This weeks topics relate to the following Course Outcome (CO).

This week's topics relate to the following Course Outcome
(CO).
CO9: Examine future trends in community health nursing,
including the impact of information systems and evidence-based
practice. (PO8)
Review this week's lesson and assigned reading on the nurses'
role in population health, and reflect on what you have learned
in this course. Address the following questions.
What future concerns are likely to impact
public health
?
How do you see global health concerns impacting your
community?
Identify one way that you can implement population health in
your community or workplace.
Please share specific examples.
Textbook:
Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2019).
Community/
Public health
nursing: Promoting the health of populations

(7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.
Chapter 15: Health in the Global Community, pp. 275-278, 281-
284
Required Articles:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2017).
Catalysts for change: Harnessing the power of nurses to build
population health in the 21st century
[executive summary]. Retrieved from
https://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/reports/2017/rwj
f440286 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Premji, S. S., & Hatfield, J. (2016). Call to action for
nurses/nursing.
Biomed Research International
,
2016,
3127543. doi:10.1155/2016/3127543. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mdc&A
N=27144160&site=eds-live&scope=site (Links to an external
site.)Links to an external site.
Lesson:
The Future of Community Health Nursing
Introduction:
As we look to the future, nurses focused on population health
concerns will

continue
to play an essential role in improving the health of our nation
and the world. Increased emphasis on health promotion and
illness prevention will help to build a culture of health.
Technology can play an important role in this effort. "Nursing
informatics (NI) is the specialty that integrates nursing science
with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify,
define, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge,
and wisdom in nursing practice" (American Nurses Association,
2014, para. 1).
Community health nurses have been pioneers in the use of
information systems. Long ago, they recognized the value of
electronic health records to store, transport, and report data
online. The need to collect and report aggregate data has
spurred the digitization of community and public health records.
Also, community health nurses have understood the value of
handheld computing devices that allow them to access and
document information while on the go, thus freeing them from
the need to tote paper records or go to the office to chart.
Information technology has influenced the way that community
health nurses carry out their daily functions in profound ways.
Nursing Informatics
Nursing informatics constitutes the use of specific tools,
functional areas, and competencies. The Healthcare Information
and
Management Systems
Society (2015) asserts that healthier communities can be
created through health information technology and nursing
informatics, but how can this be accomplished? Community
health nurses are involved in the following aspects of
information management.

Public health informatics includes reporting, outbreak response,
surveillance, health promotion, and electronic laboratory
reporting, among other types of applications.
Clinical informatics pertains to informatics and information
technology used by clinicians, including nurses who are
involved in system design, implementation, and adoption.
Image Description
Reflection
Think about your computer and information literacy levels. Are
they adequate for the role of a community health nurse? What
are areas in nursing informatics for which you would like to
grow your skills?
Tools for Information Management in the Community
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2009)
has developed informatics competencies for public health
professionals. These include the following skills.
Leadership and thinking
Financial planning and management
Public health science
Cultural competency
Analytic and assessment

Community practice
Policy development and program planning
As you can see, the skill set is very broad.
Impact of Health IT
Communities have leveraged the power of health information
technology to help serve their populations. Let's look at a few
uses of health IT and consider if these are present in your
community at large.
Consumer E-Health Tools
People use a variety of tools to
access
and update their health information. These tools enhance
participation and involvement in the healthcare process.
Personal health records (PHRs) are controlled by the patient and
not the healthcare provider. Individuals can generate many
health records during a lifetime. Think about how many
healthcare providers you may have encountered since your
birth. One way to create a comprehensive cradle-to-grave health
record is to give responsibility to the individual to maintain it.
There are still many issues to resolve before PHRs become a
common part of the health IT landscape.
The Question
What barriers exist to the widespread adoption and use of
PHRs?

Your Answer
Compare Answers
Health kiosks are publicly available health information centers
that can distribute materials to targeted audiences. For example,
a pharmacy may be an ideal location for information about high
blood pressure
or diabetes testing. Research has shown that healthcare kiosks
are a cost-effective way to provide education to patients and
improve health outcomes (Roxanne, Suzanne, Edgardo, &
William, 2014).
Smartphones are used increasingly to record and send health
information via e-mail or short messages. These phones can
help reinforce healthy behavior. One study found that influenza
vaccine text message reminders to high risk clients increased
compliance (Regan, Bloomfield, Peters, & Effler, 2017). The
messages remind clients that flu season is approaching and they
can call their local healthcare provider to schedule an
appointment to receive their seasonal influenza vaccine!
Community nurses can recommend mobile phone services and a
wide array of health apps to help our clients and aggregates
prevent illness and improve their health.
Technology exists all around us, but are we exploiting its
potential? Think of
creative ways
in which a commonly owned device, such as a smartphone,
could be used to promote healthy living among your population.
Telehealth
This technology enables care providers to deliver healthcare at a

