Public Health Nursing Essay

Public Health Nursing Essay

Public Health Nursing Essay

Public Health Assignment

Community health nurses play crucial roles in the promotion of public health. They collaborate with other healthcare providers in addressing the actual and potential health needs of their populations. Communities have diverse needs that must be considered in implementing public health initiatives. For example, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds often experience challenges accessing their needed care due to cost-related barriers. Therefore, this paper examines public health nursing assessment of individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds by incorporating the Public Health Nursing Tool (PHNAT).

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People from low socioeconomic backgrounds experience unique challenges that affect their health and wellbeing. They experience inequalities in the access to and utilization of healthcare services due to issues including costs of their needed care. Existing resources can be utilized to engage stakeholders in addressing their care needs. Accordingly, the resources may include those within their communities, such as social support networks and individual and family abilities to address their care needs. Social support systems within communities can create awareness, drive change, and implement best practices that will minimize the disease burden in low socioeconomic families. In addition, the support systems can be used to build resilience and cope with adversities in the affected populations and those at risk. Individuals and families can also be empowered to identify their abilities in addressing their unique health-related needs(Ved et al., 2019). Empowerment contributes to their enhanced responsibility in meeting their health needs.

Healthcare providers, governmental and non-governmental institutions also act as resources for engaging stakeholders in addressing the health needs of individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Healthcare providers create awareness about the health risks predisposed to low socioeconomic backgrounds. They also act as agents of change by empowering the communities about the importance of lifestyle and behavioral modification to address their needs. Government and non-governmental institutions provide human and material support to ensure individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds’ unique needs are met.

Community Health Issues

People from low socioeconomic status experience several health-related issues.  According to the USA Census Bureau statistics, the national poverty rate was 13.4% in 2019. The statistics translate into about 42.5 million Americans living below the poverty line. This rate is an improvement from the 15.6% reported in 2014 (DePietro, 2021). People from low socioeconomic status experience challenges in access to healthcare. The challenges exist in dimensions that include approachability, availability, acceptability, and accommodation of care. People from low socioeconomic status experience barriers to healthcare due to financial issues that limit their affordability of health insurance and healthcare services. The uninsured, poor populations have difficulties affording the healthcare they need, including prescription drugs and prescription access (National Academies of Sciences et al., 2018). As a result, their utilization of healthcare services is low, leading to adverse health outcomes.

Individuals from low socioeconomic status also tend to forego most preventive services. Accordingly, their utilization of screening services for health problems such as diabetes, cancer, and hypertension is low. As a result, they are diagnosed with such conditions at advanced stages, leading to worse outcomes thanindividuals from middle to high socioeconomic status in the USA. Low socioeconomic status also affects the living conditions of the population. Individuals from low socioeconomic status often live in unfavorable environments with characteristics such as a high rate of environmental pollution and occupational hazards that threaten their health. Evidence also shows that the individuals are prone to psychosocial conditions and material factors that contribute to their poor health (Tumin et al., 2018). An example is seen from their increased predisposition to social isolation and stress, which leads to health problems such as heart disease, obesity, and asthma.

Individuals from low socioeconomic status also experience pervasive social determinants of health. They include low educational attainment, unemployment, and availability of social services. Low educational attainment affects other access-related factors, including affordability of health services. It also affects employment status and household income, which directly affects access and utilization of healthcare services(Ali et al., 2019). The availability of healthcare services in low socioeconomic backgrounds is also low. For example, access to specialized care services in such settings is limited, affecting the healthcare outcomes of this population (Papanicolas et al., 2018). Therefore, the barriers and inequalities in care access and utilization among individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds should be addressed.

Dissemination to the Community and Its Stakeholders

Low socioeconomic communities should be informed about their health issues to stimulate change in addressing them. Several strategies for disseminating information on the above issues can be considered. One of the strategies is presenting the data to local community groups and their stakeholders. Healthcare providers can organize community meetings to educate the public about their health issues and available resources and strategies they can explore to address them (Ruralhealthinfo.org, 2021). They can also organize public awareness initiatives to create awareness and stimulate change. Dissemination of the information to the community and stakeholders can also be achieved with educational materials that include flyers, pamphlets, and guides. The educational resources empower the community on effective strategies to address their health-related issues with the existing community resources. Policy briefs can also be developed based on the information on the above issues for implementation at the community level (Ruralhealthinfo.org, 2021). Policy briefs enable the community to embrace specific recommendations to minimize its vulnerability to adverse risks. The findings can also be published in statewide and national publications to increase their relevance to government and non-governmental institutions. The publication will enhance the need for policy initiatives to address this population’s issues (Ruralhealthinfo.org, 2021). The additional dissemination strategies include developing toolkits for training in communities, sharing through social media platforms, and hosting events aiming at health promotion to share the information.

