Community Health Paper

NURS 471- Community Health II

Purpose of Assignment
The purpose of this assignment was to identify the health risks and concerns among
aggregates within certain communities in the Norfolk area. Once these were identified,
assessment data was taken and compared to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions used.
Student Approach to Assignment
The Norfolk drug court program involved the release of detainees from the local prison
system who have not committed any violent crimes. Once in the program they are expected to
pay for their treatment, remain drug free, report to mandatory meetings and court appearances,
and develop strategically ways to deal with addiction to prevent relapse in the future. The Drug
court clinical group consisted of nine nursing students who sought out specific health related
concerns and applied interventions, logged the data, and evaluated the process.
Reason for Inclusion of the Assignment in the Portfolio
This assignment is included in the portfolio to exhibit my increase in knowledge and skill
required to apply nursing process to a community. This project taught me how I can work
effectively as a team player with peers in order to meet our common objective. I was able to
assess, plan, and implement practice related to community wide health education needs that
demonstrate the integration of a wide variety of end of program behaviors.
Critical Thinking
Engages in creative problem solving
Example: IN this project we had members who were in need of health care that was
beyond the scope of practice for our student group and the nursing group. However,
referring these members to their primary care doctors would not have been feasible
since most do not have insurance. For this reason we decided to look into programs
that could offer reduced or free services and found the EVMS free medical clinic to
refer them to.
Communication
Uses therapeutic communication within the nurse-patient relationship.
Example: Communication with the members allowed us to show that we were
interested in their care as well as their health, but did not actually develop the trust.
However, when we were able to follow up on the issues to make sure that they were
dealt with the patients were more appreciative and began to trust us more. This
increased trust and communication then gave rise to more opportunities for
interventions.
Teaching

 Provides teaching to patients and/or professionals about health care procedures and
technologies in preparation for and following nursing or medical interventions
Three teaching sessions were developed to improve the quality and access to care for
our aggregates. These teachings included preventive medicine and locations for free
or reduced access, nutrition, and exercise.
Research
Applies research-based knowledge from nursing as the basis for culturally sensitive
practice
The research that we utilized in this paper focused on the minorities, single African
American males involved with heroine, crack, and cocaine use, as well as the drug
dependency issues. Allowing us to further concentrate on specific health concerns
commonly associated with this population such as hypertension and stroke.
Leadership
Organizes, manages, and evaluates the development of strategies to promote healthy
communities
We found through the readings of nursing research, local data, and national data that
the population within the drug court commonly suffered from cardiovascular
consequences of cocaine, and heroin use matching the same issues that we were
actually dealing with in the Norfolk Drug Court population. These were the two most
commonly used drugs as used by our aggregates, and therefore gave us the intuition
to focus our care on cardiovascular care. Once this data was collected we decided to
teach on prevention, nutrition, and exercise. Within the prevention teaching we had to
develop strategies for members to gain access to resources within their community to
begin treatments.
Culture
Maintains an awareness of global environmental factors that may influence the delivery
of health care services
Unemployment, disperse grocery stores, and education play a key role in the
population that has been discussed in this paper. Lack of education within the
aggregates leads to less employment and modes of transportation. Transportation is
needed for both nutritious living and the access to healthcare. Walking longer
distances for some patients can be dangerous in the environment in which they live.
Cold, violence, and underlining conditions all influence the delivery to a group of
people who lack transportation and monetary means needed for adequate healthcare
as our research has determined throughout different parts of the world.
Articulates an understanding of how human behavior is affected by culture, race,
religion, gender, lifestyle and age.
Example: As stated in the paper many of these clients have grown up in broken
homes and are now repeating the lifestyle that is part of their culture. Repeating
behaviors like dropping out of school, using drugs, violence, unemployment, and
financial irresponsibility. However, as the time within the program progresses,
members begin to model their lives off of others in the program resulting in a change
of behavior and an increase in health and financial responsibility.