Which of the following best describes community-based nursing?
a) A philosophy that guides family-centered illness care
b) Providing care with a
... [Show More] focus on the group's needs
c) Giving care with a focus on the aggregate's needs
d) A value system in which all clients receive optimal care
A
By definition, community-based nursing is nursing that focuses on family-centered illness care to individuals and families in the community.
Which of the following best describes community-oriented nursing?
a) Focusing on the provision of care to individuals and families
b) Providing care to manage acute or chronic conditions
c) Giving direct care to ill individuals within their family setting
d) Having the goal of health promotion and disease prevention
D
By definition, community-oriented nursing has the goal of preserving, protecting, or maintaining health to promote the quality of life.
Which of the following is the primary focus of public health nursing?
a) Families and groups
b) Illness-oriented care
c) Individuals within the family unit
d) Promotion of quality of life
D
The key difference between community-based and community-oriented nursing is that community-based nurses deal primarily with illness-oriented care, whereas community-oriented nurses - or public health nurses - provide healthcare to promote quality of life.
Which is responsible for the dramatic increase in life expectancy during the twentieth century?
a) Technology increases in the field of medical laboratory research
b) Advances in surgical techniques and procedures
c) Sanitation and other public health activities
d) Use of antibiotics to fight infections
C
Improvement in control of infectious diseases through immunizations, sanitation, and other public health activities led to the increase in left expectancy from less than 50 years in 1900 to more than 77 years in 2002.
A nurse is developing a plan to decrease the number of premature deaths in the community. Which of the following interventions would most likely be implemented by the nurse?
a) Increase the community's knowledge about hospice care
b) Promote healthy lifestyle behavior choices among the community members
c) Encourage employers to have wellness centers at each industrial site
d) Ensure timely and effective medical intervention and treatment for community members
B
Public health approaches could help prevent about 70% of early deaths by influencing the way people eat, drink, drive, engage in exercise, and treat the environment.
Which of the following is a basic assumption of public health efforts?
a) Health disparities among any groups are morally and legally wrong
b) Healthcare is the most important in government planning and funding
c) The health of individuals cannot be separated from the health of the community
d) The government is responsible for lengthening the life span of Americans
C
Public health can be described as what society collectively does to ensure that conditions exist in which people can be healthy.
Which of the following actions would most likely be performed by a public health nurse?
a) Asking community leaders what interventions should be chosen
b) Assessing the community and deciding on appropriate interventions
c) Using data from the main healthcare institutions in the community to determine needed health services
d) Working with community groups to create policies to improve the environment
D
Although the public health nurse might engage in any of the tasks listed, he or she works primarily with members of the community to carry out core public health functions, including assessment of the population as a whole and engaging in promoting health and improving the environment.
Which of the following public health nurses most clearly fulfills the responsibilities of this role?
a) The nurse who met with several groups to discuss community recreation issues
b) The nurse who spend the day attending meeting of various health agencies
c) The nurse who talked to several people about their particular health concerns
d) The nurse who watched the city council meeting on local cable television
B
Any of these descriptions might represent a nurse communicating, cooperating, or collaborating with community residents or groups about health concerns. However, the nurse who spent the day attending meetings of various health agencies is the most representative, because in public health, concerns are broader than recreation, individual concerns are not as important as aggregate priorities, and watching television is less effective than interacting with others.
Which of the following best defines aggregate?
a) A large group of persons
b) A collection of individuals and families
c) A group of persons who share one or more characteristics
d) Another name for demographic group
C
An aggregate is defined as a collection of people who share one or more personal or environmental characteristics, such as geography or special interest.
A registered nurse was employed as a public health nurse. Which question would be most relevant for the nurse to ask?
a) "Which groups are at the greatest risk for problems?"
b) "Which patients should I see first as I begin my day?"
c) "With which physicians will I be most closely collaborating?"
d) "With which nursing assistants will I partner the most?"
A
Asking which groups are at greatest risk reflects a community-oriented perspective. The other possible responses reflect a focus on individuals.
Making sure that essential community-oriented health services are available defines which of the core public health functions?
a) Policy development
b) Assessment
c) Assurance
d) Scientific knowledge-based care
C
Public health is based on scientific knowledge but is not a core function. The definition does not fit the terms assessment or policy development.
When talking to a women's group at the senior citizens' center, the nurse reminded them that the only way the center would be able to afford to provide transportation services for them would be for them to continue to write letters to their local city council representatives requesting funding for such a service. What was the nurse trying to accomplish through this action?
a) Ensure that the women did not expect the nurse to solve their problem
b) Demonstrate that the nurse understood the women's concerns and needs
c) Express empathy, support, and concern
d) Help the women engage in political action
D
Public health nurses engage themselves and others in policy development and encourage and assist persons to communicate their needs to those with the power to take action.
