Please reply toPatricia Lamarre – Please note minimum of 200 words.Please cite one scholarly source. In-text citation should be included.
Nursing Intervention Strategies
After considering many health-related topics for my project, I chose to do my community education project on the importance of oral health in seniors. I learned through my community assessment that many and most of the seniors I spoke with and surveyed, had three things in common. A lack of knowledge in regard to the health-related issues that can arise from poor oral health, they avoided dental care due to the cost of dental procedures, and did not have dental insurance due to the cost and unavailability through their primary health insurance.
The Nursing intervention wheel was previously known as the Public Health Intervention Model and was originally introduced in 1998 to improve population
health (Keller et al., n.d.).By referencing the intervention wheel and definition resources, I used or will use, five of the nursing interventions that are listed in
my project. Surveillance, Outreach, Referral and follow-up, health teaching, and Collaboration.
Integration of Methods
Surveillance- I used this when performing my community assessment. I surveyed many seniors through observing them, conversing with many of them, and presented a written questionnaire that many were very willing to participate in.
Outreach-I feel I used and will be using the outreach intervention because I have spoken to individuals in my town such as the public health nurse, the director of the council on aging, and local dental offices. I have also used this method of outreach in the communications with the seniors that I have already had in my assessment and will continue to have with my project as well with the individuals I mentioned above. I hope to make an impact and continue the work that I start with them.
Referral and follow-up After presenting my community project with the group of seniors I will be meeting with; I will present them with the information they will need on who to reach out to in order to receive the oral care they need and other informative materials.
Health teaching- I have done some health teaching already in the community assessment as I took the opportunity to present some with informational facts. I will also present this information and much more at the presentation of my project.
Collaboration- I have been collaborating with individuals in my town to assist me with my project such as some that I mentioned above, the public health nurse, the director of the Council on Aging, and local dentists. I also have had collaboration with the people that support the dental program in my area and the local VNA.
References
Keller, L., Strohschein, S., Schaffer, M. A., & Lia-Hoagberg, B. (n.d.). Population-based public health interventions: Innovations in practice, teaching, and management. part ii. Public Health Nursing, 21(5), 469–487. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0737-1209.2004.21510.x
Please reply to Cynthia Wolfe – Please note minimum of 200 words.Please cite one scholarly source. In-text citation should be included.
Interventions are actions that public health nurses take on behalf of individuals/families, communities, and systems, to improve or protect health status (Minnesota Department of Health, 2001). For my project, I chose to use disease and health investigation, screening, and outreach as my interventions. I researched the prevalence of diabetes in Texas and was shocked to find out that 156,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. By meeting new patients each day at the hospital and finding out what their health concerns are, I was able to piece together how this community that I was born in but never lived in until now as a traveling nurse is affected by chronic illnesses. I also, after speaking with my target group, how important beautiful nails are but how very little thought is given on the importance of proper nail care. I will include several photos of complications of improper nail care such as ochymotic nails, ingrown nails, and in the worst case scenario, gangrene leading to amputation. Using the screening tool, I spoke with my target audience about their health, how much they know about their diabetes and preventative and ongoing measures. The five that are diabetics have A1Cs that are above the 4-6% range. An A1C measurement shows the patient’s average level of blood sugar over the past two to three months ( McDonnel, et al., 2019). There have been many debates by specialists on what the optimal target number is for diabetics so it’s no surprise that my target group is confused as well. The outreach portion involves finding populations who are at risk and determining if they are willing to take part in an educational presentation. Many people are preoccupied with today’s busy schedules and do not look forward to another boring meeting. I was lucky to meet Breanna and join forces with her on not only promoting her business but also teaching the audience about how important nail care is. We both are nurses and feel that this topic is neglected. I will provide healthy snacks for our presentation and Breanna will be giving away gift cards for her beautiful products. The women in our audience seem interested and are also adding their ideas on how we all can make this a successful presentation. I think that if these women take the information and pass it onto their friends and it keeps going, that it may make an impact in the community.
Reference
Minnesota Department of Health. (2001). Public health interventions: Applications for public
health nursing practice
McDonnell M, Buse J, and Wilt T. “E03. For Debate: A Reasonable A1c Goal for Many
Nonpregnant Adults is <7% (53mmol/mol).” Presented at ENDO 2019 in New
Orleans, LA on March 23, 2019.
