Assignment 1
Summary of the teaching plan
According to the information given by the health provider of the public health clinic, an interactive education programs are effective in teaching the large groups of patients that are served by this particular health facility. This approach of teaching falls under the large group teaching because the health facility consists of patients with different educational needs. Therefore, through interactive teaching with the various populations of patients, the nursing students are in a position of meet the needs of that particular group. The general topic that can be taught to the general population is prevention and control of infections (Barrett, & Randle, 2008). This could be within the public health facility or outside the health facility. The teaching plan contains several methods that can be used to control different diseases. Immunization is discussed in the education programs as one way of preventing infections before they occur. Methods of prevention of diseases that occur through water and food are also addressed. Infections that are spread through animals and insects are also discussed. The other prevention measures included in the paper include diseases spread from one person to another, tuberculosis prevention, and infections spread through blood and sexual contact (Barrett, & Randle, 2008).
These prevention measures are generalized so that all the members of the community can participate because they are likely to be familiar with one or more of the infections (Barrett, & Randle, 2008). Therefore, the teaching model is designed in a way that meets the needs of all the members of the community consisted in the public health facility. These infections have a very high prevalence in the community and that is why it was necessary to pick prevention as a teaching topic. This will ensure that the general health of the community is improved and this enables people to have knowledge and skills that enable them to prevent most of the infections that they are faced with (Barrett, & Randle, 2008).
Epidemiological rationale for topic
Infections occur very often in different populations of the society. These infections range from infections that occur among the children, adolescents, the youth, middle aged and even the elderly. Immunization is used mainly in children in the prevention of the most prevalent infections that include diphtheria, measles, poliomyelitis, tetanus, pertussis, and tuberculosis (Barrett, & Randle, 2008). These infections are easily spread in children and therefore there is need for them to be prevented. Vaccination is one of the best ways though which they can be controlled. Immunization has been identified as the safest and cost effect method of infection prevention; statistics also show that there is a big reduction of the occurrence of the infections when immunization is carried out as compared to when there is no immunization (Barrett, & Randle, 2008). Safety by the health care professionals is also important for the immunization to be effective. This ensures that safe and effective immunization is provided.
More vaccines have been discovered and they include vaccines for some sexually transmitted infections such as Hepatitis B. Mortality rates have also reduced drastically with effective use of vaccines in disease prevention. Some of the diseased that are spread though food and water can be prevented through good hygiene that is taught to the community and this will also include campaigning for proper treatment for the infections when they occur (Barrett, & Randle, 2008). Some of these diseases are communicable for example cholera. Infections that are spread through blood can be prevented through giving education on how blood contact leads to infection and also teaching the public on the precautions they should take to ensure that blood used for transfusion is treated and free from diseases. Moreover, the aim of the teaching program is to equip the community with knowledge and information on how they can contribute to infections and diseases prevention (Rankin, & Stallings, 2001).
Infections that are passed from one person to the other through sexual contact are also increasing day by day in the society. Therefore there is great need for education to be given to the community on how the occurrence of these infections can be cut down. The public health clinic statistics show that sexually transmitted infections are increasing at an alarming rate (Rankin, & Stallings, 2001). These infections exist among the youth and the middle aged. Sex education is given to this population and this enables the nursing students to get feedback on what is contributing to the increase in the occurrence of the infections. Prevention of infections that are spread through insects and animals are also addressed. Their prevention could involve proper interaction with animals such as cats and animals with fur that lead to conditions such as asthma (Rankin, & Stallings, 2001). Giving information to the society is very helpful because members of the society will be in a position to work hand in hand with the health practitioners to eradicate diseases and infections. Moreover, prevention is much easier than treatment. This also improves the interaction of the community and the health care providers. Prevention is the best way of eradicating infections and diseases and this is very simple when the society is equipped with knowledge on how they can help in the prevention. This also makes the community feel that they are playing an important role in improving the health of the general society (Rankin, & Stallings, 2001).
Evaluation of teaching experience
After carrying out the teaching programs, it is necessary to carry out an evaluation of how effective the teaching was. Evaluation of the teaching can be done by getting feedback from the society and also by analyzing the changes in the general health status of the community (Dornan et al, 2006). The effectiveness of the teaching programs can be seen in the changes in the health status of the community. Feedback from the community can be done through the use of interviews, questionnaires, and case studies. Interviews are designed in an open-ended format so that the people are in a position to give their views (Dornan et al, 2006). These views are then analyzed to see how effective the teaching exercises were.