distance. It can take many forms but the more common approach
is through phone, Internet, or video conferencing. Those in rural
and underserved communities have welcomed the advantages
that telehealth can bring, such as referral to specialists who live
at a distance, remote monitoring of health conditions, and
education and training to those in sparsely populated areas.
The U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs
is recognized as a world leader in the use of telehealth to meet
the needs of veterans who have difficulty traveling to its large
medical centers. The Telehealth Services (2015) has more than
700 community-based outpatient clinics that help bring care to
this population but there are still not enough specialists to staff
every site. A solution has been to bring the specialists to the
veterans through real-time, clinic-based video telehealth.
Healthcare providers can diagnose and manage care from a
distance.
Health Information Exchanges (HIEs)
Health information exchanges do just what their label implies.
Health-related data are made accessible to healthcare providers,
public health officials, insurance companies, governmental
agencies, and other key stakeholders.
Past Accomplishments
Building on Florence Nightingale's achievements, Lillian Wald,
Lavinia Dock, Mary Breckinridge, and other nursing visionaries
cared for vulnerable populations. They embodied social justice,
empowered communities, and were the voice for populations
that had no voice.
In the early 20th century, public health focused on infectious
disease control and better sanitation. Over time, the focus

changed to lifestyles and health behaviors, a change exemplified
by the Healthy People initiatives.
We are now in the process of implementing the Healthy People
2020 objectives, this is a good time to look back to the end of
the 20th century and review what has been accomplished. At the
close of the 20th century, the 10 greatest public health
achievements for the century were recognized by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Now that another
decade has passed, the most recent achievements from 2001 to
2010 are listed below (not ranked in any specific order) (CDC,
2011).
The 10 Greatest Public Health Achievements
OneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTen
Roll over each link on the left for more information.
Reflection
As you think about these great public health achievements, what
role has evidence-based practice played in their success?
Improvements in public health have had an immense impact on
the U.S. population. The CDC report describes seven out of ten
achievements that have focused on at least one of the major
leading causes of death (CDC, 2011). Community and public
health nurses will continue to serve in key roles to improving
overall health of populations.
The Future
The Healthy People initiate has guided many improvements in
health care and health outcomes. We are nearing the third
decade guided by Healthy People. Great progress has been made

in previous decades but we will continue to be challenged to
meet the objectives. What does the future hold for us?
As we have read this week, in order to improve health for all
populations, we have to include global health priorities. The
CDC (2017) continues to lead the way in research, health
promotion, and prevention. Recently outbreaks such as Zika,
Ebola, and measles have heightened attention to global health.
Watch this video created by the CDC on global health.
CDC. (2017).
Protecting Americans through global health
. Retrieved from
https://youtu.be/IsITU2RLEo4 (Links to an external site.)Links
to an external site.
(3.44 min)
Transcript
Community health nurses will do what they have always done to
make a difference in the health of individuals, families,
aggregates, and communities. The traditional activities of
monitoring the health status of communities and the
environment, informing and educating, referring to needed
resources, empowering communities, and mobilizing community
partnerships to solve health problems, and evaluating their
effectiveness will continue to be the focus of community health
nursing practice. New information, challenges, and care
delivery models will be available to aid in the efforts.
Reflection
Reflect on the course readings, discussion posts, and
assignments you have completed during this term. Consider the
following.

What topics did you find to be of most benefit to you?
How well prepared are you to assume a position as a community
health nurse?
What gaps remain in your knowledge and skill that you would
like to close after this course is finished?
How will you continue to advance your expertise in the future?
As you contemplate your answers, think about your future
career path. Where do you see yourself working in the next
year, two years, five years, and beyond? How will you get
there?
Summary
This week, we explored the various uses of technology in the
community health setting. As advances occur, a role of the
community health nurse is to look for ways to use newer
technologies to help them meet their mission—improve the
health of the populations in their communities.
This course has provided you with the basic foundation to
become a community health nurse. The principles that have
been presented are applicable to any type of nursing you may
pursue. We wish you the best on your journey toward becoming
a Chamberlain University, College of Nursing, BSN-prepared
nurse.
References
American Nurses Association. (2015).

Nursing informatics: Scope and standards of practice
(2nd ed.)
.
Silver Spring, MD: Nursebooks.org.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2017).
Protecting Americans through global health
. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/IsITU2RLEo4
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2009).
Competencies for public health informaticians 2009
. Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/informaticscompetencies/pdfs/phi-
competencies.pdf
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2011). Ten
great public health achievements: United States, 2001–2010.
MMWR, 60
(19), 619–623.
Health Information and
Management Systems
Society. (2015).
Position statement: Nursing informatics
. Retrieved from http://www.himss.org/library/nursing-
informatics/position-statement
Regan, A. K., Bloomfield, L., Peters, I., & Effler, P. V. (2017).
Randomized controlled trial of text message reminders for
increasing influenza vaccination.
Annals of Family Medicine
,
15
(6), 507–514. doi:10.1370/afm.2120
Roxanne, N., Suzanne, B., Edgardo, O., & William, S. (2014).

Medical utilization of kiosks in the delivery of patient
education: A systematic review.
Health Promotion Perspectives, 4
(1), 1–8. doi:10.5681/hpp.2014.001
U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs
: VA Telehealth Services. (2015).
Real-time clinic based video telehealth
. Retrieved from https://www.telehealth.va.gov/real-
time/index.asp

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