Vulnerable Populations - Assignment Example

Vulnerable population Vulnerability in community health nursing Vulnerability refers to how susceptible individuals or groups or even the population are to harm. Vulnerability emanate from interaction between the available resources to the community or individuals and the challenges of life that they face. It is a consequence of developmental problem, disadvantage due to social status, individual incapacitation, inadequacy of support and personal network, and the complexities of interactions of the named factors during the life course among others.

Vulnerability can stem from communal, individual, and population challenges (Holzemer, 2012).However, they require policy intervention of different types such as economic and social development of communities and neighborhood, income and educational policies, as well as personal medical intervention. Community health nurses have the obligation to respect, accept, and comprehend the contribution of the risk factors not only to vulnerable but also to the influence on the behavior and lifestyle of the patient (Maurer & Smith, 2013).

Vulnerable population and their characteristicsThe vulnerable population in discussion refers to those who have higher risk for both poor health access and health status. For an instant, some of the vulnerable populations are those who are HIV, homeless and marginally housed. The majority of infection of HIV is through sexual intercourse between women and men. Moreover, more than half of the adults living with the virus are women. However, there are groups of individuals such as sex workers, individuals who inject drugs, and homosexual have also been significantly affected (Maurer & Smith, 2013).

This condition weakens the immune system of the infected persons. Once the immune system has been weakened, they become susceptible to other attack by other diseases. For an instant, HIV infected victim has higher chances of contacting pneumonia or even tuberculosis in comparison to patients ailing from other conditions due to the weakened immune system. The rate of new infection is actually growing among the teenagers and young adults (Holzemer, 2012). On the other hand, the homeless and marginally housed individuals have poor access to health care services and health status as well.

The majority of these individuals have mental health problems and abuse substances that create situations where they careless on their health status. They are usually not cognizant to the fact that obtaining care is vital for existence of human life (Maurer & Smith, 2013). Community health nursing with rural healthThe individuals dwelling in rural areas in the US encounter some health related issues in comparison to those in the cities or towns. Getting proper health care may be a challenge for an individual living in the remote locations.

For an instant, it may be difficult for an individual to get to a health care center as quickly as possible during an emergency. In addition, traveling long distance for routine screening and checkups may be relatively difficult. Besides, in the rural areas, doctors, dentists, and other medical practitioner’s specialties are often rarely available (Holzemer, 2012).These disadvantages may compound the problems of health in rural areas by causing serious challenges from the diagnosis stage. In the US, individuals in the remote areas have higher rates of diseases that are chronic in comparison to those in the urban areas (Holzemer, 2012).

References:Holzemer, S. (2012). Community health nursing: An alliance for health. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning.Maurer, F. A., & Smith, C. M. (2013). Community/public health nursing practice: Health for families and populations. St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier/Saunders.