Community Nursing Assessment Issues in Public Health Nursing Practice

Abstract

Purpose : This report described public health nurses' understanding and practice of community nursing assessment and discusses the issues regarding the development of competence in community assessment. Method : The subjects were four public health nurses with more than three years of experience who had supervised nursing students in community practice. Semi-structured interviews were tape-recorded. Data were analyzed to identify core thoughts. Results : They assessed community members in order to identify the evidence of health care practice, to implement a basic health plans, and to identify community needs that would be shared with the health care team. They sought to understand the community comprehensively and objectively ; to understand the lives of the people ; and to uncover issues related to health services. They had no systematic assessment framework. In data collection, they emphasized practical events, so they paid attention to real people's voices and individual issues that might develop into community health issues. They had limited competence in systematic assessment, the use of qualitative data and statistical analysis. They recognized the need for a practical assessment tool. As a result of their assessments, they expected to have fulfillment of their work goals ; to implement health services ; to meet people's needs ; to be able to make health care policy ; and to have a smooth running health care team. They had unreasonable expectation of a community assessment. They recognized a gap between community diagnosis and community nursing assessment. Conclusion : To develop the public health nurse's community assessment skills, it is important for the nurse to understand the difference between whole community assessment and assessment of health service practice. It is necessary to establish methods for systematic collection and analysis of community health care data as soon as possible.