PART 1:

It is very easy to support the idea of improving our healthcare system. It is very hard to actually carry-out an actual improvement project.

There are many reasons for this difficulty, including improvement means changing how we do things – and most of us don’t like to change.

To better explore the issues surrounding trying to improve healthcare, this week’s discussion is a little different.

Instead of focusing on discussing a specific question, this week’s focus is on keeping a running diary on our Discussion Board about actually changing something – for real. 

More specifically, I charge you with documenting doing something, big, medium, or small in your own life that is designed to improve your own personal health.  

I encourage you to use all the materials and websites I provided this week; I think you’ll find them useful in doing the activity.  I especially recommend you look at the Escape Fire First Aid Kit to help you with ideas for your improvement project.

There are five parts to this week’s project:

One:  Identify something about your current health status that needs improvement. For example, you might select drinking more water, eating more fruits and vegetables, and cutting down on fast foods. Or maybe you choose a more ambitious area for improvement like joining a gym, walking 10,000 steps a day, or making some other significant change in your overall lifestyle to improve your general health status.

Two:  After you select what you are planning on improving, the next step is to identify exactly what you will need to do in order to make this change really happen in your real life. 

So for example, if your change is to increase the number of fruits and vegetables you eat each week, then what, exactly, will you need to do to make that happen?  As you think through your planned change, you will then see that maybe you will need to shop in a different way, maybe spend more time on food preparation, or convince others that you may cook vegetables for them to eat too, etc.

Three:  After you identify your implementation plan, the next step is to implement it.

Four:   After implementing your plan, your next step is to determine whether or not your plan is working, and if needed, revise it so it works better. As part of this assessment, you should identify unexpected barriers to successful implementation and what you will do to address those issues.

Fifth:  The last step is to determine how much change you were actually able to accomplish by the end of class time this week

Given this project schedule, it is important that you start immediately. 

PART 2:

QUALITY, COST, AND ACCESS

 Considering what you have learned this week, what are the most important issues in balancing cost, quality, and access? What are the ways to solve or overcome these issues? Please support your answers with credible evidence.  

A research critique demonstrates your ability to critically read an investigative study. For this assignment, choose a research article related to nursing or medicine to critique.

• Articles used for one assignment can’t be used for the other assignments (students should find new research articles for each assignment).
• The selected articles should be original research articles. Review articles, meta-analysis, meta-synthesis, and systemic review should not be used.
• Mixed-methods studies should not be used.

Your critique should include the following:

Research Problem/Purpose

• State the problem clearly as it is presented in the report.
• Have the investigators placed the study problem within the context of existing knowledge?
• Will the study solve a problem relevant to nursing?
• State the purpose of the research.

Review of the Literature

• Identify the concepts explored in the literature review.
• Were the references current? If not, what do you think the reasons are?

Theoretical Framework

• Are the theoretical concepts defined and related to the research?
• Does the research draw solely on nursing theory or does it draw on theory from other disciplines?
• Is a theoretical framework stated in this research piece?
• If not, suggest one that might be suitable for the study.

Variables/Hypotheses/Questions/Assumptions

• What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?
• Are the operational definitions of the variables given? If so, are they concrete and measurable?
• Is the research question or the hypothesis stated? What is it?

Methodology

• What type of design (quantitative, qualitative, and type) was used in this study?
• Was inductive or deductive reasoning used in this study?
• State the sample size and study population, sampling method, and study setting.
• Did the investigator choose a probability or non-probability sample?
• State the type of reliability and the validity of the measurement tools.
• Were ethical considerations addressed?

Data Analysis

• What data analysis tool was used?
• How were the results presented in the study?
• Identify at least one (1) finding.

Summary/Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations

• What are the strengths and limitations of the study?
• In terms of the findings, can the researcher generalize to other populations? Explain.
• Evaluate the findings and conclusions as to their significance for nursing.

The body of your paper should be 4–6 double-spaced pages plus a cover page and a reference page. The critique must be attached to the article and follow APA guidelines.

*** Rubric is attached ***

community health assessment

NM208 In-Class Assignment #7

1. You are the nurse in a surgical center. A patient arrives with a printout of the complications of the surgery for which he or she is scheduled. Additionally, the information advocates alternative treatments. Discuss how you can work with this patient.