The use of interviews also allows the interviewer to get the opinion of the interviewee on what needs to be improved in the health sector. This also gives the interviewee a chance to ask for more information on their own health issues. Questionnaires are designed to get exact information on the changes that have been caused by the teaching exercises (Dornan et al, 2006). Questionnaires also give the nursing student a chance to know the areas that the teaching has not been effective. Case studies are also conducted to get the data on the effectiveness of the teaching programs on the larger community. The case studies could be more helpful in determining the statistics of the changes on prevalence and occurrence of the diseases. The data is very important because it is specific on which infections have the highest reduction on occurrence. This is very important because it helps in identifying the infections that need to be emphasized on in the process of prevention (Dornan et al, 2006).
Community response to teaching
The teaching was challenging at some point because of the turnout of the people in cases where teaching sessions were organized. The turnout was low for some of the population such as the elderly because of inability to access the teaching venue (Mikkelsen, Reime, & Harris, 2008). However, the general response was impressive because the other people turned out in large numbers and the interaction was impressive. They showed interest to learn and were willing to work hand in hand with the health care providers to eradicate infections and diseases. This was the willingness that contributed to the success of the teaching programs. The nursing students were also motivated to continue with the programs because they were at ease. This interaction also encouraged the community members to put into practice what was being taught (Mikkelsen, Reime, & Harris, 2008). The teaching programs improved the relationship between the public health clinic personnel and the community encouraging the community members to seek for information about their health issues at any time. The response that the community showed encouraged the use of teaching programs often and also intensifying the teaching programs. This showed that the community was receptive to group education and that the best prevention measure for diseases and infections is education. The members of the community showed a lot of commitment indicating that they were eager to learn and put into practice what was taught to them. The young people also showed interest in the use of the internet in the teaching programs as an easy way of reaching the youth and giving response (Mikkelsen, Reime, & Harris, 2008).
Areas of strengths and areas of improvement
Some of the strengths of the teaching programs include good response from the members of the community, commitment and provision of facilities by the public health clinic. However, there are a number of areas that need to be improved on (Tabi, & Mukherjee, 2003). These include increase in facilities for carrying out the teaching activities, increase in funds and resources. Allocation of money for community teaching should be included in the budget because it has been to be one of the most effective preventive measures for diseases and infections. More funds will make it possible to intensify the teaching programs to larger population and also increase the facilities needed for the teaching programs. This includes establishing venues that can accommodate a larger number of persons and also make it possible to carry out house-to house visits (Tabi, & Mukherjee, 2003). These visits are aimed at providing education to the community and also carry out an analysis of the practices that have been practiced such as hygiene.
The nursing practitioners also need to be increased to serve the large number of patients and community members. An increased number of health practitioners will also improve the effectiveness of the teaching programs (Tabi, & Mukherjee, 2003). The teaching programs were strategized in such a way that they met all the health needs of all the populations ranging from the children, youth, middle aged, and also the elderly. However, the strategy needs to be revised to ensure that the elderly are in a position to access to this education. This will improve the effectiveness of the community teaching. The infection prevention is also improved and the occurrence reduces gradually. The effectiveness of the community education leads to improvement of the general community health (Tabi, & Mukherjee, 2003).
References
Barrett, R., & Randle, J. (2008). Hand hygiene practices: nursing students’ perceptions. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(14), 1851-1857.
Dornan, T., Littlewood, S., Margolis, S. A., Scherpbier, A. J. J. A., Spencer, J., & Ypinazar, V. (2006). How can experience in clinical and community settings contribute to early medical education? A BEME systematic review#. Medical Teacher, 28(1), 3-18.
Mikkelsen, J., Reime, M. H., & Harris, A. K. (2008). Nursing students’ learning of managing cross-infections–Scenario-based simulation training versus study groups. Nurse Education Today, 28(6), 664-671.
Rankin, S. H., & Stallings, K. D. (2001). Patient education: principles & practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Tabi, M. M., & Mukherjee, S. (2003). Nursing in a global community: A study abroad program. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 14(2), 134-138.