The Nursing Community in Clearfield County - Research Paper Example

Introduction There has been an increasing demand in health care provisions in response to these adjustments in policies have been made in health sector that called for approaches in the development of community health care services. Health care providers felt that there was need for understanding the social framework of illness, health care to be culturally insightful and services are available to those who need them. Major areas in which community health nursing has emphasized include: immunization clinics for the infants and the elderly, ear and eyes clinics, HIV/AIDS testing among others. Community health nursing aims at ensuring that the individual, families and community can assess high standards of holistic health care services. This is viable through promoting health care lifestyles through education, public awareness and community activities (Clark, M.J.2003). This paper is inclined towards exposing a critical review of community nursing with a bias in Clearfield County. Community description The community of study is Clearfield County the fourth largest county in the state of Pennsylvania .Clearfield covers an area of 1,143 square miles situated in the centre of Pennsylvania on the western slopes of Allegheny Mountains. According to 2000 population census it had a population of 83,382. Clearfield has a total population of 83,382 consisting of 41,741 male and 41,462 female. Majority who live in rural areas. The average household income is $30,176 and 12.5 percent of this population lives below the poverty line majority of who are between the ages of 18-64. Population distributed according to racial grounds but mainly speak English language. Largely the population consists of white that covers 97.4 percent, then other race like the Africa America covers 1.5%, American Indian 0.1%, Asian 0.3%, Latino 0.6%, and other races take up to 0.3%. The main economic activities consist of farming, lumbering, mining clay and coal, forestry, wildlife and railroading. There are a variety of occupations in Clearfield. For instance many are involve in management sector covering 23.1%, sales and office 15.3%, forestry/ fishing0.9%, construction 11.7%, production 24.1% and service industry 15.3% (US. Census Bureau. 2004). Majority of the population live in the rural areas and practice lumbering and farming. In 1920 lumbering reduced and Clearfield residents engaged in mining of coal and clay. Unemployment and birth rate are very high for example, in 2000 alone it 9.9 and 9.6 respectively. Whereas the death rate was 11.3 in every 1000 people (Clark, M.J.2003). Clearfield has two certified hospitals which are Clearfield hospital and Dubois Regional Medical centre has over 100 physicians who take care of critical support, seminars, and special programs and provide emergency services. There are also other medical centers within this county including Penn township rural health clinic, Lanse health medical services and Glendale area medical centre. In addition there as five accredited nursing homes, two day care homes and 16personal care homes. This ensures that all the residents of Clearfield County can easily access health care facilities and services. Data collection Data on community health in Clearfield was conducted using, interviews, focus groups, key informants and direct observation whereby the community at large and health care providers in community were involved. Where focus groups involved residents of Clearfield meeting on several occasions to ensure that majority of residents participate in community health initiatives. During the discussions the residents aired out their major health risks and among the infectious were diabetes mellitus and lyme diseases.Lyme disease that is caused by a vector tick as result of the outdoor activities like camping and hunting deers that the residents are engaged in. In fact among the counties in Pennsylvania, Clearfied was highly infected for instance, between 1999-2001 a total of 32.8% were infected, in 2000-2002 it was 47.6percent whereas for diabetes mellitus it was 28.1% They gave suggestions to ensure the effects are curbed at initial stages and reduce the number of people infected. For instance they suggested on awareness creation through educating the community and health providers on early signs of Lyme and diabetes mellitus diseases through seminars and screening programme. The application of Focus group was essential as it further assisted in the: classifying and defining problems in project implementation; identifying project strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations; assisting with understanding of quantitative result; achieve insights of project result and impacts; and generate new ideas that can be used for further learning. Interviews were also used to collect data. The community was interviewed on the health risks in Clearfield. However, the research should avoid dependence on one interviewer but rather seek information from as many people as possible to verify its accuracy, Yin, R. (2005). From the interviews carried out the research team was able to the major causes of death For example, the main causes of death in Clearfield County are mainly heart diseases, cancer, stroke, chronic diseases and accidents from vehicle crash. Other causes are influenza/pneumonia, diabetes mellitus septicemia and Alzheimer’s. Accidents were also alarming especially car accidents for example, between 1997 and 2002 the rate of death was 23.2 percent. In other instances in 2002, 284 percent of the infected with heart diseases were the elderly over 65 years, whereas case of diabetes mellitus was only 30, and ages between 5-24 years risks of heart diseases was 5 percent whereas that diabetes was 2 percent. Ages between 45-64 heart diseases rates were 34 percent, Clark, M.J. (2003). Direct observation was also used as they assisted the research team to collect immediate data on community health. Direct observation allowed the research team an opportunity to gather data on a wide range programme or behaviours and to explicitly investigate the community health in Clearfield County. By observing openly the researcher can widen a holistic opinion, that is thoughtful perspective in which the project function. Observational techniques also allow the researcher to learn about facts the participants may not know. For example by employing direct observation in community health the research team is able to determine to which extend the residents understand the initiatives in community health, Debus, M. (2004).Although, direct observation is usually not easy to integrate in assessments; as a result, the use of outside observers is more frequent used. Observations in speculative projects might be planned for all training sessions. Comparison of the qualitative and quantitative Qualitative is mainly the primary data that is data conducted and gathered for the field through the use of in-depth interviews, observations, focus groups discussion among others. Where as Quantitative data is the secondary data including surveys, reviewing others authors literature mainly from books, newspapers among others. Unlike the qualitative