located on page 371 under Practice Application.
Ms. Green a 46-year-old farm worker who is pregnant with her fifth child.
What additional information do you need to help you adequately assess Ms. Green’s health status and current needs?
What nursing activities are suggested by her history, physical, and psychological descriptions. (Hint see the Evolve Website).
Discussion Board: Public Health Nursing
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Discussion Board: Public Health Nursing
Public health nurses need competencies that they can apply to plan and implement care for vulnerable populations. Pregnant women are among the vulnerable populations that need quality care from nurses who work in the community (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2021). The chosen case study describes Ms. Green, a 46-year-old farmworker who is pregnant with her fifth child. The purpose of this assignment is to discuss additional information that the public health nurse should gather to exhaustively assess her health status and current needs. The discussion will also include a detailed description of nursing activities that will help to address Ms. Green’s current health needs.
The nurse needs to collect a comprehensive history about Ms. Green to be able to evaluate her current health needs. For instance, the nurse should review her medical records in order to understand her past medical history such as past hospitalizations and surgeries. According to Stanhope and Lancaster (2019), public health nurses are expected to be culturally sensitive and provide culturally competent care to vulnerable populations. Therefore, in Ms. Green’s case, it is important that the public health nurse collects additional data regarding her cultural values, beliefs, and preferences. Besides, the nurse should learn about Ms. Green’s priority needs including those that are aligned with social determinants of health such as financial issues, food, and legal matters. Being familiar with the patient’s environment helps the nurse to know the available resources and those that should be made available to the patient (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2021). Therefore, to be able to adequately assess Ms. Green’s current needs, the nurse should gather additional information about her living environment and evaluate whether she is at risk of substance or physical abuse.
The nurse can implement a number of activities based on Ms. Green’s history, physical, and psychological descriptions. Precisely, the nurse should identify potential hassles and develop ways to eliminate them. For instance, the nurse should enroll Ms. Green in the prenatal care program and connect her with healthcare providers who can offer medical services at home. Besides, the nurse should establish a connection between Ms. Green and a mental health practitioner whom she can visit either weekly or monthly depending on the status of her mental health. The nurse should also help Ms. Green to see a physician to monitor her blood pressure to prevent her from developing preeclampsia. Another important nursing activity is to help Ms. Green develop a plan for caring for her children including the unborn infant (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2021; Stanhope & Lancaster, 2021). The nurse can advise her to consider adoption or registering them in a child care program.
References
Stanhope, M. & Lancaster, J. (2021). Foundations for population health in community/public health nursing – e-book. 6th ed. Elsevier Health Sciences