Community health nursing: roles, practices, and outcomes

Role of Nurses

Roles of the Community Health Nurse

The community health nurse position holds myriad responsibilities, since the nurse is not only a practitioner but also an educator and researcher. Indeed, the community health nurse should not be viewed as a subservient position to that of a doctor, but rather as an indispensible element in any healthy community. This paper delineates the various roles required by the profession, examining the ways in which the community health nurse inhabits a hybrid function bridging the residential and the medical communities.

The community health nurse is largely responsible for a shift in public perception whereby the nurse is no longer viewed as subordinate to the doctor. In the past, the nurse has been viewed merely as a less-talented doctor, and the singular functions performed by the community health nurse testify to the importance of the position and the differences between the position and that of a doctor. As Lundy and Janes (2009) assert, the community health nurse is not only defined by nursing technique but also by the particular context of the community. There are a number of roles performed by the general practice nurse -- Phillips, et al. (2009) identify six -- but the community health nurse has more responsibilities since they must also structure their practices to the needs of the community. Indeed, it is important to recognize the position as a conflation of the term "community" in conjunction with "nurse." Accordingly, the position is characterized by an altruistic individual who is committed to the culture of a particular environment and the health of the greater population. It is not only a medical position involving scientific knowledge and therapeutic procedures, but one that applies medical knowledge to the context of a specific setting. The community health care nurse conducts a number of preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitative roles.

Unlike the doctor, the community health care nurse occupies a highly active role in the community -- they are not only confined to a private practice but circulate throughout the community. The nurse affects a greater number of people than the doctor, and in this regard, they have a more substantial impact on the community than the doctor, despite earning less money. The community health care nurse is not confined to an office or institutional setting (as would be a doctor), but (in addition to the hospital) performs her tasks in more public settings, such as private homes, schools, assisted living communities, and communal settings. To this end, there is a massive scope of individuals who receive care from the community health care nurse, including school children, adults, and senior citizens. Still, it should be noted that the majority of individuals treated are elderly or disabled citizens.

The socioeconomic range of the patients treated may also be far more expansive than that of a doctor, as the community health care nurse will often treat underprivileged individuals who occupy settings that are quite varied. Where a doctor typically assists those with the financial means and privileges to afford his services, the nurse takes a more active role in reaching out to the community. Their services are paid for not by the individual treated but by initiatives instigated by the greater community; these includes grants or similarly related contracts. To this end, their actions reflect compassion concerning the social welfare of those within their community.

The planning undertaken by the community health nurse should recognize the particular needs of a given community. In this regard, the profession is dissimilar from that of a doctor, whose conduct is more uniform regardless of the location of their practice. When planning which services will be implemented and how to create a culture of healthy living, the nurse should take into consideration any common afflictions that may affect the population. For example, if a particular demographic struggles with healthy eating and has an obesity problem, then educating the community on nutrition and responsible nourishment would be a foremost priority. Before implementation can be enacted, it is imperative that the community health nurse have a strong awareness of the salient characteristics associated with their given setting.

After the community health nurse has familiarized himself with their environment, the next step involves implementing their courses of action. These actions should be tailored specifically to the needs of the community; for example, if the local schoolchildren do not receive sufficient exercise, it would be productive for the community health nurse to promote physical exertion. If there were a sports team in the area, the community health nurse could arrange for a collection of the athletes to discuss the virtues of exercise, thereby providing the kids with tangible role models. If obesity were prevalent amongst the population, they could provide a community-wide lunch involving nutritious foods. In each of these examples, the focus is not so much on curing a particular individual, but rather on educating a community so that they can successfully take care of themselves.

Common procedures implemented by the community health nurse include providing the area schools with health services (these include issuing standardized medical tests, lice examinations, tobacco education, hygiene education, nutritional information, blood pressure tests), providing postpartum visits, and prenatal risk assessments. The community health nurse should be sensitive to any trends that may be taking place within their particular community; for example, if there has recently been a rash of teen pregnancies, then it would be prudent to provide sexual education services.