A community health nurse is a registered nurse trained to work in public settings. They play a significant roles in various jurisdictions such as state health departments, schools, businesses, or jails ( Brookes, Davidson, Daly & Halcomb, 2007 ). One of the roles of such nurses is acting as disease prevention specialists. The nurse is specifically focused on initiating disease prevention measures. For example, they can prevent the spread of a flu or other related communicable ailments. Moreover, other duties pertaining to this are diabetes control and also assisting mothers with their newborns in a bid to lower the infant mortality rate ( Brookes et al., 2007 ). Secondly, they act as community educators. This implies that they offer valuable information to families, and other people in the community which are capable of inducing healthy lifestyles. In schools they may, for instance, establish sex education and HIV classes.
The third most significant role of a community health nurse is acting as a leader. This is required especially where they utilize evidence based practices to implement policies and initiate quality-based incentives. They are bound to lead others in establishing successful health outcomes and also establish good social services. Another role involves acting as a researcher. For example, the nurse gathers evidence which can be utilized in executing positive changes that are bound to lead to healthy living ( Brookes, Davidson, Daly & Halcomb, 2007 ). The same research can also be used to validate funding obtained for various community health projects. The nurses also act as advocates. Their chief aim is to counteract health disparities and they are, therefore, obliged to advocate at local, state or even federal levels on behalf of their community. For example, they can assist a family to obtain help through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children ( Brookes et al., 2007 ). The community health nurse also acts as a caregiver, by offering prenatal care and education to expectant women and also offering quality resources to parents in a bid to establish proper development of children.
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How does the community health nurse assist the families of patients in their home settings?
It is apparent that some patients are not in a position to visit a health facility in order to access medical services. It is the duty of a community health nurse to reach out to such patients in order to ensure that they are in a position to access health services from their home settings. For instance, the nurses assist obese individuals by offering fundamental lessons to individuals who are not able to leave their homes and seek for such help ( Barrett, Terry, Lê & Hoang, 2016 ). The nurses may visit such an individual and create a diet plan for them to follow and may also assist them to engage in physical exercises capable of improving their health and wellness. The nurses may also visit families and educate them on the importance of good nutrition. Victims of substance abuse are also some of the beneficiaries of programs rolled out by the community health nurses since they teach them on best practices of managing their harmful behaviors.
Community health nurses also take up the initiative to visit families where one of the teenagers may be pregnant. In such a case, they educate the young person on ways they can use to manage their pregnancy and also follow up to ensure that the child is well managed after being born. It is also important to note that there are always new challenges facing families in the community. For example, there could be an outbreak of Zika, Ebola, hurricanes, dog bites, sexually transmitted diseases or tuberculosis ( Barrett et al., 2016 ). The nurses ensure that they face the challenge by making a positive difference on the lives of individuals through the assistance they offer in light of such issues.
What are some of the barriers related to the initiation of home care services in communities?
It is evident that some barriers exist in communities. There are barriers for various ethnic minority elderly groups. The most significant hindrance appears to be the language barrier. This occurs whereby there are limited networks of communication and, therefore, the navigation process pertaining to home care ends up being a challenging task. For instance, a Hispanic individual may fail to access this kind of health care owing to this deterrent ( Brookes et al., 2007 ). The lack of financial means to offer remittance for services rendered by the nurses is also another barrier likely to be experienced. It is also apparent that some of the individuals lack the confidence to communicate with the community health care nurse especially if they have low levels of literacy.
One cannot dispute the significance of trust in home care services being offered to individuals. Some of them are fearful that their privacy may end up being compromised. For example, in the event that a family member is suffering from a terminal ailment such as HIV/AIDS, they end up being afraid that if other people in the community get to know about this, they may end up stigmatizing the family. Another barrier capable of being experienced is workforce shortage and also the insurance status of individuals in the community. Moreover, stigma that is likely to arise amongst the individuals suffering from mental illness and substance abuse acts as a significant deterrent in the process.
How does living in an urban area versus a rural area affect home care services?
According to Genevieve (1993) it is apparent that rural home health users end up receiving on average three or more visits compared to those residing in urban centers. Besides, more skilled nursing aides pay visits to those living in rural areas. Medical social services and therapeutic visits are, nevertheless, more common among those in urban areas. This was established even as a growing concern emerged regarding the limited access individuals in rural areas have to home care services. In general, however, people residing in rural counties are less likely to get access to Home Health Agencies (HHAs) (Genevieve, 1993). Further details establish a significant difference in that a narrower mix of services is offered to those in rural areas compared to those in urban areas. This could be based on the idea that Medicare payment levels differ in both jurisdictions, with those in urban centers being willing to pay more for the services rendered. Also, research indicates that females are most likely to seek home care services compared to males and a majority of them live in urban areas. Finally, the logistics involved in terms of transportation and other amenities make it increasingly difficult for community health nurses to reach out to a large number of people living in marginalized communities.
References
Barrett, A., Terry, D. R., Lê, Q., & Hoang, H. (2016). Factors influencing community nursing roles and health service provision in rural areas: a review of literature. Contemporary nurse , 52 (1), 119-135.
Brookes, K., Davidson, P. M., Daly, J., & Halcomb, E. J. (2007). Role theory: a framework to investigate the community nurse role in contemporary health care systems. Contemporary nurse , 25 (1-2), 146-155.
Kenney, G. M. (1993). Rural and urban differentials in Medicare home health use. Health Care Financing Review , 14 (4), 39.
