Population Health Nursing week 6 peer responses
Respond to your peer in one paragraph. These posts should be thoughtful, respectful, and add value to the discussion. This response could include relating your experience to whatever they initially posted. Use a different scholarly source, reference it using APA format, and include in-text citations when using the referenced material in your post.
1st peer post
Autumn CollierApr 8, 2024 at 6:47 PM
Identify the role of your collaborating healthcare professional and share a needed change the two of you identified in your assessment.
For my assignment, I chose to interview and collaborate with a pharmacist at the community clinic. We identified the need to educate and promote safe sex practices among teens due to high rates of sexually transmitted infections among teens and risk of pregnancy.
Identify a community stakeholder or policy maker that could support the recommended change. What resources might be needed?
In order to successfully promote safe sex practices that reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections and teen pregnancies, it is essential to have the support of key stakeholders such as the school system and educators, public health departments, and healthcare providers. The school system and educators can play a critical role in educating young people about safe sex practices and the importance of using contraception. They can do this by including comprehensive sex education in their curriculum, which covers topics such as contraception methods, the risks associated with unprotected sex, and the importance of consent. Public health departments, meanwhile, can take a lead role in developing and implementing policies and programs that educate people about safe sex practices and contraception. For instance, they can develop public awareness campaigns that educate people about the importance of using contraception, and they can also promote the availability of free or low-cost contraception. Finally, healthcare providers can help by providing access to comprehensive sexual healthcare services, including contraception, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and counseling services. By providing these services, healthcare providers can help ensure that people have access to the resources they need to make informed decisions about their sexual health.
Various resources may be required to support these initiatives. This may include funding for community-based or school-based programs that promote safe sex practices, as well as comprehensive materials such as written or illustrated guides and visual lessons that can be used to educate people about safe sex practices and contraception. Additionally, funding for free access to contraception may also be required to ensure that people have access to the resources they need to protect their sexual health.
Provide a paragraph that discusses your advocacy for this change process and how your identified stakeholder or policymaker could help you achieve the recommended change.
Even though the rates for teen births in Kentucky and the U.S. have declined over the years, they still remain high. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), in 2005 teen birth rates reached an all-time high of 49.1 per 1,000 teens. However, as of 2021, Kentucky has managed to decrease its rate by almost half to 22.3 per 1,000, which is still higher than the lowest rates of 5.4 to 16.64 in the rest of the U.S. In order to further reduce teen birth rates, it is essential to implement more proactive education programs for teens to help them understand the risks and prevent teen pregnancies.
Health departments’ public health officials can facilitate this change by requesting access to programs that can be implemented, such as the Office of Population Affairs funded Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. As a nurse, I can advocate for teen health by involving other stakeholders to push for programs to be implemented by the health department.
References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Teen birth rate by state. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
2nd peer post
Stephanie SaldivarApr 9, 2024 at 9:07 PM
The role of the professional I collaborated with is Quality Manager. The topic we selected was the adult population over the age of 65 who are retired have a greater risk of death related to inactivity as evidence by increased heart disease and hypertension. One study shows that older adults are at risk for complications from reduced activity such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and poor mental health (Wardoku et al., 2019). A solution we came up with is to host free exercise sessions in the park available to all over 65 years of age. At the sessions we will have literature ready explaining the effects of inactivity on their health. Involving the mayor of my city to help spread the word of this free program. My town is very small and often time we get flyers for community events in our mailboxes or doors. With the approval of the mayor and city council we could get approval for a flyer promoting this program. This could be a great way to reach older citizens because many do not use social media as often and delivering a physical flyer can confirm information was delivered.
Reference
Wardoku, R., Blair, C., Demmer, R., & Prizment, A. (2019). Association between physical inactivity and health-related quality of life in adults with coronary heart disease. Maturitas, (128), 36-42.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2019.07.005
