Taking the nursing course NUR 479DE was useful as it provided information about ways that nurses can have an impact on health outcomes in particular groups and populations. The healthcare context in which nurses operate today is rather complicated, and so is the nurses’ role in it. While nurses have to provide high-quality care to individual patients, they also take part in improving the health outcomes of specific groups and communities. Working closely with patients, as well as other care providers, enables nurses to identify potential problems that could be addressed through interventions. Their unique position in the healthcare industry also allows nurses to plan and implement interventions aimed at improving community and public health. Overall, the content of this course and the assignments included in it were helpful in exemplifying the practical role of nurses in identifying and addressing the health concerns of communities.
The fieldwork experience proved to be helpful because it enabled me to study and apply the processes used by nurses to influence public and community health. As part of the fieldwork experience, I identified potential health concerns in a particular community, which included child patients in the Medical Daycare program. Observations and assessments conducted as part of the fieldwork experience were instrumental for highlighting problems in infection control. Further research included discussing the findings with other specialists involved and consulting scholarly resources. The information gathered as a result of the fieldwork experience allowed me to design an educational intervention that could improve infection control and patient health outcomes. The components of the fieldwork experience mirror those involved in community nursing practice. Thus, completing this project assisted me in developing and improving the skills and abilities that I could apply to improve my future nursing practice.
Observations, assessments, and research are crucial to nursing interventions aimed at improving community health. Community health assessments are particularly valuable in nursing practice since they help to identify the needs, health problems, and concerns of people in a particular community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018), community health assessments add value to nursing care by supporting health improvement planning. They provide comprehensive and reliable information that allows planning nursing care interventions that would benefit communities. The inclusion of community health assessments in educational programs also provides future nursing leaders with knowledge and experience necessary to ensure that their practice helps not just individual patients but also communities and the general public (Evans-Agnew, Reyes, Primomo, Meyer, & Matlock-Hightower, 2017). Hence, conducting a community assessment as part of the course helped me in gaining practical knowledge that would benefit my future work in healthcare.
One particular aspect of the course and the fieldwork experience that stood out to me was the role of different stakeholder groups in community health improvement. Both the theoretical information provided and my practical work as part of the course highlighted the importance of involving different stakeholder groups in health improvement efforts. For instance, my fieldwork experience focused on infection control practices of care providers. However, the educational intervention was aimed at various stakeholders, including care providers, patients, and their caregivers. Involving different groups of stakeholders in health improvement projects increases their potential efficiency (Albritton et al., 2014). Therefore, this new learning will assist me in planning and implementing health improvement initiatives more effectively in the future.
References
Albritton, E., Edmunds, M., Thomas, V., Petersen, D., Ferry, G., Brach, C., & Bergofsky, L. (2014).Engaging stakeholders to improve the quality of children’s health care.Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018).Community health assessment & health improvement planning.Web.
Evans‐Agnew, R., Reyes, D., Primomo, J., Meyer, K., & Matlock‐Hightower, C. (2017). Community health needs assessments: Expanding the boundaries of nursing education in population health. Public Health Nursing, 34(1), 69-77.