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Abstract
Community health is a course that involves the study of the community that surrounds nursing
practice and how health is perceived in the community. The community a nurse lives might
affect how he or she performs her nursing duties. It is therefore important for the nurse to always
identify the communities need. In order to know the specific needs of a certain community, the
nurse should know the cultural competence, diversity, geographical location, demographics and
legal factors in the community. Therefore, this paper is based on adult population in Baltimore
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community. The paper will discuss the population to be assessed, the race, characteristic of the
population, the boundaries of the group, the community’s location, education levels, death rates,
insured, the significance of the assessment, data collection, data analysis etc. The community
nurse has a role in ensuring that his or her community is well prepared in instances of disasters
and that if a disaster occurs he or she helps the community recover. In addition, education centers
are part of the community and it is therefore important for the school to ensure that it has a
school-based nurse who takes care of the students. Overall, the community members should be
advised on the need for loving one another regardless of the individuals' sexual orientation, race,
Keywords; community, community health, adult, assessment, need assessment community health
nurse/roles
communities. Community health mainly focuses on geographic areas and health needs that may
arise or present in the community. In addition, community health refers to meeting the needs of a
community by identifying their health problems and managing the well-being of members of the
community. Therefore, by using US 2016 census information, the writer came up with the
Population
Therefore, the writer has focused on Baltimore community and the adult population in the rural
area. Baltimore community is the largest independent city in Maryland county and has a
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population of 617,734 population is in 2017. The adult population is (373729) 60.5% of the
city’s population where an adult is stated as a person above the age of 18 and below 65 years.
27.5% involves persons under the age of 18 and 12.9% persons over the age of 65 years. The
female population is 53.0% while the male population is 47% of the total population. The
community lives in a humble population where their living standard is a bit poor compared to the
urban area
Geographic
The city is located 40 miles northeast of Washington, D.C and in north-central Maryland on the
Patapsco River close to where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. It is also located on the fall
line between the Piedmont Plateau and the Atlantic coastal plain which divides Baltimore into
two parts that are lower and upper part. The city has a total area of 92.1 square miles of which
80.9 square miles is land and 11.1 square miles is water. The city is also bordered by Anne
Arundel County. Baltimore city is divided into nine geographical regions namely northeast, east,
southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest and central. Overall, Baltimore lies within the
humid subtropical climate zone with four distinct seasons and is part of United States
Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones. Humidity climate can contribute to dramatic
lightning storms over the area. The average seasonal snowfall is 20.1 inches but it varies greatly
population speak Spanish. Most of the adult population uses English as their main language. The
Race
Most of the cities population is African American race where their population is 63.3% followed
by White alone whose population is 31.4%. Native Hawaiian occupies 0.4% of Baltimore’s
community. Therefore, most of the adults among Baltimore community are African American.
Religion
Concerning religion, 12% of people in Baltimore are Catholics, followed by Baptist church with
7% then Judaism 4.3% while 11.4% identify themselves with other Christians.
Culture
Baltimore city is dubbed as a city of neighborhoods occupied by different ethnic groups. Mount
Vernon is considered a traditional center of the cultural and artistic life of the city. Baltimore city
has several museums such as Baltimore Museum of Art, Walters Art Museum etc. in addition,
Baltimore’s distinctive flavor is the city’s close association with Blue crab that is sourced from
the Chesapeake Bay. The crabs are steamed in rock salt Old Bay Seasoning. The crabs are served
on tables spread with old newspaper or plain brown wrapping paper. The carbs are also used to
Education
About education, adults over 25 years 85.5% are high school graduate or higher while 29.7% are
Income /Housing
46.6% of the population has their own house while 53.4% are renters.
Health/ Mortality issues in Baltimore city and Health people goals 2020
There is only 11.9% of the total population are disabled. In addition, 8.2% of the adult
population do not have health insurance while 92.8% are insured. In addition, health outcome
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and disparities in most instances are synonymous. With a high population, the city has a
population of 20% who are poor who may suffer from health disparities due to lack of income to
cater for their medical bills and day to day expenses. There are a number of health disparities
tobacco use, mental health, substance use, access to health care etc thus resulting to high increase
rate in mortality rate among the young and the aged. Disease such as Cancer has a mortality rate
of 228.9%. in most cases, adult does not go for cancer screening thus leading to an increase in
mortality rate. Therefore, by use of the Healthy People 2020 objectives, the researcher will be
able to identify nationwide health improvement priorities, perform a critical research, evaluation,
and data collection needs and create public awareness and understanding among the community
city. By use of the Health people 2020 goals, I will be able to identify issues that have not been
met. The study is also of great benefit to the community and the healthcare where both the
community needs will be addressed and the health care intervention method be identified In
addition, the study will be of benefit to the future academicians of Aspen University where they
be able to identify the needs might not have been met by 2020. Overall, the study will equip me
with more knowledge on how to assess the communities need and enhance my future career.
