Community health nursing is critical to the well-being of members of society, particularly those that have challenges in accessing health care. At its core, community health addresses the needs of such people who are predisposed to chronic health. Furthermore the overall health in some parts of the community is likely to be compromised by factors such as poverty, lack of education, and environmental hazards among others. Notably some community members need nurses to help them from their homes. Such community members are unable to take public transport due to reasons such as lack of insurance or even means of transport. As such community health nurses play a critical and significant role in educating the public, managing medication, and assessing the quality of care either in the care settings or even at their homes.
The Role of a Community Health Nurse
One of the primary responsibilities of community health nurses is health education. They are supposed to use their skills, expertise, and experience to offer educational and advisory services to the members of the community they serve (David & Laoingco, 2017). Health education is important in promotion of health and prevention of diseases in communities. Among the topics on which community members are educated include dietary issues, the need to exercise, and sanitation among others. Through the training sessions by community health nurses, members learn how to implement what they have learned and take the necessary preventative measures for their well-being. Research reveals that community education has been successful because community health nurses circulate in communities and have direct interactions with the members (Molina et al, 2019). Among strategies employed by community health nurses in health education include home visits, education to mothers, community health nursing programs, and preventive education.
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Another role of the community nurse is assessing the equality of health care delivery. Without a doubt, there has been health disparities in the United States, with one major reason being the unequal access to health care (Barr, 2019). Some members of the community depending on their economic status, income, and employment status have a better chance at accessing health care. Others as a result of poverty and lack of insurance have no access to medical care despite being in need. As such a community health nurse should ensure that members of the community they serve have access to affordable medical care. It should be a mission of the community health nurses to deliver services equally. Furthermore, one of the principles of primary health care requires equitable distribution of health care services to all community members without discrimination on the basis of being rich and poor or male and female among other factors (Johar et al, 2018). Community nurse should ensure social justice in health care delivery.
Community health nurses also play a significant role in recording and reporting health events, activities, and health status of a community. In communities that medical services are not available due to certain constraints, community nurses are expected to thoroughly assess the situation and give a report in terms of resources or there lack of. Such initiatives can be useful in helping the health care ministry in the country to plan ahead and know the number of resources to be allocated for that community in the future. Recent research reveals that in the rural communities of India, community members are faced with challenges of accessing health care due to financial constraints (Shields-Zeeman et al, 2017). As such there are high infant and maternal mortality rates. A community nurse can avert these deaths by timely reporting for the health care ministry to intervene. In addition, a community health nurse can register pregnant women for antenatal checks.
Community Health Nurses in Home Settings
It is worth noting that the home care environment is different from that of hospitals and other settings such as churches, religious institutions as churches, schools, and correctional facilities among other settings where community nurses could possibly be working. As such, community health nurses’ role in families differ from one patient to the next. One of the ways in which community nurses could help patients in home settings is assessing the quality of care they receive (Strandås & Bondas, 2018). The nature of home health care services differ from those presented in a normal hospital setting. The quality is susceptible to compromise because home health care could be done by caregivers or even other members of the family. The community health nurse should ensure that the health care quality is maintained and also report outcome measures such as a fall, or accident among others.
Community health nurses can also help in medication management. Research reveals that approximately a third of the older people population have problems in management of medication that arises from taking medicine that is considered inappropriate for the elderly (Holden et al, 2019). In addition, they are vulnerable to medication errors. Majority of home health care patients deviate from the medicines they have been prescribed at the hospital. In a recent research that involved education interventions delivered by telephone or video for the purpose of follow up, results indicates the identification of errors in cardiovascular and psychotropic drugs. Community nurses had to intervene for medication management to enable adherence to drugs among patients receiving home care.
In conclusion, community health nurses play a critical and significant role in educating the public, managing medication, and assessing the quality of care either in the care settings or even at their homes. As highlighted in the essay, the significance of community nurses in community health cannot be emphasized. Communities are dynamic and nurses should be prepared to provide patients with the care they need whether at home or under a particular setting.
References
Barr, D. A. (2019). Health Disparities in the United States: Social Class, Race, Ethnicity, and the Social Determinants of Health . Johns Hopkins University Press.
David, J. J. T., & Laoingco, J. R. C. (2017). Awareness of Community Health Nurses on and Relevance of Global Health Competencies. I-Manager’s Journal on Nursing , 7 (1), 16.
Holden, R. J., Srinivas, P., Campbell, N. L., Clark, D. O., Bodke, K. S., Hong, Y., ... & Callahan, C. M. (2019). Understanding older adults' medication decision making and behavior: A study on over-the-counter (OTC) anticholinergic medications. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy , 15 (1), 53-60.
Johar, M., Soewondo, P., Pujisubekti, R., Satrio, H. K., & Adji, A. (2018). Inequality in access to health care, health insurance and the role of supply factors. Social Science & Medicine , 213 , 134-145.
Molina, Y., Watson, K. S., San Miguel, L. G., Aguirre, K., Hernandez-Flores, M., Giraldo, T. B., ... & Matthews, P. A. (2019). Integrating multiple community perspectives in intervention development. Health education research , 34 (4), 357-371.
Shields-Zeeman, L., Pathare, S., Walters, B. H., Kapadia-Kundu, N., & Joag, K. (2017). Promoting wellbeing and improving access to mental health care through community champions in rural India: the Atmiyata intervention approach. International journal of mental health systems , 11 (1), 6.
Strandås, M., & Bondas, T. (2018). The nurse–patient relationship as a story of health enhancement in community care: A meta ‐ ethnography. Journal of advanced nursing , 74 (1), 11-22.
