, but the underlying concept is quite complex. Like
many of the other components of community health nursing, health planning tends to
vary at the different aggregate levels. Health planning with an individual or a family may
focus on direct care needs or self-care responsibilities. At the group level, the primary
goal may be health education, and, at the community level, health planning may involve
population disease prevention or environmental hazard control.

Chapter Seven – Focus Study Plan

What did Lillian Wald suggest regarding Public Health Nursing- Wald (1971) described a
range of services that evolved from the House on Henry Street. Nurses provided home visits, and
patients paid carfare or a cursory fee. Physicians were consultants to Henry Street, and families
could arrange a visit by calling the nurse directly or a physician could call the nurse on the
family’s behalf. The nursing service adopted the philosophy of meeting the health needs of
aggregates, which included the many evident social, economic, and environmental determinants
of health. By necessity, this effort involved an aggregate approach that empowered people of the
community. Helen Hall, who later directed the House on Henry Street, wrote that the
settlement’s role was “one of helping people to help themselves” (Wald, 1971) through the
development of centers of social action aimed at meeting the needs of the community and the
individual. Community organization led to the formation of a great variety of programs,
including youth clubs, a juvenile program, sex education for local schoolteachers, and support
programs for immigrants. Additional programs such as school nursing were based on individual
observations and interventions. In 1902, Wald persuaded Dr. Ernest J. Lederle, Commissioner of
Health in New York City, to try a school nursing experiment. Henry Street lent a public health

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nurse named Linda Rogers to the New York City Health Department to work in a school (Dock
and Stewart, 1925). The experiment was successful, and schools adopted nursing on a
widespread basis. School nurses performed physical assessments, treated minor infections, and
taught health to pupils and parents. In 1909, Wald mentioned the efficacy of home nursing to one
of the officials of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The company decided to provide
home nursing to its industrial policyholders, and soon the United States and Canada used the
program successfully.

 Why is it important for the PHN to be knowledgeable about the community and the
environment
 What activity must take place before the evaluation plan - Assessing the community/
needs assessment/ then planning.
 Where does the community health nurse spends the majority of her time- Caring for
individuals/ Although the focus of care is the aggregate, the community health nurse will
find the majority of time is spent caring for individuals.
 What resources would inform the PHN about an aggregate in the community?-
 What was the principal outcome of the Hill-Burton Act? - An increase in the number
of hospital beds/ The Hill-Burton Act was also called the Hospital Survey and
Construction Act, which was to address the need for better hospital access. Federal aid
was given to states for construction of hospitals.