Importance of Preparing and Providing Quality Care

Individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds should be provided with quality healthcare. Providing quality care to the population will address inequalities in access to care and care outcomes. Accordingly, quality care will result in optimum outcomes, including the population’s experience with the healthcare services. Quality healthcare to the population will also promote safety. The risk of errors in medical care will minimize and be prevented, leading to cost-efficiency in the access and utilization of healthcare services (Fatima et al., 2019). Quality healthcare will also strengthen population-centeredness in the care process. Healthcare providers and stakeholders will focus on providing care that addresses the actual needs of individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds, hence optimizing their care outcomes. The focus on quality will also empower the population to take responsibility for its health. For example, the population will be informed about the lifestyle and behavioral modifications it needs to achieve its optimum health outcomes (Catchpole et al., 2017). Therefore, the provision of quality healthcare is imperative for the population.

Improvement Strategies

Addressing barriers to healthcare experienced by individuals from low socioeconomic status is important. One of the HealthyPeople 2020 strategies that can be adopted to address barriers experienced by this population is expanding health insurance coverage. Increasing insurance coverage among individuals from low socioeconomic status promotes their entry into the healthcare system. It addresses the barriers to healthcare, such as affordability of care (Healthypeople.gov, 2020). Therefore, the intervention will improve their health outcomes due to the increased utilization of preventive and health promotion services.

The other strategy that can be considered is investing in health to reduce poverty in the state. States should improve critical indicators such as morbidity and mortality rates in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Through it, the vulnerable will have the highest attainable health standard, which reduces the overall impacts of poverty on their health (Singh et al., 2017). The existing community resources can also address the challenges that individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds experience. Accordingly, healthcare providers and other stakeholders can collaborate to identify and utilize community resources such as social support groups in enhancing coping among the affected and encouraging collectivism in addressing barriers to healthcare.

Conclusion

Overall, individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds experience several issues that affect their health and wellbeing. The issues include inequalities in the access to and utilization of healthcare and worse health outcomes. Information about the issues should be disseminated to this population to create awareness and stimulate change. Healthcare providers should explore evidence-based strategies that can be used to promote optimum health in this population.

References

Ali, M. M., West, K., Teich, J. L., Lynch, S., Mutter, R., &Dubenitz, J. (2019). Utilization of Mental Health Services in Educational Setting by Adolescents in the United States. Journal of School Health, 89(5), 393–401. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12753

Catchpole, K., Neyens, D. M., Abernathy, J., Allison, D., Joseph, A., & Reeves, S. T. (2017).Framework for direct observation of performance and safety in healthcare.BMJ Quality & Safety, 26(12), 1015–1021. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2016-006407

DePietro, A. (2021). U.S. Poverty Rate By State In 2021. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewdepietro/2021/11/04/us-poverty-rate-by-state-in-2021/

Fatima, I., Humayun, A., Iqbal, U., &Shafiq, M. (2019).Dimensions of service quality in healthcare: A systematic review of literature.International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 31(1), 11–29. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzy125

Healthypeople.gov. (2020). Access to Health Services | Healthy People 2020. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/Access-to-Health-Services

National Academies of Sciences, E., Division, H. and M., Services, B. on H. C., & Disabilities, C. on H. C. U. and A. with.(2018). Factors That Affect Health-Care Utilization.In Health-Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination. National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK500097/

Papanicolas, I., Woskie, L. R., &Jha, A. K. (2018).Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries.JAMA, 319(10), 1024–1039. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.1150

Ruralhealthinfo.org. (2021).Methods of Dissemination. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/rural-toolkit/6/dissemination-methods

Singh, G. K., Daus, G. P., Allender, M., Ramey, C. T., Martin, E. K., Perry, C., Reyes, A. A. D. L., &Vedamuthu, I. P. (2017).Social Determinants of Health in the United States: Addressing Major Health Inequality Trends for the Nation, 1935-2016.International Journal of MCH and AIDS, 6(2), 139–164. https://doi.org/10.21106/ijma.236

Tumin, D., Menegay, M., Shrider, E. A., Nau, M., &Tumin, R. (2018). Local Income Inequality, Individual Socioeconomic Status, and Unmet Healthcare Needs in Ohio, USA. Health Equity, 2(1), 37–44. https://doi.org/10.1089/heq.2017.0058

Ved, R., Scott, K., Gupta, G., Ummer, O., Singh, S., Srivastava, A., & George, A. S. (2019). How are gender inequalities facing India’s one million ASHAs being addressed? Policy origins and adaptations for the world’s largest all-female community health worker programme. Human Resources for Health, 17(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-018-0338-0

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Assessment Description
Performing a public health nursing assessment is a critical first step in determining health needs and appropriate interventions to meet them. For this assignment you perform a public health nursing assessment using the Public Health Nursing Tool (PHNAT) included in Chapter 3 of the textbook, complete an assessment on a selected population. You are free to use your setting/population of interest discussed in Topic 3 DQ1 The setting population of interest discussed was community health or choose another population of interest.

Using the assessment framework provided by the PHNAT, develop a 1,250-1,500 report summarizing the assessment findings and identifying the public health needs for the selected population. The summary should include the following:

Resources to identify and engage stakeholders, define your diverse community
Collection and analysis of data regarding diverse community health issues
Summary of how the documentation of the above could be disseminated to the community and its stakeholders
Consider the importance of preparing and providing quality care to the diverse groups within your community. Within your summary, include how you would plan improvement strategies to include a Healthy People 2020 initiative. Lastly, include steps for implementation of the improvement plans and specifics guiding an evaluation of the plan.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

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