techniques which are expensive and time consuming especially the questionnaires to conduct interviews, quantitative methods are cheap to get because they are readily available. Quantitative methods may be not accuracy forcing the research to look for other sources to acquire authenticity, whereas Qualitative techniques are detailed and accurate since the research team gets views from many people new events can also be discovered and studied. Unlike the quantitative method that relies on statistics and numbers, qualitative techniques depict information in the form of word and pictures. The validity and reliability of the gathered information in qualitative method largely depends on the research teams’ skillfulness and rigor whereas in quantitative the reliability of collected data depends greatly on the tools used like the questionnaires. Qualitative techniques are suitable for data collection in education, social studies, nursing among others because it gives evidence to certain questions effectively than the Quantitative techniques. That is it offers understanding of how results were achieved and their relevance and impacts but qualitative only gives the general answers without stating the effects or their importance, Denzin, K. & Lincoln,S. (2005). Interventions The main Health risk in Clearfield is Lyme disease and diabetes mellitus.Lyme disease is caused vector tick. Residents are exposed to activities such as hunting of deers, camping, fishing, hiking and other outdoor activities have high chances of contracting the disease. In fact reported case of this disease are same of that in all the counties in the state of Pennyslavania.For instance, between 1999-2001 a total of 32.8% were infected and from 2000-2002 47.6percent.Whereas Diabetes mellitus is which is incurable and caused by insufficient insulin in the body leading to kidney failure, blindness among others for instance between 2000-2002, 28.1 percent of Clearfield population was affected, US Census Bureau (2004). Various interventions were employed by the research team to create awareness on diabetes and lyme diseases. The objective was to increase more experts in the tick infected areas within Clearfield County and also promote annual screening to detect signs of diabetes. Studies indicate that there are a number of ways creating Lyme disease awareness foremost is educating residents of Clearfield county dangers and prevention techniques through the use of posters, health fairs and newspaper articles. In additions when they detect signs of this disease they should seek medical attention. Since Lyme disease is an infectious disease caused by vector tick as result of out door activities like hunting deers among others there is need to come up with hunter safety classes and encourage those involved in outdoor activities to conduct body checks regularly for the presence of ticks. The community health providers should also be educated on the early signs and symptoms of Lyme diseases through inter-office training sessions.Furthermore, create awareness among the health providers in Clearfield County about the benefit of treating deer tick bite with a single dose of 200 mg of doxycycline within 72 hours. Lyme patients within Clearfield should be encouraged to comply with treatment instructions through community health referrals and lastly establishment of support groups to assist the patients deal with physical and emotional effects of the disease. With all these interventions in place Clearfield County can realize its goal of fighting this diseases, for example, in 2005 there were 28.9 % cases but it is aiming at 9.7 percent therefore this calls for re-evaluation of morbidity and death rates. Diabetes mellitus is another health risk in Clearfield County. The goal of research team was to reduce severity of diabetes and decrease the number of residents who are overweight by Promoting fitness programs to curb obesity. To reduce the cases of diabetes various interventions were suggested by the research team. Such as educating the residents on risk factors (overweight, over 45 years, gestational diabetes patients) of diabetes by the use posters, seminars and health fairs. Execute nutritional and exercise programmes in all schools within Clearfield, seminars, work places and other centers to encourage health lifestyle which will in turn reduce the cases of diabetes. Launch diabetes screening programmes on yearly basis in mall, seminars, institutions and health fairs. In addition diabetes patients to be educated on the benefits of regular glucose monitoring in blood, assist them to engage in regular exercises and healthy eating patterns to achieve and sustain their weight. Organize support groups to help diabetes patients’ deal with physical and emotional effects associated with diabetes additionally Medication manufactures and local health care organization to also come up with initiatives to support them. Analysis Analysis of the death rate tempo in 2005 is imperative in bid to determine whether the objective of sixty eight scenarios per one hundred thousands is achievable. Re-analysis that will be done in 2010 is also significant especially when it comes to viewing whether the well being individuals objective of forty five scenarios per one hundred thousands has been actualized. Subsequent reevaluation of demise rates and morose tempos would be necessary, Clark, M.J. (2003). Clearfield County is a gorgeous remote county adjacent to Pennsylvania nucleus. In this case inhabitants of this region access healthcare facilities, myriad recreational amenities, stumpy felony tempos, rational land as well as housing expenses, as well as innumerable erudition opportunities. Owing to its closeness to interstate eighty, accessible employees, as well as duty incentives, it also has innumerable benefits to present promising departments. Whereas Clearfield County exhibit an elevated aggregate mortality as well as morose tempos in the regions of Lyme malady as well as diabetes mellitus, these intricacies are curable. The well being individual 2010 initiative has profound achievable objectives. However all this require concerted efforts in realizing this potential, consequently the attainment of this objectives will highly benefit the residents of the Clearfield County, Clark, M.J. (2003). Conclusion Community nursing is an imperative discipline in our modern existence. Bringing healthcare closer to the resident’s or rather decentralizing healthcare amenities would auger well in the twenty first century. Implicitly this would help in minimizing the death toll through preventive care and hence augment on the longevity, Debus, M. (2004). Reference: Clark, M.J. (2003) Community health nursing (4th Ed) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Yin, R. (2003). Case study research: Design and Methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Denzin, K. & Lincoln,S. (2005). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Debus, M. (2004). Methodological Review: A Handbook for Excellence in Focus Group Research. Washington, DC: Academy for Educational Development US Census Bureau (2004).http://www.fedstats.gov/qistates/42000o.html.accessed on May 11th 2009 Read More