Question

State and describe how you feel the RN can implement your peer’s actions in a patient-centered manner. Explain your evaluation and reasoning.

After reading the text, I feel that it is clear to me that the skills required for an RN in the community setting are the same as those in a true hospital setting. My reasoning for this is because the majority of community care facilities have the same governing agencies that oversee their operations, i.e. Joint Commission and the DEA just to name two. I feel the only true differences between the community RN and those in an acute care setting would be the ease of access to certain healthcare team members. Some instances that happen in a community facility require the need of 9-1-1 for facility transfers. In the book, it says that most surgical procedures are now done in private community based offices (Treas & Wilkinson, 2014). The only difference I can think of between community nursing and acute care nursing, would be in the areas that have a version of the community nursing that visits households of patients to ensure they are current with medications as well as making sure they understand their conditions. In these settings, I feel that infection control practices would be more difficult. What makes this particularly difficult in a patients home, is that you really have no control over the cleanliness of the patients house. You yourself can insure that you are practicing the appropriate infection control measures, by carrying your own supplies, such as hand sanitizer, gloves, gowns, masks, and soap for hand washing prior to leaving the residence. You can only encourage the patient to maintain a clean environment but that doesn’t mean that they will listen to your suggestions.

Answer 1

According to me, Nursing practice in acute care settings and community settings are two sides of the coin. In Hospital settings, they focused on task-oriented, whereas in the community health settings the nurse must have special skills according to the needs of the population. In the hospital, they focus only on individualized patient needs, but in the community, they must focus on the entire community. In the community, the RN's should focus on homes, schools, and health centers.

The other main difference is in the hospital, the patient will arrive and demand the services, but in the community, the nurse has to provide basic care needs and to encourage and motivate them to utilize the services. The community settings, mainly focus on promotive, preventive, and rehabilitative services. The nurse is the independent decision maker and she is solely responsible for the community care. She has the authority and autonomy in planning and implementing of health activities within the community. Her health education and work practices protect the population during the outbreak of disease.

So in my opinion, work in the community settings is more challengeable for the RN's when compared to the hospital setting. The only thing is they have to build a long-term relationship with the people. Once, it was achieved, then they will accept the services and follow the instruction such as maintaining the clean environment, personal care, caring for older persons, children etc as provided by you. Establishing good rapport makes positive outcomes. Thus the community nurse plays the major role in controlling the disease and minimizing of Hospitalization.