INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY

HEALTH NURSING (CHN)

DR. C.B. BELLO
 PREAMBLE
• Historically, Nursing started outside the
hospital
• Nursing started in the neighborhood and
homes where domiciliary care was provided
for the poor, the sick, the aged, the destitute
and pregnant mothers.
 DEFINITIONS
• Community health Nursing (CHN) is a field of
nursing practice for which there exist a body of
knowledge & related skills which is applied in
meeting the health needs of the people of a
community, individuals, groups & families in their
normal environment such as the home, the school,
the place of work etc.
• In short, it is an area of practice which lies primarily
outside the therapeutics institutions.
• The goal of care is the promotion of health & the
prevention of disease.
 `
• Community health nursing is a branch of
nursing profession which deals with the aspect
of rendering nursing services within a
community as opposed to the hospital setting
 Public Health Nursing
• Public health nursing is professional nursing that
focused its attention through organized community
effort on serving people in their usual environment
of home, school and places of work.
• It is one part of the community total arrangement
for health promotion which makes public health
nursing to be concerned with well, sick, and
disabled.
 Public Health Nursing
• Public health nursing strives
• to prevent disease or retard its progress
• to reduce the ill effects of unavoidable
disease,
• to provide skilled nursing care to the non-
hospitalized sick and the handicaps
 Public Health Nursing
• To support those facing crisis situations.
• To provide information & encouragement to
individuals, families, special groups & the
community as a whole, for the development &
practice of habit conducive to health.
• Hence community health nursing may be said
to represent elements of both nursing &
public health nursing practice.
 Characteristics of CHN
• Chnsg is population focused, its group rather than
individual client oriented
• It emphasizes promotional & preventive health care
intervention rather than cure of illness
• It involves collection of data regarding communities
for the purpose of planning intervention.
• It uses principles of organization & management in
health care delivery
• It is oriented towards the health of groups or
aggregate of individuals rather than the care of
individual.
 Characteristics contd
• Its an amalgamation of public health nursing &
nursing practice.
• It involves promotion of client participation in
health care.
• It emphasizes continued care rather than episodic
care.
• It is a general & comprehensive approach rather
than limited approach to health care.
• It involves interdisciplinary collaboration to health
care.
 Characteristics Contd.
• It encourages commitment to client advocacy.
• It has concern for environmental factors (physical,
biological & social) that impacts on health status.
• It has orientation to health rather than illness.
• Wide array of clients at different levels, from
different ethnic backgrounds & in diverse settings.
• The term client in health care practice refers to an
individual person whereas in community health
care practice, focus is on health of populations or
groups such as the family or community and these
are referred to as the clients.
 Settings for CHNsng Practice
• Home
• Market
• workplace
• Schools
• Prisons
• Camps
• Community
 Components of chnsg
• Promotion of healthy
• Prevention of illness & diseases
• Treatment of disorders
• Rehabilitation
• Evaluation
• Research
 CONCLUSION
• In summary, there are 3 distinguishing
characteristics of community health practice
• It is a community based care
• The practice takes place in different settings
outside the hospital
• Client is usually a group of people, which can
be family unit, social group, or community
 The roles of the CHN

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