Problem
The main reason for the research was to identify the factors of health issues that affect the adult
population in getting quality treatment. In most cases, the adult population of above the age of 25
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years has families to feed thus income is a major factor that limits them in assessing the required
treatment. In other words, an adult has the responsibility of feeding his or her family with the
income they get. Therefore, for example, if I do not earn enough income to feed my family and
meet the family’s’ needs, assessing quality health care might be difficult because of the maybe
high medical cost. On the other hand, adults below the age of 25 assume that they are health risk-
free and they do not see the need for body screening or medical checkup. In addition, most adults
are unaware of the preparation measures that they could use in case a disaster occurred. Most of
them have only a first aid kit that is not fully equipped with the necessary equipment. Therefore,
as a nurse, it is my role to training the population on how to prepare for an emergency and the
basic requirements that a first aid kit should have. Overall, most health centers do not offer
health programs its community and their medical costs are high. These costs restrain people from
seeking medical advice and treatment thus opting to use traditional methods. It is the role of the
community nurse to ensure that his or her community has quick assessed to medical health and
medical insurance.
Assessment
An intensive literature search was performed combined with a quantitative analysis where the
researcher issued questionnaires and face to face interview with her respondents.in addition
additional tools such as SWOT analysis, need analysis, force field analysis etc was used in
assessing the communities need. The questionnaires helped the respondents give the factors and
basic needs affecting their health. The study was carried out on 14th March 2018. The
quantitative research was conducted where the researcher issued questionnaires to 200
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respondents of a different race, age, gender, income status and their needs and challenges faced
Results
In order to come up with better results, questionnaires and face to face interviews were sent out
to different adults in the community. The questionnaires with both closed and open questions
addressed the age of the respondent, gender, income status, race, income status, most pressing
need affecting his or her health, challenges faced when seeking medical attention. I received 72%
Male 96 60%
Female 64 40%
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60% of the respondents were women while 40% were men. The study population was selected in
a way that it avoided gender bias. These showed that adult women were willing to give their
The table below shows that most of the respondents were between the age of 25-40 followed by
adults between the age of 18-24 and finally 41-64 years. Concerning the age, a middle-aged adult
found it easier to share their experiences with community health care, challenges they face while
assessing the healthcare’s and issues that the health centers should address
18 24 32 22.2%
25 40 90
41 64 15.3% 22
White 50 34.7%
African America response rate was 55.6% followed by the Whites with a response rate of 34.7%
The findings on the adults’ experience with the community health care, community disasters,
their health needs and challenges experienced while seeking medical attention were conducted
using a face to face interview. Where first, the adults raised the issue of increased medical cost
that is many of the adult population felt that they could not afford a quality healthcare due to the
increased cost. In addition, they said that their monthly income was low compared to the day to
day expenses and that seeking services such as body screening and other check-ups would strain
their income. Overall, they said that they prefer going to the hospital only when seek to avoid
these additional expenses. Second, some of the community health nurses were harsh to them and
were not willing to offer the appropriate advice or care. The population said that the nurses
concentrated more on their personal gain that is they preferred staying in their offices without
being disturbed by the patients. Some of the adults also said that, due to the increased use of new
technologies, many nurses focused on improving their knowledge of the system other than
offering full care to the patient. One of them even said, “I would rather stay at home other than
seeking community nurse care who is always ignorant or glued to the new technological
systems.” In addition, they said that they had to wait for long hours before they are attended to.
Third, most of the adults feared the occurrence of another hurricane disaster which had left many
of the poor. They weren’t sure whether they were fully prepared for another disaster. They even
requested the government to implement a precaution measure that could notify them if such a
disaster occurs. They said that these disasters are making them live in fear where they are not
sure of what might happen tomorrow. Some of them said that they even have an emergency plan
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and a first aid kit but they are not sure whether these tools will protect them from such disasters.
Fourth, they request the medical centers to open free body screening services and to offer
training programs to the community that could be used to notify the population on the presence
of an epidemic disease and the prevention measures they could use. They feared diseases like
Ebola that swept away most of their relatives and loved ones. Finally, the requested the
government to create more healthcare facilities in Baltimore community thus reducing the long
waiting hours for treatment and inadequate staffing that threatens their recovery plan. Therefore,
if these needs are considered they could perceive themselves as health people by maybe 2020.
Conclusion
Therefore, it is the role of healthcare nurse and community nurse to create a favorable social and
physical environment for their patients. For example, in an external health care setting, the
community nurse should advocate love for one another by offering quality health care to all his
or her patients regardless of their race, culture or even religion. The nurse should not
discriminate among the patients thus promoting equality among the patients. In addition, access
to health insurance should be favorable to all the patients regardless of their total income. That is
even the poor can easily assess the health care without any problems. I recommend that the
health centers should also ensure that the medical costs are at a substandard level and that all the
patient can assess quality care. On the other hand, they should enhance public awareness and
understanding among the community about determinants of health, diseases, disabilities, and
opportunity for progress regardless of the individual’s illness. Overall, the medical centers
should engage multiple sectors while taking actions that would strengthen policies and improve
health practices that are driven by the best available evidence and knowledge. The health should
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involve sectors such as community leaders and perform public meeting while creating healthcare
policies. These would motivate the community in raising their health needs.
References
cities/baltimore-population/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2007). Racial and ethnic approaches to community
health (REACH) U.S.: Finding solutions to health disparities. Atlanta, GA: CDC.
Clark, M. J. (2015). Population and community health nursing (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
ISBN: 978-0-13-385959-1.
Healthy People 2020: Oral Health Objectives. (2015, July 08). Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/healthy_people/index.htm
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Marton, A. (2014, December 09). Comparing the 'health' of Baltimore neighborhoods. Retrieved
from http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bal-comparing-the-health-of-baltimore-
neighborhoods-20141209-htmlstory.html
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/baltimorecitymarylandcounty/AGE295216
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