Directions for Populations – Assessing Needs Paper
A. Diversity
Discuss characteristics and aspects of diversity that could exist within populations of a rural community that do not exist in populations of an urban community? Consider demographics/characteristics of the population and available resources for health care. Please select a specific rural community to assess and include demographics, characteristics, health care needs, and resources within that community.
10 Points
B. Emerging Technologies
Change is a challenge for communities as well as organizations. Analyze current and emerging technologies in health care experienced by populations in an urban community intended to support safety, efficiency in costs and or health outcomes. Identify change in emerging technologies that has had an impact on healthcare in regards to Tele-Medicine. This is an application exercise. Exemplar(s) are required. with resources that clearly articulate the value of the emerging technology. Use your knowledge of changes you have experienced, witnessed or researched through current literature. Reflect your thoughts. Discuss cost vs benefit to the community or patient population.
40 points
C. Needs Assessment and Strategic Planning
Assess needs of a rural population – either a community which you are familiar or a community you have researched. Identify a factor associated with socio/economic-cultural aspects that impact health and wellness. Recommend a strategic intervention that could be implemented by a nurse leader in a health care organization to improve health outcomes of the population. Be specific in identifying what can be initiated by a nursing leader or administrator.
40 Points
* Organization of Paper
Consistency in accordance to APA & Administrative Report Guidelines
Correct spelling, grammar, syntax. Include – Title Page; Intro. statement(s), headings, closing statement(s) and references (5 minimum). Word count: 500 – 1000. Synthesize information from resources, present information in your own words. Use direct quotes sparingly and only if there is power in a particular author’s words. In general direct quotes are not allowed in graduate work. However, as a nurse administrator, there are times you may need the power offered by an expert’s comment.
Administrative Reports should include:
Title Page
Short intro as to the purpose of the report.
Use “Headings”
Short conclusion re: Final thoughts, recommendations.
Stay within the required word count.
Use APA Guidelines – 7th edition as your writing reference.

Populations: Assessing Needs

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Populations: Assessing Needs

One of the roles of a community health nurse is to identify and address factors that are causing health disparities among populations. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017), rural communities in most countries usually have diverse health needs some of which are absent in urban communities. The purpose of this paper is to describe diversity characteristics that commonly exist in rural communities but not in urban populations, analyze current and emerging technologies experienced by urban populations, and conduct a needs assessment and strategic planning for a community.

Diversity

The diversity characteristics of a community can help the nurse to predict the possible health risks or health needs of its population. The population of a rural community usually comprises more elderly persons and children when compared to an urban community. Although younger adults and the youth usually form a greater percentage of the population than the elderly and children in a rural community, their number is usually less when compared to those found in an urban community. Additionally, the ethnic and racial compositions of a rural population are usually less diverse than that of a rural community (Richman et al., 2019). Essentially, due to the sparsity of the rural population, it is a common occurrence that most of these residents share ethnic and racial backgrounds. On the other hand, an urban community mostly has more diverse ethnic and racial compositions. When compared to an urban community, most of the residents of a rural community usually have lower educational and socio-economic statuses. Notably, many people who move to the urban areas to look for jobs are those who have completed high school or tertiary education. Being in employment raises their economic and social statuses to levels that are usually higher than those of rural communities. Fewer healthcare resources are available in a rural community than in an urban community (Cyr et al., 2019). Generally, there are wide variations in age, ethnicity, racial background, educational level, socio-economic characteristics, and availability of healthcare resources between a rural and an urban community.

The nurse is able to understand the diversity characteristics of a rural community in detail when he or she analyzes a specific community. The rural community that has been chosen for analysis in this paper is based in the United States. Based on self-reported data and community assessment reports, the rural community has more whites than other ethnic and racial minority groups such as Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians (James et al., 2017). Ethnic and racial minorities are younger than whites. While the whites reported better health outcomes, the ethnic and racial minority groups reporter poor to fair health outcomes. Many people in the rural community have obesity but they have limited access to healthcare services due to lack of health insurance. They also lack personal healthcare providers to attend to them whenever they are unwell. Additionally, the few healthcare facilities available are not easily accessible due to poor roads (James et al, 2017). The rural community has numerous challenges which when overlooked, can cause negative health outcomes.

