please answer each discussion post sepreately. only a one paragraph each
Community health nursing focuses on disease prevention and healthy lifestyles within the community (Kuo et al., 2021). This includes to improve the quality of life within the community by forming partnerships with the residents to assess and develop health improvement plans (Kuo et al., 2021). Some vulnerable populations include “homelessness, drug abuse, mental disorders, youth problems, and prostitution” (Shin et al., 2020). As stated in a scholarly article that I found, community health nurses impact the health a wellness of these vulnerable populations by applying a set of core competencies that include “public health sciences; assessment and analysis; policy and program planning; implementation and evaluation; partnerships, collaboration, and advocacy; diversity and inclusiveness; and communication and leadership” (Kuo et al., 2021).
An example of this is during Covid-19. Community health helped out in the primary health care services during the spread of Covid-19 by educating and advocating for their patients during the pandemic (Yodsuban et al., 2023). The vulnerable population in this study are the older adults in Thailand. This study showed that community health nurses provided education in the spread of Covid-19 as well as provide support for mental health and nutritional guidance for the older adults (Yodsuban et al., 2023).
In conclusion, the community health nurse provided education to the older adults that included proper hand hygiene, wearing face masks, and social distancing to control the spread of Covid-19. The nurses also made sure that the elderly clients had access to the resources to help them through this time. With the work the community health nurses did in the early stages of Covid-19, they helped to slow the spread with that specific vulnerable population (Yodsuban et al. 2023).
2. Darshan
Discuss how nurses working in your chosen specialty impact the health and wellness of vulnerable populations.
I have been working as a medical-surgical nurse for the last couple of years. I have seen a lot of cases of different health problems on my floor, as well as people suffering from opioid addictions. The opioid epidemic has devastated several communities in the United States, especially in recent years. On med-surg, the individuals I encounter with opioid use disorder are mostly those of low-income backgrounds, homeless, or those who have mental health disorders. In 2017, the opioid epidemic was declared a national public health emergency (Bote, 2019). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 130 Americans die from an opioid overdose each day, of which 46 involve prescription opioids (Bote, 2019).
In treating people with opioid disorders, nurses have been instrumental in providing care to patients. Nurses can provide comfort, implement addiction screening tools, and facilitate access to the appropriate treatment prescribed by the healthcare team (Painter, 2017). Additionally, we have been able to help patients access services such as social services, and case management for continuity of care once they are discharged from the hospital. Also, nurses can provide patients and their families with education on medications such as naloxone in case of emergencies outside of the hospital setting (Painter, 2017). I believe that working as a med-surg nurse has also provided me and other nurses on the unit with the ability to be compassionate and unbiased when we care for this group of vulnerable populations.