Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations.

Posted: December 29th, 2022

Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations.

Nursing
• Identify something new you learned about your environment and how it could be affecting health by completing this statement, “I didn’t know _____.”Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations.
I did not know that Richmond area in Staten Island, New York, had a high 3-year average low birth weight when compared to the state and national figures.

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The figures were measured for the periods between 2012 and 2014. To be more precise, the figure reported for Richmond area is 79.433 for every 1,000 live births, less than the national figure of 79.98 for every 1,000 live births but less than the New York state figure of 79.04 for every 1,000 live births. This figures are worrying since they indicate that although the health measures applied in Richmond area to improve birth weight are more effective than the national efforts, they are less effective than the state measures. This is an issue of concern since children born with low weight are more likely to experience physical and developmental health issues, with a high probability of dying within the first year of life when compared to their counterparts born with normal birth weight. Once these infants have developmental issues, they exact an emotional and financial fee on medical resources, requires more parental, educational and medical care. It also made me aware that low birth weight includes a broad spectrum of issues ranging from premature birth to moderate birth weight and fetal growth restrictions.Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations. Besides that, reading the material made me awareness that low birth weight is a preventable problem caused by environmental factors that can be managed and occur during pregnancy. These factors include inadequate weight gain by the mother, exposure to tobacco smoke, and maternal hypertension. The implication is that a preventive strategy should be applied to manage low birth weight in Richmond area with a focus on ensuring that mothers gain adequate weight during pregnancy, they are not exposed to tobacco smoke, and their hypertension is controlled. These approaches are anticipated to reduce the rate of average low birth weight further (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2019).
• How could you, in the role of a community health nurse, address these concerns?
Although low birth weight is a source of concern, there are strategies that community health nurses can apply to address the concern. In this case, nurses can play a role to prevent low birth weight. This would occur through public education whereby pregnant women are educated on the concerns brought about by low birth weight to include contribution to prenatal mortality and morbidity. The education intervention would include five main strategies. Firstly, teaching cognitive-behavioral strategies for adopting health behavior. Secondly, providing feedback about the weight status of the fetus to ensure that low weight incidences are identified early and addressed before birth. Thirdly, recommending avoidance of risky behaviors as primary or secondary participants, such as quitting smoking for primary participants and avoiding smoking environments for secondary participants. Fourthly, patients by providing them with information on the benefits of being healthy for them and the infants. Finally, providing information on the risks of an unhealthy lifestyle on both the mother and the infant (Nies& McEwen, 2019; Weber & Kelley, 2013). In addition to prevention, nursing personnel can also help in the care of infants with low birth weight, especially with regards to managing the infant’s fragile condition and increased probability of developing severe complications even after being discharged from hospital.Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations. The nurses’ specific role would include facilitating care to address the mother’s apprehension concerning the infant’s fragility and reinforcing the mother’s trust in personal capacity to care for the child. It is important to note that the nurse intervention must be offered within the context of the infant’s family and cultural practices (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). Overall, it is important to note that a nurse’s role focuses on promoting and protecting physical care and development of the infant to reduce the high risk associated with changes linked to birth weight.
Visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s MyEnvironment site at http://www.epa.gov/myenvironment (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., and enter your city and state, ZIP code, or location into the location box.Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations.

MY ZIP CODE IS 10309 IN STATEN ISLAND, NY
Choose one of the topic areas.
• My Health
• My Climate
• My Air
• My Water
Then, click on the boxes under the Map Contents menu to add data into the map on specific topics. Explore the site to learn more about your environment and things that might be impacting the health of its citizens.
• Identify something new you learned about your environment and how it could be affecting health by completing this statement, “I didn’t know _____.”
• How could you, in the role of a community health nurse, address these concerns?

ONE OF THE REFERENCES MUST BE FROM THE CHAPTER BELOW:
Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2019). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.
• Chapter 14: Environmental Health, pp. 252-265, 266-271

Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations.