Community Health Project: Part I

NURS 470- Community Health Nursing I

Purpose of Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is to allow students the opportunity to gain entry and
assess a population within their community. Working with the community, students will identify
and prioritize a community diagnosis and develop a plan to address it.
Student Approach to Assignment
For my community health class, I worked with an aggregate of homeless individuals in
Newport News, Virginia with a program called People Offering Resources Together (PORT). I
worked with this aggregate for thirty hours in my first semester of community health where we
assessed the needs of this group of individuals. As a group we determined the most pertinent
needs of these individuals. In the written assignment we included: characteristics of the
aggregate, their needs, research related to problems and needs of this type of population, the
most pertinent nursing diagnosis, and interventions for this diagnosis were included throughout
this assignment.
Reason for Inclusion of the Assignment in the Portfolio
This assignment is included in the portfolio because it highlights the care that I gave to a specific
aggregate within our community and demonstrates my understanding of community health
nursing and ability to provide care in this setting in addition to my abilities and training in acute
care settings.
Nursing Practice
Implements traditional nursing care practices as appropriate to provide holistic health
care to diverse populations across the life span.
Example: The traditional nursing care discussed in this assignment included health
needs assessment, blood pressure screenings, nutrition screenings, and education
related to foot care, heart health, and dental care. It was mentioned that 65%of the
population were males and 35% females that make up the homeless population in
Newport News. We provided care to males, females, individuals of different racial
and ethnic backgrounds, individuals that were illiterate to very well educated,
individuals with different health problems, and children.
Communication
Adapts communication methods to patient with special needs.
Example: In this paper we stated that we would use pamphlets, visuals, and
demonstrations as needed in our teaching sessions because of the different literacy
level of the individuals that attend the program. We did have one individual who
could not read at all so we implemented visuals and demonstration so that he could be
included in the teachings we provided to the aggregate as a whole.

 Accesses and utilizes data and information from a wide range of sources to enhance
patient and professional communication.
Example: In the paper it was discussed that we would be teaching dental care, foot
care, and about hypertension/ heart health. For these teachings we gathered
information from a variety of books, websites, and research journals to provide wellrounded education to the aggregate. We also included literature review of
characteristics, problems and needs that we would anticipated finding with this type
of population
Teaching
Evaluates the efficacy of health promotion and education modalities for use in a variety
of settings with diverse populations.
Example: In this paper, one of the interventions discussed was teaching to the
homeless population on foot care, dental care, and hypertension/heart health. It was
stated that we would be evaluating the efficacy of our teaching through pre and post
quizzes. The quiz result comparison would determine the efficacy of health
promotion and teaching modalities we used.
Research
Differentiates between descriptive nursing literature and published reports of nursing
research.
Example: In this paper both descriptive nursing literature and published reports of
nursing research were used. Statistics were included to support characteristics of the
homeless population such that they live 30 years less than someone who is not
homeless. This is an example of descriptive nursing literature. Primary nursing
research studies were also included to help support these characteristics such as the
self-reports of the homeless individuals and the interviews that were discussed in the
literature review section of the paper.
Leadership
Assumes a leadership role within ones scope of practice as a designer, manager, and
coordinator of health care to meet the special needs of vulnerable populations in a
variety of practice settings
Example: Throughout this paper our group focused on assessing the needs of the
vulnerable homeless population of Newport News and designed, managed and
coordinated the health care of this population by facilitating a plan we wanted to
implement. Interventions needed were discussed throughout the paper to support our
focused nursing diagnoses of this population.
Initiates community partnerships to establish health promotion goals and implements
strategies to meet those goals.

Example: This paper identifies that we work with the PORT program to address the
health needs of this particular aggregate. The PORT group is made up of volunteers,
health professionals, and individuals that help the members of this population access
insurance, healthcare, jobs, and housing.
Organizes, manages and evaluates the development of strategies to promote healthy
communities.
Example: Throughout this paper we identified the needs of the population and
focused on their health knowledge deficit. We discussed that we would be organizing
nutrition and blood pressure screenings as well as health teachings to manage and
evaluate the promotion of health within this community. It was also discussed that
quizzes and tracking of the assessments would be used to evaluate the development of
these strategies used.