2. Find a high-quality web-based support group for a client with a condition of your choice and outline how you would teach the client about this site.

Topic 5 DQ 1

Health promotion and health education work together with the same goal and depend on each other. Health education provides the tools, sources, experiences for health promotion of patients by helping them increase their knowledge and have control over diseases, avoid complications, reduce and reverse the effect of illness and understand the influence of internal and external Social Determinants Of Health; directing the patients to choose healthier ways towards wellness (Falkner, 2018).

The nursing process uses the assessment to identify the problem and learn needs, diagnose, plan, implement, and evaluate with open-ended questions or have a return demonstration the patient’s understanding of materials to ensure that the correct information is received or if there are still some questions/concerns (Falkner, 2018). In that way, achieving health education/health promotion of patients.

A contemporary issue that families experience today is not having access to health care services due to low incomes as well as high health and/or not being able to afford health insurance. Other issues are barriers in language and cultural differences where patients may not be receiving complete care. (Healthy People, 2020).

Before addressing any problem, the nurse process should be followed as a model.

• Every health care worker must assess the patient asses to health care or needs and education level concerning the use of places.
• The diagnose will state the reason why there is no access to health care (no insurance, no close facility or no available services in the area, no money, no time, illegal or undocumented people).
• The plan will outline activities of how the nurse can provide education on where to access health care such as free clinics or government insurance, and health fairs.
• Implementation of the education provided will allow the nurse to provide and adjust according to the needs, resources that will increase and ease the access to health care for families. Also, recommending health care centers designed for low-income families.
• Evaluate how the patient understands the information and how to use it (Falkner, 2018).References
  Falkner, A. (2018). Cultural Awareness. In Health promotion: Health and wellness across the continuum. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/5
  Healthy People 2020. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). Access to Health Services. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/Access-to-Health-Services

Topic 5 DQ 1

Health education is “any combination of learning experience designs to help individuals and communities improve their health, by increasing their knowledge or influencing their attitudes” (Falkner, 2018). The nurse role in health education in health promotion involves the knowledge and skills of the nursing process. Nurses are actively involved in both health education and health promotion in all tasks by using skills and knowledge to empower patients to live healthy lives. We ensure basic needs are met, assess the current needs, plan and implement strategies and evaluate its response. 

The nurse on contemporary affecting family issues involves gathering knowledge thru the assessment and wellness screens. Targeting behaviors modification such as diet, physical activity are simple everyday ways to encourage self-care. Families need support and guidance to face challenges, life as we know it is far from easy. Families are faced with a multiple of issues as society influences day to day life. Issues regarding safety such as Fires, falls, guns, drowning and poisoning (Falkner, 2018). These preventable issues are screened on every child wellness exam at my daughter’s pediatrician. My primary wellness exams also screen for falls, depression, substance abuse and suicides. These topics are often common- knowledge to the general public and families but one must not assume itand must be carefully be addressed. 

Global health is preventing transmission of diseases such as influenza, HIV, Zika, Ebola, C DIFF, MRSA and so on. Prevention is aimed at infection control practices and preventing the spread of communicable diseases.Encouraging all those we treat to get immunized for the flu yearly, importance of hand washing and staying home when sick. 

Health promotion for families is a crucial nursing role. We foster health promotion with education by staying up-to date on preventative practices. We support and encourage positive behavioral changes, we education on riskfactors, we offer supportive resources. In my practice preventing the flu is always a family discussion I have with my patients on ECMO. Influenza A is highly contagious and is preventable with a flu shot, I often see visitors, family members walking in my FLU ROOMS without even wearing a mask… or washing their hands… So I kindlystop them, inform them of the importance of proper protection and the importance of washing hands. Then I take the opportunity to discuss prevention. I’ve even encouraged families to get vaccinated and help them with locations of free- flu shots in our hospital proximity. Spreading the word, not the flu is my effort to prevent complication from the spread of the disease. I see first-hand preventable deaths from the flu affecting young otherwise healthy people. ECMO support is not available in all centers, so I encourage everyone you meet to get vaccinated. CDC has great flu prevention strategies. 

References:

Falkner, A. (2018). Cultural Awareness. In Health promotion: Health and wellness across the continuum. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/5

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/resource-center/partners/promote-vaccination.htm