Introduction
A community health assessment serves as a cornerstone of proper treatment and disease prevention. Based on the informal observations made during the community visits, advanced practice nurses can better understand the cultural, linguistic, and social peculiarities of the given neighborhood or larger areas they monitor and evaluate (Edmonds, Campbell, & Gilder, 2017). The windshield assessment is one of the ways to gather information about the community health via the visual overview of living conditions, environmental threats, and other issues that offer insights into the context and background of the selected community.
Quality care‐metrics
Quality care metrics are another valuable method of obtaining data about community health through collecting real-time care quality and providing quality improvement opportunities. The study by Giltenane, Frazer, and Sheridan (2016) offers a protocol of research based on focus groups, interviews, thematic analysis, and descriptive statistics. As a result, it is expected to reveal that quality care‐metrics is useful to public health care, especially during the first visits of nurses to their patients.
The integration of public health nursing and primary care
Interprofessional collaboration is assigned paramount importance in today’s nursing because it ensures effective teamwork, relationship building, and the creation of a comprehensive picture of public health problems. In this connection, Evans‐Agnew, Mayer, and Miller (2018) recommend the integration of public health nursing and primary care to investigate and diagnose properly. Data can be collected via interviews with residents, anonymous surveys to identify hidden health challenges and the review of vaccination and chronic illness history. In general, interprofessional collaboration promotes aligned leadership and community engagement based on obtained data sharing. Informal discussions and knowledge tests are also beneficial for advanced practice nurses to understand the current needs of people, which is significant to choose interventions.
References
Edmonds, J. K., Campbell, L. A., & Gilder, R. E. (2017). Public health nursing practice in the Affordable Care Act era: A national survey. Public Health Nursing, 34(1), 50-58.
Evans‐Agnew, R., Mayer, K., & Miller, L. (2018). Opportunities in the integration of primary care and public health nursing: Two case exemplars on physical activity and nutrition. Nursing Forum, 53(1), 40-45.
Giltenane, M., Frazer, K., & Sheridan, A. (2016). Evaluating the impact of a quality care‐metric on public health nursing practice: Protocol for a mixed methods study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(8), 1935-1947.