The public health nurse has a clear vision of what needs to be done and where to begin to improve the health of the community. Why would the nurse spend time meeting with community groups to discuss the most important task to be addressed first?
a) To increase the group's self-esteem
b) To maintain communication links with the groups
c) To make the groups feel good about their contribution
d) To work with the groups, not for the groups
D
Historically, healthcare providers have been accused of providing care for or to a people without actually involving the recipients in the decisions. Public health nursing is a "with the people" - not a "to the people" or "for the people" approach to planning.
The nurse often has to make resource allocation decisions. Which of the following best describes the criterion the nurse should use in such cases?
a) The specific moral or ethical principle related to the situation
b) The cheapest, most economical approach
c) The most rational probable outcome
d) The needs of the aggregate rather than a few individuals
D
Although all of the choices represent components of a decision that the nurse might consider, the dominant needs of the population outweigh the expressed needs of one or a few people.
Which of the following actions best represents public health nursing?
a) Assessing the effectiveness of the large high school health clinic
b) Caring for clients in their home following their outpatient surgeries
c) Providing care to children and their families at the school clinic
d) Administering follow-up care for pediatric clients at an outpatient clinic
A
A public health or population-focused approach would look at the entire group of children being served to determine whether available services are effective in achieving the goal of improving the health of the school population.
Two nurses plan to walk under a huge downtown bridge where various homeless persons live. Why would the nurses go to such an unsafe area?
a) To assess the needs of the homeless who live there
b) To demonstrate their courage and commitment
c) To distribute some of their own surplus clothes to those who can use them
d) To share with various churches and other charities what is needed
A
In most nursing practices, the client seeks out and requests assistance. In public health nursing, the nurse often reaches out to those who might benefit from a service or intervention, beginning with assessment of needs.
Which of the following variables have led to a stronger commitment to population-focused services? Select all that apply.
a) Economic turmoil and demand for high-technology care
b) Emergence of new or drug-resistant infectious diseases
c) Emphasis on overall healthcare needs rather than only on acute care treatment
d) Threat of bioterrorism
B, C, D
As overall health needs become the focus of care in the U.S., a stronger commitment to population-focused services is emerging. Threats of bioterrorism, anthrax scares, and the emergence of modern-day epidemics have drawn attention to population-focused safety and services.
Which of the following actions demonstrate(s) effective public health nursing practice in the community? (Select all that apply).
a) Epidemiologic investigations examine the environment for health hazards
b) New services are organized where particular vulnerable populations live
c) Partnerships are established with community coalitions
d) Staff members are the public health agency continue to increase in number
A, B, C
Evidence that public health nurses are practicing effectively in the community would include these: organizing services where people live, work, play, and learn; working in partnerships and with coalitions; and participating in epidemiologic studies.
Why are nurses increasingly providing care in clients' homes rather than in hospitals? Select all that apply.
a) Home care is less expensive
b) It is much more efficient to give care in the home
c) Nurses prefer to give home care with individual attention
d) People prefer to receive care in their homes rather than in hospitals
A, D
An increasing number of clients are receiving care in the home because it is less expensive and clients prefer to receive care in familiar and comfortable settings.
In 1988, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a report on the future of public health and its mission that defined public health as:
a) what public-private partnerships do to treat vulnerable populations
b) what the government does to ensure that vital programs are in place
c) what the U.S. Public Health Service does to prevent disease, promote health, and deliver service
d) what society does collectively to ensure the conditions in which people can be healthy
D
In 1988, the IOM's report stated that public health is "what we, as a society, do collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy." Consequently, the mission of public health is "to generate organized community effort to address the public's interest in health by applying scientific and technical knowledge to prevent disease and promote health." This clearly places the emphasis on the desire of the population and community to ensure access to services that foster the health status of the overall community through the equitable distribution of resources addressed to community problems that affect health.
A registered nurse is seeking a position as a public health nurse. In reviewing the job description, the nurse would expect to find a description of a position that focused on functions such as:
a) monitoring pregnant teenagers for symptoms of complications of pregnancy
b) offering free hypertension screening and treatment referral at local health fairs to low-income, uninsured, community members
c) partnering with local seasonal farmworkers to design a program aimed at preventing illness and injury, and advocating for this population with local political and community leaders
d) preventing injury among a population of elderly residents in an assisted living facility and treating residents' chronic illnesses.
C
The scope of practice of public health nurses is population focused and community oriented, with a primary emphasis on population-level interventions that target strategies for health promotion and disease prevention. In addition, public health nursing is concerned with the health of all members of a population or community, particularly vulnerable populations, and uses political processes as a major intervention strategy. [Show Less]