Community Health Assessment Project
Overview
This supervised clinical teaching strategy provides students with an opportunity to complete a community health assessment guided by the Community-as-Partner (CAP) model (Anderson & MacFarlane, 2008). Students learn how to promote a healthy community through collaboration, partnerships, and community engagement within their assigned community. The assignment is designed to facilitate students’ acquisitions of knowledge, attitudes, and skills in the community/public health nursing process, and how to develop and practice public health nursing advocacy.
How to Use
- Introduce the students to the purpose of the community health assessment project.
- Assign a community of interest to a community/public health nursing clinical group.
- Determine the scope of the community health assessment. Different options can be used to determine the scope of the project. The assessment can be faculty-driven (faculty determines the scope of the assessment), student-faculty driven (students and faculty determine the scope of the assessment) or driven in partnership with the city/local agency(ies) (faculty-student and community partners determine the scope of the assessment). Although, the faculty driven and student-faculty driven community assessment approaches are acceptable, it is strongly encouraged that the scope of the community health assessment be determined in partnership with the community of interest. This kind of approach forms strong community partnerships that serve a specific purpose that is community-driven and builds upon the strengths and assets identified by the community partners. The student-faculty driven health assessment should also have a purpose of meeting a community health need. Note: Despite the chosen approach, it is important the faculty ensure students determine and evaluate any ongoing or existing community assessments reports and decide how their planned assessment builds upon any prior assessments.
- If a faculty-driven approach is used, the faculty plans the timeline (itinerary) about the where, when, why, and how of the community health assessment prior to the commencement of the semester. If student-faculty driven approach is used, faculty will collaborate with students to institute a timeline at the beginning of the semester. If the assessment is partnership between the students, faculty and community members, the team plans the timeline at the beginning of the semester.
- Students complete the two components of the CAP model: namely the Community Assessment Wheel (i.e., assessment) and the Nursing Process (i.e., intervention) (Anderson & McFarlane).
- Assessment: Students complete a Windshield survey, a Key informant interview, and a Vital Statistics report for the assigned community. Instruct students to include primary and secondary data sources.
- Nursing process: After the assessment, students are to:
- Analyse and interpret the data, identify disparities, actual/potential causal factors, and the major health needs/issues.
- Define and validate priorities.
- Develop an implementation strategy/plan for a primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention intervention that will address selected health needs.
- Implement and evaluate identified prevention interventions. Examples of common prevention interventions include health teaching, vision, and hearing screenings.
- Write the final community health assessment report and disseminate it to with key community stakeholders. The report is typically a PowerPoint presentation and includes a one-page issue brief highlighting the results.
- Analyse and interpret the data, identify disparities, actual/potential causal factors, and the major health needs/issues.
- Assessment: Students complete a Windshield survey, a Key informant interview, and a Vital Statistics report for the assigned community. Instruct students to include primary and secondary data sources.
- Have students complete a nursing advocacy strategy for a community health issue of interest.
- Have students reflect on their learning during and at the end of their community/public health nursing process.
Integrative Learning Strategies
Students will work in their clinical groups to complete a community health assessment project. During their faculty to insert name of the course rotation, students will:
I. Apply the Public Health Nursing Process to a community of interest by demonstrating the following behavioural objectives:
A. Identify the population(s) for which the public health nurse (PHN) is accountable.
B. Assess the health status of the community:
- Use a health and social determinants framework to determine risk factors and protective factors that lead to health and illness in the community.
- Identify relevant and appropriate data and information sources for the populations to which the PHN is accountable: (a) Familiar with data used in the health department (b) Familiar with data in the programs in which the PHN works.
- Work in partnership with community key stakeholders to attach meaning to collected quantitative and qualitative data.
- Work in partnership with community key stakeholders to establish priorities.
C. Create public health strength, risk, and asset-based diagnoses for the community.
D. In partnership with community key stakeholders, develop a plan based on the priorities:
1) Select desired outcomes that are specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, relevant and time bound (SMART).
2) Select public health interventions that:
(a) Are supported by current literature as evidence-based.
(b) Reduce health determinant risk factors and strengthen health determinant protective factors.
(c) Have the greatest potential for improving the health of the population.
(d) Respect and are consistent with the culture and ethnic beliefs of the community.
(e) Are consistent with professional standards, the Nurse Practice Act, existing laws, ordinances, and policies.
3) Select level(s) of intervention (community, systems, individuals, and families).
4) Select level(s) of prevention (primary, secondary, tertiary).
E. Implement the plan with the community key stakeholders:
1) Work in partnership with the community key stakeholders to implement public health interventions.
