Community nursing
Community nursing is not just health teaching or preventative medicine in a place other than an office setting, but has been developed from a social model of health generated from community models of practice (St John & Keleher, 2020). These services include epidemiology, public health, social science, health promotion, and general nursing knowledge. Community nursing does not necessarily mean caring for someone in their home, but rather caring for the community as a whole and exploring what obstacles, barriers, and needs of the community are and helping to address those needs. A nurse practitioner can help to establish initiatives, respond to the community’s needs, and create an environment that addresses local health issues (Mathieson, Grande, & Luker, 2019). These services include preventative care and education as well as interventional care. Nurse practitioners working in a community health role also advocate for the community and research policy developments that can help to eliminate healthcare disparities. Examples of community health nursing include addressing poverty and hunger, promote primary education, reduce child mortality, combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development (Anderson & McFarlane, 2020).
Earlier in this class we learned about health disparities and how certain populations are more susceptible to sub-par care and higher disease rates, such as in the LGBT community. When implementing community-based programs, it is important to be informed on the culture you are working with to ensure culturally appropriate and culturally sensitive care. Rather than focusing on disease-specific problems, we should develop new programs with the goal of primary prevention. People in communities “deserve comprehensive nursing care aimed at improvement of health for all” (Anderson & McFarlane, 2020). The community as well as the nurse practitioner should have common goals in healthcare with accessibility and services available to all.
