University of North Carolina Wilmington
NSG 408 Population and Community Health Assessment Assignment Guidelines
1. Group Project: Students will work in their assigned community groups
2. Readings: Stanhope & Lancaster textbook, Chapters 9 and 12
3. Evaluation Components: (a) Group presentation
(b) Self and peer evaluation of participation
A community assessment provides the basis and rationale for clinical interventions in community health nursing. Community Health Nurses assess the community by using the nursing process. Nurses gather subjective and objective date, cluster the data into meaningful information, prioritize health needs, develop Community Diagnoses, create interventions to address those needs, and evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions implemented.
The purpose of this assignment is to (a) examine population-based health needs for a vulnerable population (those with increased risk for developing poor health outcomes), to include available health care services within a specific geographical area; (b) assist health maintenance and promotion to address the health needs of the vulnerable population within a community as achieved through health education, participation, and support within the appropriate context; and (c) demonstrate competency in the role of the community health nurse for clients in a community with an educational activity through the use of the nursing process, communication, documentation, information, and healthcare technology.
This is an opportunity to apply public health nursing competencies in the delivery of essential public health services and to identify and assist in solving health problems in communities. The planning of the community health is based on meeting a community need identified in the community assessment.
This is a practice experience. Within your group you will conduct a windshield survey of your assigned county (a windshield survey is an actual assessment completed on foot or by car of your assigned county). As you are assessing your county take note of things such as; grocery stores, transportation (public and private), health clinics, hospitals, the condition of the community regarding housing, streets, crosswalks (the walkability of the community), and schools for example. This data will be used as you present an overview of your community within your presentation.
Upon completion of this assignment you will be able to:
Discuss frameworks used to assess communities
Identify the importance of community assessment in nursing practice.
Describe strategies for conducting a community assessment.
Conduct a community assessment.
Evaluate community assessment findings.
Develop a nursing care plan for a community problem.
Describe strategies for building community partnerships for effective community planning.
Begin this assignment by accessing your county’s community health assessment document on the Internet, this can be found by Googling your county’s name and community health assessment or by accessing the local health department website. From the information in this document you should be able to ascertain the breakdown of the county’s population and what the top health issues are. Use this as your starting point before you head out to conduct your windshield survey. This document should also give you a general idea of your vulnerable populations within your community.
In order to gain a complete assessment of the community several kinds of data are needed:
1. Windshield Survey of the Community and interview key members within the community:
Observation of community (windshield survey): The person (people) within your group who reside within the assigned community will conduct the actual windshield survey. Those not residing in the county can use Google Earth. This part of the assessment should begin by giving an overview of the county as a whole (county statistics; population, health issues, poverty levels, ethnicity, etc.) and then you will choose a zip code or school district to focus your community assessment on (focusing on the whole county is often overwhelming as counties tend to be very large). This portion of the assessment will give you a general idea of how the community looks and feels. Keep in mind how your observation of this community relates to the top 2 health issues for your community (identify 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses within your community that contribute to your identified top 2 health issues; for example if lack of dental care is a top health issues then how many dental practices are available in your community and how accessible are they). Review Chapter 12 pages 211-215 for guidance.
Interview one key informant community member: This portion of the assessment will give you an idea of how key informants in the community see the community they live/work in, in relation to the top 2 health issues for your community. For example, if the top 2 health issues for your community are lack of dental care and teenage pregnancy you may want to reach out to a dental practice or teen pregnancy center, school nurse or public health nurse who works at the local health department. This interview can be conducted face to face, by skype, phone, zoom or email.
2. Community Statistical data
Statistical data. This portion of the assessment will give facts about the community.
Locate relevant epidemiological statistics.
Review the latest (county/town) community assessment (web sites, town reports, or health department reports, interviews, etc.).
Locate demographic data from the census bureau about the population such as gender, income, unemployment, ethnic and racial groups, languages spoken, large employers, annual income and cost of housing.
Access data from the health department about major health issues, diseases, accidents, etc. Each county in NC should have a completed community health assessment on the internet for you to reference when completing this assignment.
Access data from other relevant websites. For example, Sperling is a website that contains recent city data (http://www.bestplaces.net/city/north_carolina/wilmington).
You can put in different cities and counties and click on health, employment, crime, etc. for the city. The census bureau also has data: (https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045216).
Synthesis of the Assessment Data: Describe the Community Health Status in terms of Status, Structure, and Process (pgs. 207-209 of your text)
Analysis: Once you have completed this portion of the community assessment, you will now analyze and summarize your observations and write 2 community health nursing dx to address the top 2 health concerns for your community (pages 212-213 in your text). Your community health diagnosis needs to be a complete diagnosis statement. How does your secondary data analysis compare to your primary data analysis (windshield survey and key informant interview).
3. Community Health Diagnosis
After assessing the community, analyze the composite data. The analysis should result in the discovery of gaps in care and community health strengths/weaknesses. You should be able to identify the vulnerable population you want to focus on and their top 2 health issues. Identify at least three community strengths (abilities) along with at least three community problems/weaknesses or gaps in care provision related to your selected top 2 health issues. Formulate at least 2 community nursing diagnosis; one for each of your identified health issues.
4. Planned Interventions
Write at least one primary, secondary and tertiary interventions for your 2 community health diagnoses (2 diagnosis with 3 leveled interventions per diagnosis for a total of 6 interventions; 2 primary, 2 secondary, 2 tertiary). One intervention should include an education component. Education needs your group recommends.
5. Conclusion
Provide a conclusion to your presentation to include what your group learned and how you feel this experience will impact your personal nursing practice.
*Your finished project should include the following within your power point slides. Please be sure to use the rule of 7’s; no more then 7 bullet points per slide with no more then 7 words per bullet point. This is a voice over presentation and can be submitted via You Tube link, Screen-Cast-O-Matic (you have 15 mins for free), Prezi, Power Point with Voice over or any other media source your group feels comfortable using. Please ensure that your uploaded link to your presentation or your uploaded presentation is able to be opened by your instructor as dead links can result in failing grades.
Presentation Information-Grading Guidelines
Each group will submit a PPT presentation presenting the following information:
Power Point:
Introduction-
Introduce your group’s topic, geographical area (give an overview of your community to include community pictures) and the vulnerable population you will be focusing on and why you chose this population.
Community Assessment-
Windshield Survey
Informant Interview
Secondary Analysis
Synthesis of the Assessment Date: Describe the Community Health Status in terms of Status, Structure, and Process (pgs. 207-209 of your text)
Community Diagnosis-
Identify the top 2 health issues for your vulnerable population
Identify 3 community strengths related to your 2 top health issues
Identify 3 community weaknesses related to your 2 top health issues
Formulate 2 complete community nursing diagnoses related to your top 2 identified health issues.
Interventions (primary, secondary, tertiary)
For each community nursing diagnosis provide primary, secondary and tertiary nursing interventions.
Conclusion-wrap up of health assessment
What did you learn?
How has this learning experience influenced your current/future nursing practice?