2) Utilize the best practices when implementing the public health nursing intervention.
F. Evaluate the implementation plan and intervention outcomes:
1) Measure outcomes of public health nursing interventions using evidence-based methods and tools.
2) Document public health nursing process by completing forms, records, and charts for the community, systems, individuals, and/or families.
3) Use information technology to collect, document, analyse, store, and retrieve the health status of communities, systems, individuals, and families.
II. Advocate for the disadvantaged and underserved by demonstrating the following behavioural objective.
1) Complete a public health nursing advocacy elevator speech on an identified community health need of interest.
III. Undertake reflective learning and practice about public health nursing practice by demonstrating the following behavioural objective.
1) Complete personal reflection(s) on assigned community activities and/or public health nursing services to address identified community health need(s).
Assessment Strategies
Download the following attachments:
- Community Health Assessment Instructions
- Windshield Survey Tool and Grading Rubric
- Key Informant Interview Guide and Rubric
- Vital Statistics Rubric
- Health Teaching Rubric
- Final Presentation Rubric
- Public Health Nursing Elevator Speech Instruction and Rubric
- Reflection Tool
- Sample Documentation Form for Vision and Hearing Screening
- Sample SMART Goals and Objectives Rubric
Exemplars
- Final Presentation of the Community Health Assessment Project
- Public Health Nursing Advocacy Elevator Speech
- Sample Student’s Reflection
- Health Teaching Exemplar
Additional Resources/Publications:
Ash, Sarah L., and Patti H. Clayton. "Generating, deepening, and documenting learning: The power of critical reflection in applied learning." Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education 1, (2009): 25-48
American Psychological Association. "Publication manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style."?(No Title)?(2017).
Anderson, Elizabeth, T., and Judith M. McFarlane.?“Community as partner: Theory and practice in nursing.” Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010.
Center for Community Health and Development. “Community Health Toolbox.” University of Kansas, KS Accessed August 13, 2023, https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources
Schoon, Patricia M., Carolyn M. Porta, and Marjorie A. Schaffer.?“Population-based public health clinical manual: The Henry Street model for nurses” (3rd Ed). Sigma, 2019.
AACN-ANF Funding Acknowledgment Statement
This project was supported by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN) Competency-Based Education for Practice-Ready Nurses Project funded through the American Nurses Foundation’s (ANF) Reimagining Nursing Initiative. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of AACN and ANF.
Sub-competencies for entry-level professional nursing education:
Domain 3: Population Health
- 3.1 Manage population health.
- 3.1a Define a target population including its functional and problem-solving capabilities (anywhere in the continuum of care)
- 3.1b Assess population health data
- 3.1c Assess the priorities of the community and/or the affected clinical population.
- 3.1d Compare and contrast local, regional, national, and global benchmarks to identify health patterns across populations.
- 3.1e Apply an understanding of the public health system and its interfaces with clinical health care in addressing population health needs.
- 3.1f Develop an action plan to meet an identified need(s), including evaluation methods.
- 3.1g Participate in the implementation of sociocultural and linguistically responsive interventions
- 3.1h Describe general principles and practices for the clinical management of populations across the age continuum.
- 3.1i Identify ethical principles to protect the health and safety of diverse populations
- 3.2 Engage in effective partnerships.
- 3.2a Engage with other health professionals to address population health issues.
- 3.2b Demonstrate effective collaboration and mutual accountability with relevant stakeholders.
- 3.2c Use culturally and linguistically responsive communication strategies.
- 3.3a Describe access and equity implications of proposed intervention(s).
- 3.3b Prioritize patient-focused and/or community action plans that are safe, effective, and efficient in the context of available resources.
- 3.3 Consider the socioeconomic impact of the delivery of health care.
- 3.3a Describe access and equity implications of proposed intervention(s)
- 3.3b Prioritize patient-focused and/or community action plans that are safe, effective, and efficient in the context of available resources.
- 3.4 Advance equitable population health policy.
- 3.4b Describe the impact of policies on population outcomes, including social justice and health equity.
- 3.5 Demonstrate advocacy strategies.
- 3.5a Articulate a need for change.
- 3.5b Describe the intent of the proposed change.
- 3.5c Define stakeholders, including members of the community and/or clinical populations, and their level of influence.
Posted: October 7, 2024
Submitted by:
Rosemary Eustace, PhD, PHNA-BC, RN, Professor, Wright State University
Marlene Stuber, MS, RN, CHSE, Clinical Associate Professor, Director of Simulation, Wright State University