Community Health Assessment: Prevention of Communicable Disease Community Education
In this part of the assessment, you will apply nursing knowledge to gain a holistic perspective of the risk of spread of communicable disease for the individual, family, or group that accesses care at an agency that focuses on meeting community needs (e.g., elder care, children’s day care, health department). The purpose of this portion of the assessment is to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to educate community members about the prevention of the spread of communicable disease. To do this, you will:
- Synthesize assessment data in the context of the specific agency and client situation.
- Focus on agency representatives to establish disease prevention strategies (e.g., teaching opportunities) for their clients.
- Assess the agency’s policies for the prevention of communicable diseases (e.g., handwashing and disinfection) and make recommendations for changes to existing policies, if necessary.
Part 2a: Working With Clients/Patients From Local Community Agency
Conduct a needs assessment with your selected patient population (Oklahoma) by discussing perceived health issues from a selected community agency related to the prevention of communicable diseases.
Consider the following questions after conducting the needs assessments:
- What health-related problems were identified (e.g., access to primary health care, access to medicines, opioid overdose, respiratory illness)?
- Of the health problems identified, what are the most immediate and pressing needs that can be addressed with readily available resources?
To answer the 2 questions listed above, complete the following:
- Apply SWOT analysis. To do this, imagine you are assisting at least 5 members from the patient population (Oklahoma) in identifying their strengths and weaknesses as related to primary prevention of the health problems identified. This is specifically in regard to the prevention of communicable disease. For example, to help the 5 members overcome their weaknesses, you could develop a list of local free clinics to refer them to, advise them to download GoodRx on their smartphone, provide them with information on the availability of naloxone and how to obtain it for free, tell them about vaccines for vaccine preventable diseases, and communicate to them the importance of masks, handwashing, social distancing.
- Prepare a 350-word summary of possible patient population interactions.
Format your summary according to APA guidelines.
Part 2b: Community Health Assessment – Prevention of Communicable Disease (2 Indirect-Care Hours)
Complete the following as part of a possible conversation with an agency representative (ideally, the same agency you’ve been working with):
- Examine an agency’s policy that addresses the prevention of 1 communicable disease in their facility. Ideally, communicable diseases should also be a priority for the patient population (e.g., pneumonia in older adults or gastrointestinal illness in children).
- Conduct an organizational assessment that includes a SWOT analysis of the effectiveness of the agency in enforcing and/or implementing this policy and any related procedures. Include in your SWOT analysis any difficulties the agency has identified in enforcing their policy with their clients.
Identify an appropriate primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention intervention that your chosen agency might use to strengthen the policy and related procedures to prevent the spread of communicable disease (e.g., handwashing and other health information signs, availability of hand sanitizer, and educational pamphlets).
Based upon your findings, including the patient population’s identified health needs, communicate the proposed modifications to or the development of new policy to the agency. Use national patient safety resources, initiatives, and regulations to inform your recommendations to the agency.
Prepare a 400 word summary that includes:
- Appropriate primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention intervention that your chosen agency might use to strengthen the existing policy
- Proposed modifications to the agency policy or addition of a new policy
Format your summary and any citations and references for any sources according to APA guidelines.