Community Health Nursing (Theory) PDF

Community Health Nursing (Theory) Lecture Two LEARNING OBJECTIVES After completion of this lecture, students should be able to: – Define community health nursing. – Describe basic concepts of community health nursing. – Enumerate objectives of community h...

Community Health Nursing (Theory) Lecture Two LEARNING OBJECTIVES After completion of this lecture, students should be able to: – Define community health nursing. – Describe basic concepts of community health nursing. – Enumerate objectives of community health nursing. – Explain the characteristics of community health nursing. – Describe the roles and responsibilities of community health nurses. Community Health Nursing Community health nursing is a special field of nursing that combines the skills of nursing and public health for the promotion of health, improvement of social and physical environment conditions, and rehabilitation of illness and disability. – In community health nursing community is the patient, the family is the unit of care and there are four levels of clients: Individual, Family, Population group (with common characteristics, developmental stages – e.g., children, elderly), and Community. – In community health nursing, the client is considered an ACTIVE partner not a PASSIVE recipient of care Community health nursing involves the following basic concepts: – Promote healthy lifestyle – Prevent disease and health problems – Provide direct care (medical treatment) – Educate the community on the management of chronic conditions – Evaluate the community’s healthcare delivery system – Rehabilitation services and health programs 1|Page Community Health Nursing (Theory) Lecture Two The main aim of community health nursing is to help individuals, families, & communities in achieving the highest standard of health. Objectives of Community Health Nursing 1. Provide antenatal, intra-natal, and postnatal care to ensure safe pregnancy and delivery. 2. Provide under-five children care 3. Immunization 4. Health education 5. To improve the community's ability to deal with their health problems 6. To strengthen the community resources 7. To prevent and control communicable and non-communicable diseases 8. To provide specialized services 9. To conduct research Characteristics of Community Health Nursing (CHN): 1. It is a field of nursing 2. It combines public health with nursing 3. It is population-focused (concerned with the health status of the population) 4. It emphasizes prevention, health promotion, and wellness 5. It promotes client responsibility and self-care 6. It uses common measurement and analysis (collect and examine data on the population under study (Health status, environmental factors, SE factors) 7. It uses principles of organizational theory (assesses community needs, establish priorities, plan, implement, and evaluate services) 8. It involves inter-professional collaboration (the goal of community health nursing is achieved through multi-sectoral efforts) 2|Page Community Health Nursing (Theory) Lecture Two Roles and Responsibilities of Community Health Nurse: There are seven key roles and responsibilities of a community health nurse: 1) Clinician (or Direct care provider): – It means that the nurse ensures health care services, for individuals, families, groups, and populations of the community (children, elderly). – Provides direct nursing care to sick or disabled in the home, clinic, school, or workplace. 2) Educator: – Health teaching is a major function of community health nurses. – Community health nurse assesses the knowledge and skills of the community and provides health education according to knowledge level. 3) Advocate: – Community health nurses advocate for patients’ rights regarding their health care (equal treatment, and health services according to their needs). 4) Manager: – Community health nurses as a manager work to achieve specified goals (assess clients’ needs, plan and organize to meet those clients’ needs) 5) Collaborator: – Community health nurses as a member of the health team must work with clients, other health professionals, social workers, and community leaders. 6) Leader: – Community health nurse as a leader, influences and encourages positive change in health behavior of individuals, families, and community. 7) Researcher: – Community health nurses participate in studies and research on health- related subjects to solve problems and enhance community health nursing practice based on the research results. 3|Page