Emerging Technologies

Technological advancements in the healthcare industry have changed how care is delivered by healthcare organizations in urban areas. The current and emerging technologies in health care that are experienced by urban populations are artificial intelligence and telemedicine. Healthcare organizations integrate these technologies with an intention to maximize the safety of their patients at home, maximize efficiency by minimizing healthcare costs, and improve health outcomes (Barbieri et al., 2020). For example, a notable change in technology that has had an impact on health care regarding telemedicine is the use of digital applications to allow patients to meet their health care providers virtually and to manage their health conditions outside the healthcare environment. The effectiveness of telemedicine or telehealth in ensuring patient safety, maximizing efficiency, and improving health outcomes has been observed in the current times during the COVID-19 pandemic (Kichloo et al., 2020). Healthcare facilities across nations are integrating telemedicine and telehealth not only to minimize costs of care but also to maximize benefits for COVID-19 patients and their families.

Needs Assessment and Strategic Planning

Nurse leaders work with other nurses in the community to address health disparities faced by populations and implement interventions to address them. The community that has been chosen for analysis is based in Austin in Texas. Austin is a city located in Texas. It has both rural and suburban communities. A socio-economic factor that impacts health and wellness in one of its rural communities is homelessness (Office of the City Auditor, City of Austin, 2021). While homelessness is contributing to increased healthcare spending in the community, it is associated with negative health outcomes for community residents. A strategic intervention that the nurse leader can implement in a healthcare organization to improve the health outcome of homeless individuals is initiating a tent-based health screening program to identify those at risk of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes (Slomovic et al., 2021). With the guidance of a nurse leader, the organization can distribute tents and nurses in the community to offer screening services to residents.

Conclusion

Public health nurses should be aware of aspects of diversity that exist in communities and that might be contributing to some observed health needs. Most countries have taken advantage of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and telemedicine to address the health needs faced by their populations. Nurse leaders should conduct a needs assessment of a community in order to identify factors that affect the health and wellness of its residents and develop a strategic plan to address them.

References

Barbieri, D., Giuliani, E., Del Prete, A., Losi, A., Villani, M., & Barbieri, A. (2021). How artificial intelligence and new technologies can help the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), 7648. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147648

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). About rural health. https://www.cdc.gov/ruralhealth/about.html

Cyr, M. E., Etchin, A. G., Guthrie, B. J., & Benneyan, J. C. (2019). Access to specialty healthcare in urban versus rural US populations: a systematic literature review. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 974. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4815-5

James, C., Moonesinghe, R., Wilson-Frederick, S., Hall, J., Penman-Aguilar, A., & Bouye, K. (2017). Racial/ethnic health disparities among rural adults: United States, 2012-2015. Surveillance Summaries, 66(23), 1-9. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/ss/ss6623a1.htm.

Kichloo, A., Albosta, M., Dettloff, K., Wani, F., El-Amir, Z., Singh, J., Aljadah, M., Chakinala, R. C., Kanugula, A. K., Solanki, S., & Chugh, S. (2020). Telemedicine, the current COVID-19 pandemic and the future: a narrative review and perspectives moving forward in the USA. Family Medicine and Community Health, 8(3), e000530. https://doi.org/10.1136/fmch-2020-000530

Office of the City Auditor, City of Austin. (2021). Homelessness spending. https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Auditor/Audit_Reports/Special_Request_Homelessness_Spending_September_2021.pdf

Richman, L., Pearson, J., Beasley, C., & Stanifer, J. (2019). Addressing health inequalities in diverse, rural communities: An unmet need. SSM-population Health, 7, 100398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100398.

Slomovic, J., Hanna, V., Chaban, Y., Rafael, J., Popovic, M. M., Arjmand, P., Wylson-Sher, V., & Lichter, M. (2021). Delivering eye care to homeless and marginally housed populations during the COVID-19 pandemic: a pilot study. Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology. Journal Canadien d’ophtalmologie, S0008-4182(21)00325-2. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjo.2021.08.018