Application

Community Assessment
In this week's media presentations, Ms. Marren and Dr. Fernando Guerra discussed the importance of community assessment when determining the needs of the community and health promotion or intervention programs. In addition, Dr. Sattler examined the influence of the environment on the health of a community, along with occupational health concerns.

Community assessment is one of the three core functions of public health nursing and is the process of thinking critically about the community. It involves a logical, systematic approach to identify a community's needs, problems (including environmental and occupational problems), and strengths and resources. Assessment of the health of a community can begin with a simple windshield assessment: a drive through the community noting strengths and problems. Community assessment also includes data gathering through examining vital statistics, and the demographics of the community.

To prepare for this Application, review the media presentations for this week and Chapter 18 in the textbook on community assessment. In addition, use Table 18-5 on page 410 in the course textbook to guide your windshield assessment. Incorporate your windshield assessment with your Application.

Conduct an assessment of the community in which you live, including a windshield assessment. Then, write a 3- to 4-page paper that includes the following:
Demographics
Vital statistics
Environmental issues
Occupational health hazards
Vulnerable populations
Resources available in the community
Other pertinent information about the community

(Incorporate information from the windshield assessment into the paper.)

NURS 4010: Week 5 Application Rubric: Community Assessment Paper

For this Application Assignment, write a 3- to 4-page paper assessing the community in which you live, including your observations from the windshield assessment.

Use the following guidelines and evaluation criteria to guide your assessment. Include in your assessment the demographics, vital statistics, environmental issues, any occupational health hazards, the vulnerable populations in your community, and the resources available to serve those populations and others. Use the headings below for each section. Use a minimum of three references from the professional nursing literature in the assigned course readings and other references in the Walden Library. If they are relevant, you may use one or two professional Web sites in addition to the literature references.

Overview-

Begin this project with a brief paragraph that provides an overview of the assignment and its purpose. There is no separate heading for this paragraph; the heading for this paragraph is the same as the title of the paper. This paragraph will be about 2-3 sentences. The last sentence in this paragraph is a sentence that begins "The purpose of this paper is to..."

Overview of the Community-

Summarize the statistics and demographics of your community. Include an assessment of any environmental and occupational hazards as well. Incorporate pertinent information from the windshield assessment. This section will be 3-4 paragraphs.

Vulnerable Populations-

Outline the vulnerable populations in your community. Include a summary of the services available to meet the needs of those populations. Include other services available in your community to meet the needs of residents. This section will be 3-4 paragraphs.

Impact on Nursing-

Explain the community/public health nursing opportunities present in your community. Include how the vulnerable population, environmental or occupational hazards may impact the role of the BSN nurse in the community. This section will be 2-3 paragraphs.

Summary-

End the paper with a 1-paragraph summary of the importance of a solution to the identified practice-based problem that is based on evidence and a 1-paragraph summary of the main points of the paper.

Format/style

Proofread the paper as described in the tips for success in this course and correct any typos, grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, or APA format errors before submitting your paper. Up to 40 points can be deducted from the grade for this assignment for these types of errors, or for not using at least the minimum number of required references.