Write a 3-5 page paper in APA format describing the community health nurse’s role in
health planning, implementation and evaluation.
Include at least two scholarly references beyond your text to support your work.
Community health nurse’s role in health planning, implementation and evaluation
Community health nursing is in many ways similar to clinical health nursing. Like
clinical nursing, community health nursing entails education aimed at promoting wellness
and prevention of illnesses, curative interventions and rehabilitative interventions. However,
community health nursing focuses on the whole family and the community at large. One of
the main roles of a community health nurse is in health promotion, which requires skills as a
planner.
As a planner, a community health nurse is mandated with the responsibility of
identifying the needs and concerns of individuals, families and the community at large. Upon
the identification of the needs, the nurse proceeds to develop health plans particularly when
the community physician may be unavailable. The nurse also interprets the nursing plans and
assists other members of the community health team to implement the plans in their particular
setting. Another important role in planning involves the nurses’ ability to anticipate more
efficient methods of providing services. They also facilitate and coordinate access to a multi-
disciplinary team for implementing health plans. For effective planning, it is vital for all the
nurses to understand the role played by all the regulated and non-regulated health workers.
This is because it optimizes an efficient collaborative approach to planning the care of the
patients involved (Community Health Nurses of Canada, 2011).
The community nurses engage the community in a socio-ecological approach to
health. This approach creates a supportive environment that strengthens community action in
health promotional activities. Nurses engage in a lot of community work to ensure acceptance
Community Health Nurse’s Role in Health Planning, Implementation and Evaluation 2
of decisions and implementation of the health promotion plans and programs. As planners,
nurses also interpret program policies and offer technical assistance to other community
based health personnel (Allende & Spradely, 2001).
Community health nurses also develop wellness programs for organizations such as
college campuses and grade school. Additionally, they are at the core emergency response
plans as indicated in the 2002 Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Act (Phyllis, 2009).
The Act gives community health nurses the role of first responders that are involved in
planning the rescue process in collaboration with other emergency response personnel such as
the law enforcement.
As implementers community health nurses have high levels of adaptability and
willingness to offer care in different settings such as churches, homeless shelters and schools
among others. They provide evidence based comprehensive care to patients in their homes,
places that organize health events as well as in institutions that offer health care to people
who may be having particular health needs (Phyllis, 2009). Essentially, community health
nurse’s direct care to people with different health needs is unrestricted to any place because
they can offer care from anywhere. They involve the family of the sick person in the family
as they deliver care. Additionally, they offer the family the needed knowledge required in
taking care of the sick person and this way the family becomes a partner in the care process
(Allende & Spradely, 2001).
The nurses also conduct screening to identify the causes of ill health and ways of
responding to the sicknesses. After screening for the health compromising risks, they
communicate effectively with the community to inform them of the vital information
concerning the risk as well as information on how to access the available resources. In the
actual delivery of care, the community health nurses play a vital role in referral and follow up
as well as managing the different health issues through delegation (Clemen-Stone, 2002).
Community Health Nurse’s Role in Health Planning, Implementation and Evaluation 3
They seek out clients that may be at risk for poor health and offer preventative care and
health promotion advice. This allows the clients to spend less money on health care as
preventative care is far less expensive as compared to curative care. They also counsel
communities on psychological and sociological health promotion issues that help the
communities to change their unhealthy behavior (Clemen-Stone, 2002).
In monitoring and evaluation, the community health nurse serves an important role of
detecting and responding to emerging health concerns within the community. They work in
collaboration with other community based regulated and unregulated health workers to
monitor the occurrence of such health risks (Clemen-Stone, 2002). Additionally, the
community health nurse requires maintaining efficient ways of collecting information that is
important in tracking trends that reflect the overall health of the community. In monitoring, it
is also important for the nurse to maintain proper records about the health situation and any
health problems that the community may be facing (Community Health Nursing in the
Department of Health Philippines, 2000).
The nurses play a role in ensuring that health plans are implemented according to the
set requirements. When the plans fail to proceed as planned, the nurses play a key role in
adjusting them to serve the community more effectively. They also assess the efficiency of
the plans against the set standards and goals to fulfill the evaluation component of the
community health nurse role.
Indeed the community nurses’ roles are all encompassing, as they not only involve
skills in science but also in the art of engaging people in the community setting. The nurses
are actively involved in planning where they set the long term and short-term goals for the
organization and determine the strategies of achieving them. They are also involved in
implementing the goals of offering primary health care and in the monitoring and evaluation
processes. All these roles involve other health workers and the community to be effective.
Community Health Nurse’s Role in Health Planning, Implementation and Evaluation 4
This multifaceted engagement in work makes community health nursing a complex and
challenging career compare to clinical nursing.
Community Health Nurse’s Role in Health Planning, Implementation and Evaluation 5
References
Allende, J., & Spradely, B. (2001). Community Health Nursing Concepts and Practice.
American Journal of Nursing, 342-45.
Clemen-Stone, S. (2002). Comprehensive Community Nursing. SL, McGuire: DG Eigisti.
Community Health Nurses of Canada. (2011, May). Implementing Home Health Nursing
Competencies: Strategies That Will Get Results. Retrieved June 28, 2013, from
Community Health Nurses of Canada: