community health/public health nursing

Question description

Post a thoughtful response to at least two (2) other colleagues’ initial postings. Responses to colleagues should be supportive and helpful (examples of an acceptable comment are: “This is interesting – in my practice, we treated or resolved (diagnosis or issue) with (x, y, z meds, theory, management principle) and according to the literature…” and add supportive reference. Avoid comments such as “I agree” or “good comment.”

Response posts: Minimum of one (1) total reference: one (1) from peer-reviewed or course materials reference per response

Response posts: Minimum 100 words excluding references

Discusion 1

Today I will be discussing community health/public health nursing. The purpose of this post is to compare and contrast community/public health nursing with hospital base nursing practice in regards to core functions and essential services. Health promotion is a vital component to the overall health and wellbeing to individuals (Nies & McEwen, 2015). There are many different ways that nurses are able to promote health and wellness in different settings.

There are many similarities and differences to nursing in the community and nursing in the hospital setting, but one of the main goals for nursing overall is to promote healthy living (Nies & McEwen, 2015). The way these two areas of nursing work toward this goal often differ, but depend on each other. Discharge planning in the acute hospital setting begins at the time of admission (Graham, Gallagher, & Bothe, 2013). The nurse in the acute care setting is responsible for assessing the patient and identifying potential outpatient needs throughout the duration of their stay (Graham et al., 2013). Discharge planning can be an arduous task at times, and nurses are not always able to adequately prepare a patient and their support system, for an impending discharge (Graham et al., 2013). Acute care nurses are tasked with addressing a patient’s immediate issues, educating them during their stay, and arranging the appropriate outpatient resources (Graham et al., 2013). The unit I work on often has readmissions of patients who are noncompliant outpatient. Community nurses are a vital resource that assist patients with continuing their outpatient care in the hopes of decreasing readmissions (Cramm, Hoeijmakers, & Nieboer, 2014). An essential service of the community health nurse is to reaffirm and expand upon the education the patient received while in the inpatient setting.

In conclusion, the goal of nursing is the same for the community health nurse and the acute care nurse. Both areas of nursing rely on each other to identify a need, and to then continue the patient’s plan of care. Coordination of care is an important aspect across all areas of nursing, and by utilizing different skills, their mutual goals are achieved.

References

Cramm, J. M., Hoeijmakers, M., & Nieboer, A. P. (2014). Relational coordination between community health nurses and other professionals in delivering care to community-dwelling frail people. Journal of Nursing Management, 22(2), 170-176. doi:10.1111/JONM.1204

Graham, J., Gallagher, R., & Bothe, J. (2013). Nurses’ discharge planning and risk assessment: Behaviours, understanding and barriers. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 22(15-16), 2338-2346. doi:10.1111/JOCN.12179

Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2015). Community/Public Health Nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.