Practicum: Identification of a Population in Your Community

Practicum Learning Objectives

Develop an intervention plan in collaboration with other professionals that takes into account determinants of health, available resources, and activities that contribute to health and the prevention of illness or injury
Provide culturally competent care, i.e., health promotion, disease and injury prevention interventions in collaboration with other health care professionals in a community health care setting
Analyze data pertaining to a specific community health issue
Evaluate how cultural competence improves nursing practice and health outcomes
Evaluate current evidence-based practices for your selected population
Analyze evidence-based practices
Evaluate programs aimed at solving health problems
Evaluate local disaster plans and contemplate collaborative efforts in problem solving
Analyze effectiveness of practicum proposal through practice presentations
Present practicum presentation to colleagues

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Weekly Practicum Assignments
Practicum Group Discussions
Overview

Week 1: Identification of a Population in Your Community

As a community of practice your task for this week is to collaborate with professionals across the health care system and with your community of practice in the discussion in order to find a gap in care or social determinant that often results in poor health care outcomes. You will begin to take the lead in advocating for and collaborating with others to improve the health care outcomes for populations at risk.

Week 2: Practicum: Epidemiology: Define Your Population and Selected Problem

This week, you will further refine your population and problem and compare your suspicions about this problem to local, state, and national data on the topic. Your practicum project should come into clear focus as you continue to analyze related health data, and you should consider how you, as the nurse, might help them avoid development of the problem in the first place (primary prevention measures).

Week 3: Practicum: Population Cultural Considerations and Genetic Predispositions

This week, you will identify any genetic predisposition your chosen population has to a particular disease and develop primary practice interventions that reflect the cultural considerations of the population. Then, you will develop culturally appropriate, measureable interventions to help your population members maintain an optimal state of health, avoiding the problem that you identified them being at risk for developing.

Week 4: Evidence-Based Practice and Evaluation of the Project Through Measureable Goals

Dr. Marcia Stanhope (2016) explained that evidence-based public health practice refers to those decisions made by using the best available evidence, data and information systems and program frameworks; engaging community stakeholders in the decision-making process; evaluating the results; and then disseminating that information to those who can use the information.

Week 5: Present Your PowerPoint Presentation to Your Community Members

This week, you will be presenting your practicum project to community members, community professionals, or mentors to elicit their opinions about your project and to gather their suggestions for improvement, which you can then incorporate into the document before it is due by Day 3 of Week 6

Week 6: Presentations

This week, you will present your PowerPoint presentation to the class incorporating the feedback you received from the presentation to community members in Week 5. The presentation is due in the discussions by Day 3 of Week 6. (Presentation also needs to be submitted to the Week 6 Assignment link.)

Overall Purpose for Practicum: Develop a potential project to improve the health of a specific population of interest or a population at risk.

This practicum is designed to help you develop as a scholar practitioner and health leader to promote positive social change in your own community. In this practicum experience you will focus on primary prevention of a health problem in your community (see text for definition.) You already possess the knowledge and skills to help those who are acutely ill. This experience will help learn how to prevent a health problem in a specific population at risk at the community and system level of care (see text for definition). Consequently, because you are well aware of how to care for individuals you will now develop leadership and advocacy skills to improve the health of the community. Collaborating with other professionals and community members in your community will be the key to a successful practicum and project. Collaborate with each other in the discussions, with your instructor, with health care professionals (nurses and other disciplines), with local and state departments of health, and most importantly with the population you hope to help. As an advocate, you will promote positive social change through collaboration with families, communities, and professionals in the health care system. You will develop a culturally relevant proposal that could improve health outcomes for a specific population at risk in your community.

Answer the following questions as you develop your evidence-based, culturally appropriate intervention for your community:

What health issue, problem, or disparity in health outcomes is of concern to you as a scholar practitioner in your community? What gaps in knowledge and care do you see as possible causes for the health issue? What does the health data tell you about the health issue? What does the literature tell you about the health issue? How can you learn about the health issue and about possible solutions from the viewpoint of families, community as a whole, and health professionals in your community? What evidence is there to support your proposal? What is one avenue you could advocate for improved health outcomes and know when a change has taken place?

Suggestions for the Project

Each week’s activities are geared to help you move along with your proposal. Use this time well and utilize some aspect of discussion and assignments in this course (e.g. windshield survey) to support your proposal as well. Read about the whole project before you start.

Suggestions for Discussions

The more you discuss your project with your group the better it will turn out. Consider posting earlier than Thursday to have a better discussion. Provide honest, respectful feedback to each other. Picture yourself as someone practicing in the other student’s community, working with and listening to your colleagues’ ideas weekly (as your read each other’s posts). You are responsible for helping your colleagues make the best decision in class in the same you would be if you were working side-by-side.

Review the focus for each week of the practicum. The weekly practicum discussions will help keep you focused on your project. You will receive guidance from faculty and help from other students in your group.

DISCUSSION

Overview: As a community of practice, your task for this week is to collaborate with professionals across the health care system. With your community of practice, in the Discussion, find a gap in care or social determinant that often results in poor health care outcomes. You will begin to take the lead in advocating for and collaborating with others to improve the health care outcomes for populations at risk.

Practicum Discussion: During this week, you will identify a population at risk in your community. This population will be the basis for your Practicum Discussions and your individual presentations over the next 6 weeks, as well as the focus of your final PowerPoint presentation in Week 6. To review, a population is a group of individuals who share a common environmental or personal characteristic, such as obese individuals who are at risk for diabetes or cardiovascular disease (populations at risk) or those individuals who are otherwise healthy and could stay healthy if they do not develop risky behaviors (populations of interest). An example of this is teenagers who don’t yet smoke but might consider it due to peer pressure (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2020). Some of the topics you might consider are vaccination compliance, obesity rates among children and adults, teenage pregnancy, or infectious diseases such as Norwalk virus, genital warts, or sexually transmitted diseases/infections. You might look also at emerging public health problems such as Chagas or the Zika virus. Some of the places you might consider looking for information to substantiate and support your ideas about populations at risk in your communities are your local health department, the CDC, and the many evidence-based websites that the CDC supports, such as the CDC Wonder (http://wonder.cdc.gov/). You may also review the work of other community groups that focus on improving health care outcomes for your community. You should begin to support your selection of population and ideas about their health care problems through the use of health data and scholarly literature.

Please address the following points in your Practicum Discussion:

Briefly describe your community and then describe your practice setting.
What are the determinants of health in your community? (https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Determinants-of-Health)
What are the most prevalent health problems in your community or in your practice?
Choose a population at risk and describe the health problem specific to that population. Remember that you will have to define the population’s age, culture, religious beliefs, foods, and traditions eventually as your project progresses.

BY DAY 4

Post your response to this Discussion.

Support your response with references from the professional nursing literature.

BY DAY 7

Read two or more of your colleagues’ postings from the Discussion question. As a community of practice, help each other refine and clarify the health problem remembering that this project focuses on primary prevention strategies at the community and system level of care.

Respond to at least two colleagues. Your responses should be substantial and should contribute ideas, tools, alternate points of view, resources, and information related to identified health problems.

For all posts, be sure to use evidence from the readings and include in-text citations. Avoid quotes; paraphrase to incorporate evidence into your own writing. A reference list is required. Use the most current evidence (usually ≤ 5 years old).

Practicum: Identification of a Population in Your Community