Community Health Applications

Overview
 Collective term for the methodical application of information science and technology
to community and public health process.
 Focuses on the health information system of the community, it is centered on the
majority part of the public.
 Emphasizes the prevention of the disease, medical intervention and public
awareness.
 Fulfils a unique role in the community, promoting and protecting the health of the
community at the same time maintaining sustainability and integrity of health data
and information.

Goal of Community Health Informatics

 Effective and timely assessment that involves monitoring and tracking the health
status of populations including identifying and controlling disease outbreaks and
epidemics.

Community Health Nursing

 Comprehensive directed towards the majority of individuals, families, and the
community at large.

Community Health Application System

 Encourages optimal application of computer system, computer programs and
communication system for the benefit of majority of individuals, families and
community.

Primary Focus of Community Health Information System

 Preventing, identifying, investigating and eliminating communicable health
problems.
 Accessibility of data and information, through communication
 Educating and empowering individuals to adopt health life style
 Facilitate the retrieval of data
 Effective transformation of data into information
 Effective integration of information to other disciplined to concretized knowledge
and creates better understanding.
 Creation of computerized patient records, medical information system
 Central repositions of all data such as data warehouse
 Simple Graphical User Interface (GUI) for nurses and other healthcare provider,
patient ad consumer
Computer Based Survey System

Health Statistical Surveys

 Are used to collect quantitative information about items in a population to establish

certain information from the obtained data.
 Focused on opinions or factual information depending on it’s purpose and many
surveys involves administering questions to individuals.

Advantages of Integration of Community Health Systems

 Consistent exchange of response
 Disease tracking
 Data and information sharing
 Building strategies
 Early detection and monitoring of disease and sickness
 Control of spread of disease
 National alertness and preparedness
 Building strong communication
 Maintaining strong relation between nurses and other healthcare provider
 Continuous coordination of the healthcare professionals
 Synchronization of the decisions
 Streamlining of the process
 Effective management of data and information
 Optimal operation of hospital and clinics
NURSING INFORMATICS: COMMUNITY
HEALTH APPLICATION
Nursing Informatics in community health care has so much to offer. it can help to provide
support and improve collaboration among the doctors, community health provider and patients.

this also useful in monitoring and tracking the health status of the community. in my opinion it
will also help community health worker in making updates of the patient’s profile. they don’t
need to do tons of paper work if nursing informatics will be use in community
health sector.The goal of community health informatics ” Effective and timely assessment that
involves monitoring and tracking the health status of populations including identifying and
controlling disease outbreaks and epidemics.”

advantages of using this system, the tracking and detection of the disease in the community will
be easy because we can easily track the spread of it, and the communication among the nurses
and other health care provider will be strong.

the community health center should really use this kind of system because i experienced how the
health centers record and updates of information of the people in the community and believe it or
not it takes us to weeks to do it from letter A-Z.
Community Health and Informatics
Public health agencies are on the front line of preventing epidemics. But they also do
much more than that in the communities they serve, and their work is being informed by
technology that allows information to be collected and analyzed in new ways.

Public health agencies monitor the health of their communities by doing the following:

 Setting priorities based on potential health problems, and developing strategies

and policies to address them.
 Identifying and serving specific groups at risk for health problems, ranging from
suicide prevention and nutrition to specific diseases
 Promoting healthy behaviors
 Providing disease prevention services, such as immunization
 Tracking and preventing the spread of epidemics
 Handling disaster prevention and recovery
 Protecting against environmental hazards
 Protecting against wide-scale threats, including bioterrorism
 Ensuring access to appropriate and cost-effective care
 Evaluating the effectiveness of available care.1
To meet these needs, health officials must monitor a broad range of information to
assess potential risks and community needs. Public health tracking dates back to 1854,
when a British doctor by the name of John Snow tracked cholera deaths in London and
traced the outbreak to a single water pump.2
Today, public health officials review disease case reports and other information to
identify trends and plan responses. Technology is allowing far more data to be collected
from more sources, creating new opportunities to monitor the needs of the community in
more effective ways.

Health informatics involves collecting data and applying analytics that can reveal trends
quickly enough to prevent epidemics or other negative health situations. Among the
community health data that can be collected to identify these trends:1
 Absences from work or school
 Purchases of health-care products, including specific types of over-the-counter
and prescription medications
 Symptoms reported to medical providers
 Emergency room admissions
 Lab test orders
 Vital statistics from state and local governments
 Financial data
 Facility data
 Internet searches for symptoms of infectious disease such as the flu
Informatics is allowing public health officials to collect and analyze this data more
quickly and efficiently. Emerging data exchange systems will increasingly allow
community health officials to share public health information with their counterparts
elsewhere in their region so that information about health threats will spread more
quickly.

Ultimately, regional health information exchanges could lead to the creation of a

comprehensive national public health network. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control
created the National Center for Public Health Informatics (NCPHI) to encourage the
growth of such networks.2
For the full promise of public health informatics to be realized, data need to be
standardized so that they can be exchanged across these networks. Public health
officials need to lead the adoption of informatics by doing the following:2
 Developing and using standards
 Managing computer system development and implementation
 Communicating across sectors
 Conducting research
 Developing public health information systems
 Supporting the use of informatics
 Ensuring confidentiality, security, and integrity
 Conducting education and training