It is essential to have a community assessment for population-centered health care. To help in devising a plan for change in a community, a community assessment will help lay the ground work for this change. One must keep in mind that a head to toe assessment is similar to assessing population-centered nursing. It may appear to be a difficult task to assess an entire community, but it is similar to fundamental nursing skills. Performing a community assessment is done by examining a large collection of information and comparing that information with another population, which will help identify any strengths or needs. Following the first step of gathering community and comparative data, data will …show more content…
The data collected revealed the incidence of obesity for Bourbonnais is 28.7%, compared to the percentage of 25.2% for the state of Illinois. The Prevalence of diabetes for is 9.0% compared to 8.3% for Illinois. The incidence of high blood pressure is another issue with a rate of 32.9% as compared to Illinois of 27.6% ("KCDPH," 2011). Nicole Wagner RN, BSN has been a school nurse in Bourbonnais for 15 years and I conducted a short interview with her. She has seen an increase in diabetes and obese students over the last 5 years. She also feels that kids that bring their own lunch have lunches with poor nutritional value, which include unhealthy processed snacks and sweets. She also feels the students do not seem to be as physically active as they once were (N. Wagner, personal communication, December 6, 2014). With the data collected from the windshield survey and further in depth data collection I was able to identify some health problems in the community that should be …show more content…
According to the school nurse who has been in the school system for 15 years has seen a decrease in physical activity in students in the last 5 years along with increase in obese students. This diagnosis goes along with the first diagnosis, which is the limited knowledge towards physical activity. Family dynamics and parents attitudes towards physical activity will influence their children’s activities. Physical inactivity rates have risen in Bourbonnais from 22.9% in 2009 to 27.6% in 2011. Many health problems that are linked with obesity and physical inactivity affect the residents of this community ("KCDPH," 2011). Bourbonnais has two fitness centers but the obesity problem is still present.
Planning/Interventions
Many health problems can arise from obesity and developing a plan to fight obesity and its risk factors is needed to improve the health status of the residents of Bourbonnais. The