Collaborate with professionals across the health care system in order to find the gap in care or social determinants resulting in poor outcomes. Begin to take the lead to advocate and collaborate for the population at risk.

During this week of your practicum begin to identify a population at risk in your community that you will discuss for the next six weeks and use to create a Population-Based Nursing Care Project. Some examples of population health problems are: obesity, teen pregnancy, diabetes, infectious diseases, and childhood immunization. Discuss with your team the prevalent health problems in your practice and in your community. How can you address these health problems at the population level? Some possible resources to clarify the health problem include your local department of health, other professionals and agencies involved with the population at risk, and community groups. Read more about populations in your textbook.

Please address the following in your discussions:   

• Briefly describe the community where you live and setting in which you practice.
• What health problems are prevalent in your practice and/or in your community?
• For the purpose of the Population-Based Nursing Care Project, choose a population at risk. Describe the health problem andspecificpopulation.
• Help each other refine and clarify the health problem.

Support your response with references from the professional nursing literature.

As PHNs we work with populations in the community. For this practicum, you will chose a population from your community and health issue that will be and used for your project. If you are having difficulty choosing a population, look at the sections in the book that discusses "Vulnerable Populations". That may help you decide on a population that interests you. Also, remember, this project is a community-based project. That means it should be a project that works with populations in the community and not one which is clinically orientated. Your project should focus on a primary or secondary level of prevention. Once a person already has a disease (eg. Diabetes, CHF, mental health issues) the level of prevention become tertiary. If you need some additional information on the levels of prevention, see this webpage:

http://phprimer.afmc.ca/Part1-TheoryThinkingAboutHealth/Chapter4BasicConceptsInPreventionSurveillanceAndHealthPromotion/Thestagesofprevention

That is not to say this level is not important, it's just not the focus of this class.

As the weeks go on, you will be exploring this group, developing interventions for the health concern and evaluating programs. Here is a list of some of the more interesting topics previous students in this class took on:

Population-Based Nursing Care Project Team Discussion

Post your responses to the Discussion based on the course requirements. Your initial postings must be 250-350 words (not including the full references). Keep your responses succinct. Your written assignments must follow APA guidelines. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week's Learning Resources. Other scholarly sources may also be used to support your work. Refer to the APA Publication Manual to ensure that your in-text citations and reference list are correct.

Please address the following in  your discussions:  Briefly describe the community where you live and setting in which you practice.

• What health problems are prevalent in your practice and/or in your community?
• For the purpose of the Population-Based Nursing Care Project, choose a population at risk. Describe the health problem andspecificpopulation.