Community Health Nurse
Miami is a growing city in Florida, with an estimated population of 362, 000 people. The health status of the area has been particularly devastating, and health need assessment was carried out to verify the actual needs of the society, and how to meet them. The assessment was based on a plethora of facets, which entailed; finding out the number of people who suffered from various diseases, achieved through selection of few random Miami residents, representing a diverse cross section of the population. In conjunction to this, the relative need for the treatment was also identified, which incorporated the urge of better working nation, and the attainment of a good life. Further, there was the determination of the health services, both in existence and non-existence, comprising of a requisition for more health facilities, trained personnel, and faster and automated systems. In tandem to this, the core issue depicted from the assessment was the lack of proper information on the available health facilities and resources that could facilitate a better provision of healthcare to the residents of Miami. Provision of adequate information on health facilities and resources, is paramount to the provision of proficient health care to a given community, achieved through detailed awareness.
Over the years, the foremost, leading health issues in Miami has been chronic diseases-cancer and heart diseases-, mental health and stress levels, overweight, drug use, tobacco use, and injuries arising from frequent violence (Health Council of South Florida, 2007). The health issues have been profoundly attributed to lack of adequate information or lack of awareness on how to access medical facilities or the resources. In accordance to Health Council of South Florida (2007), the lack of effective spread of information about the health resources can be highly ascribed to the disparities in cultural and language aspects that construct barriers to the spread of information. In line with this, racial segregation, economic factors, for instance, poor housing and poverty, have also contributed to the enormous lack of spread of information on the availability of health resources (Health Council of South Florida, 2007).
Many attempts have been put in place in order to curb and solve the strenuous issue of the provision of better health care, and availing all the necessary and relevant information to the residents of Miami. However, most of the formulated principles and processes are quite ineffectual, ascribed to the fact that they are non educative, non informative, non evaluative, and less competent. This is depicted by the increase rates of tobacco consumption especially in high school students, which is a clear concept on lack of education and information on the dangers of tobacco (Florida Department of Health, 2006). Moreover, most of adults and parents with children suffering from various diseases are likely not to report the daily health problems to medical practitioners, indicating high levels of ignorance ascribed to lack of effective and relevant information (Health Council of South Florida, 2007).
In light with this, provision of adequate information on the availability of health resources for proficient health care can only be attained through aggressive processes of assessment, composed of detailed monitoring of health, diagnosis and investigation of health associated problems (Lundy & Janes, 2009). An aggressive assessment will aid in the understanding of certain health facets grappling the community, and consequently, how the environmental, economic and social factors affect them and how to solve them and inform the people (Lundy & Janes, 2009). The only set back will be consumption of a lot of time in undertaking the whole process. In addition to this, the policy making should be rigorous, so as to capture aspects like educating, empowering, and informing the society, mobilizing the community, and developing relevant policies, so as to engage the community on health associated issues, for the achievement of an adept health care and access to medical facilities (Lundy & Janes, 2009). The constrain, which can be, exhibited in the process is prospects of illiteracy, and non-cooperation by the community members. In addition to this, assurance should also be emphasized upon the community members, highlighting the following; enforcement of the formed policies, provision of care, assurance of competent work force, allowing better coordination of the health facilities, and the addressing all forms of health disparities (Lundy & Janes, 2009).
The most effective solution is the formulation of policy that consists of educating, empowering, informing the society, and mobilizing the community to participate in health related issues and report any health concern, for proficient achievement of appropriate health system and care (Lundy & Janes, 2009). In line with this, the policy will offer an efficacious opportunity to monitoring of diseases, provision of predictive information, on which to base treatments, types and lengths of care, and level of provider needed to achieve positive outcomes (Lundy & Janes, 2009). Conversely, the essential role of a nurse in a community is to position himself/herself at the interface between the community and the strategic decision so as to be able to transmit information about the community, also observe the impacts and interventions of the policies in the community (Sines, Saunders, Forbes-Burford, 2009). Thus with the suggested solution, the community nurse will be in a position, of effecting the solution in the community.
Concisely, lack of adequate information on health resources, has led to the death of quite a number of residents of Miami, due to ignorance about some preventable diseases. Besides, the inefficient spread of information has been due lack of the strong emphasis on the importance accessing medical facilities, language and cultural factors, racial discrimination and poverty. Nevertheless, the formation of quality policy that entails; educating, empowering, and mobilizing the community, provides an ultimate and sound solution to the problem of inefficient spread of the required information about health resources. The role of the community nurse as an intermediary between the decision makers and the community is also remarkably indispensable since it will allow the implementation of the suggested solution.
References
Florida Department of Health. (2006). Florida Youth Tobacco Survey Bay County Changes and Trends from 2000 to 2006. Retrieved from http://www.doh.state.fl.us/DISEASE_CTRL/EPI/Chronic_Disease/FYTS/2006_FYTS_County_Reports/Bay_County.pdf
Health Council of South Florida. (2007). Living Healthy, Living Longer: Translating Research into Action. A Guide to Health Improvement Opportunities in South Miami-Dade. Retrieved from http://www.healthymiamidade.org/system/js/back/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Living%20Healthy%20Living%20Longer%20in%20South%20Miami-Dade.pdf
Lundy, S. K. & Janes, S. (2009). Community Health Nursing: Caring For the Public's Health (2nd Ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC.
Sines, D., Saunders, M. & Forbes-Burford, J. (Eds.). (2009). Community Health Care Nursing (4th Ed.). West Sussex: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
