IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN VULNERABLE POPULATION
It is with much gratitude that this letter is written and addressed to the school board. To start with, the board is highly appreciated for the work done for the benefit of both the learners and the community at large. Much of the concern in this letter will address will be with reference to the community and the importance where there is increased underutilization within the community around the school. This is much of a proposal on the realization of the resources that the community has but without their knowledge results in spending much finance in trying to achieve the same goal.
According to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, it is aimed that every person ought to have reasonable primary education, which is achievable by the development of global partnerships (2010 International year of the nurse, 2010). In research around this community, there are several issues that have been noted as pertains to education and more specifically health education. It is natural that in the event of an individual falling sick that patients would seek medial care in the nearest available health care providing centers. In most cases, before the client at the health care facility is attended to, there would be need for some finances as a deposit as the patient wait to be attended to.
In reality, some of the issues that are addressed at the health facilities can be dealt with within the community setting. For example, in a research in this community, for which most of board members were witnesses to the research as the data was collected, there was evidence of patients who were attending hospitals for issues like physical therapy and other forms of therapy that can have their ailments management in the vicinity of the home setting. As the patients go to these facilities, there will be need for transportation to the medical centers or to the social services and provision of supplementary foods (Kaiser, Farris, Stoupa & Agrawal, 2009, p. 90) that still exists a major challenge.
Resources like the ambulances are at times overused whereas some issues can have the nurse addressing them from homes of individual patients. Take also issues like the social services which can be made simpler for the community by use of the automation services instead of making long queues in the service halls has the potential of making use of. Several other nursing issues like psycho-social counseling that can be done in the confines of the homes instead of having the patients to travel all the way to the medical centers to receive these services.
At the beginning of the research, I did invest some time in acquiring data pertaining to the Community Health Nursing Intensity Scale that is also used in other research and medical centers for proper prioritization. The health care intensity is the depth to which a patient’s unmet needs or requirements supersede those offered to the primary cases on a day-to-day basis (Kaiser et al., 2009, p. 87). This means that the higher the number of patients perceived to have intense care needs, the more attention they will be accorded. This may be good to these patients but at the same time it is a threat to those patients with primary care problems and thus making this population vulnerable (Kaiser et al., 2009, p. 88).
During the research there was evidence that after several rounds of admission of home services to the intense patients, there was positive progress because the environment and other necessities were conducive. In the research the average number of visits per client came to 9.21 (±2.7), for a 30 days collection period. At the start of the visits the calculated Community Health Nursing Intensity Rating Scale (that is ordinarily given the acronym CHIRS) total score was calculated to the range of 20 to 49, and there was an average score of 31.5 (± 5.7). This was the pre-intervention data while the post-intervention data demonstrated the following results. The CHIRS total score during the calculation came in the range of 15 to 49 while the average score was determined to be 28.7 (± 5.4). This data demonstrated similar results as a research done by Kaiser et al. (2009) that also demonstrated a considerable reduction in the intensity of health care needs (p. 87 - 97).
Such information is quite vital in that there are opportunities for which the community can benefit and be involved in decreasing the cases of intense health care cases in the medical facilities. It is with this notion that the group Sigma Theta Tau Initiative came together to try to assist health care providers. It is their effort to address and increase the knowledge on evidence-based nursing best practice as well as offering an opportunity to educate as many nursing professionals as possible to fill in the gaps. The world population continues to increase while the number of persons pursuing nursing professions continues to diminish at an alarming rate leading to one nurse having to attend to so many patients. The mission of the Sigma Theta Tau Initiative is to provide and promote better and improved nursing care in the whole world (2010 International Year of the nurse, 2010).
A school setting is the best place to pass this message where the school board manages the running activities and can both provide an opportunity for health care professionals to visit and demonstrate to the community how some medical issue can be addressed from the community stance. With regard to the community improving on the achievement of primary education level, then it is also important that the community implement additional classes, even if it is at a fee, to the community to let their learning students learn ways of handling and managing some illnesses. The school also stands a chance to influence more students to pursue the nursing careers, not for the money, but rather for the welfare of the community at large.
For the Sigma Theta Tau Initiative to partner and provide possible funding to this initiative there is need for the school to demonstrate initial strides toward achievement of better nursing care. To start with, the school can have the community congregate and arrange with local together with distant nursing professional to educate the community on home-based medical care, which may also include food resource management and physical activities both to the ailing and the healthy. Second, invitation of external career counselors to the institution and involving and updating the Sigma Theta Tau Initiative on the progress of the initiative would also be a step in the positive direction. Third, getting the community to participate in fund raising initiative by organizing for community walks and marathons and involving other potential stakeholders like the medical centers, and the media would also help.
Possibilities also exist of sponsorship via the Sigma Theta Tau Initiative and other agencies for which those interested in pursuing careers in the nursing profession can get scholarships according to their needs. Stanhope and Lancaster (2006) once noted that the promotion as well as partnership with the client while addressing the management of health behavior change is a key factor in promoting public and community health nursing. It is also said that knowledge is power, but it depends with what is done with the power so acquired. If the community intends to improve the nursing services offered to the community, it is crucial that the community leaders seek avenues and become proactive in seeking solutions to the challenges. The road to attainment of this may not come at once, but with perseverance and partnership, it is possible to reach whichever goal. Many more research works also exists that support these ideas, which the community can gain access to in an effort to verify these claims.
It would be with much appreciation to have the school board considers getting involved proactively in seeking a solution to the challenge. While those in the nursing profession strive to offer the best of services, help from within the community that the nurses attend to will be a major boost. It is not just to the services available to the community and ease of burden on the nurses but also motivation to the nurses to know that their efforts are not futile.
It is with these facts that I wish to rest the case before the school board for deliberations and consideration knowing full well that the school provides the best chance for community education. Much appreciation for taking time to read this letter. The school board’s positive response will be highly appreciated.
Reference List:
Kaiser, K. L., Farris, N., Stoupa, R., and Agrawal, S (2009). Public and Community Health Nursing Interventions with Vulnerable Primary care Clients: A Pilot Study. Journal of Community Health Nursing 26, 87-97. DOI: 10.1080/07370010902805221.
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J (2006). Foundations of nursing in the community: Community-oriented practice (2nd Ed.) St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
2010 International Year of the Nurse: A Celebration (2010). 2010 IYnurse, in recognition of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), seeks to recognize the contributions of nurses globally and to engage nurses in the promotion of world health. STTI, NIGH, FNM. London.
