Question 1

Which of the following best describes the concept of public health?

Accepted Answer

In Canada, public health takes a population health approach to protecting and promoting health and preventing disease for all Canadians.Public health nurses (PHNs) work with many partners, both within the public health unit or health authority (e.g., nutritionists, epidemiologists, dental hygienists, health inspectors) and external to the health unit (e.g., community coalitions for heart health, cancer screening, diabetes, and obesity prevention; school and hospital administrators; regional planners; social service and child-care workers; lobbyists for health issues such as antismoking legislation and homelessness).

Question 2

A CHN has just received word that the provincial health care plan will provide compensation for the care that she provided to a homeless man with schizophrenia, who was unwilling to come to the clinic to receive health care.How can this type of nursing service be best classified?

Accepted Answer

Home health nursing is provided in the client's environment, wherever that may be."Home" may be a house, apartment, trailer, boarding and care home, shelter, car, makeshift shelter under a bridge, or cardboard box.

Question 3

Which one of the following is a primary prevention activity for decreasing the incidence of communicable diseases?

Accepted Answer

An example of primary prevention is to educate daycare centres, schools, and the general community about the importance of hand hygiene to prevent transmission of communicable diseases.

Question 4

As part of primary prevention, a parish nurse wants to encourage some elementary school students to increase their vigorous exercise.Which action by the parish nurse will help these students attain an improved health status?

Accepted Answer

Parish nursing's goal is to develop and sustain health ministries within faith communities.Some of the usual functions of parish nurses include providing personal health counselling and health education, acting as a liaison between the faith community and the local community, facilitating activities, and providing pastoral care.

Question 5

In an effort to prevent drug abuse among junior high-school students, a CHN has enlisted the assistance of high-school role models in the areas of both sports and scholarship for an antidrug presentation.Which level of prevention is represented by this activity?

Accepted Answer

CHNs partner with the community to develop programs in response to identified needs.Primary prevention interventions by the CHN include educating children and adolescents about the effects of illegal drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, and heroin) and alcohol abuse.By educating students, the CHN helps them stay away from these harmful substances.It is not both primary and secondary because secondary prevention involves screening, which would not take place in this instance.

Question 6

Which of the following is the best way a home health nurse (HHN) can help a client who has right-sided paresis secondary to a stroke?

Accepted Answer

Because home health care is often intermittent, a primary objective for the HHN is to facilitate self-care.This allows clients to have some control over their lives and activities and can help prevent hopelessness and a loss of self-esteem.Although assistance may be provided occasionally, this comes after helping clients help themselves.

Question 7

A CHN is demonstrating the use of a peak flow meter to help children with chronic asthma recognize when they need to use a rescue inhaler.Which level of prevention is represented by this activity?

Accepted Answer

CHNs provide case management services that link clients with chronic illnesses to health care and community support services.Tertiary prevention includes caring for children with long-term health concerns, such as asthma, and disabling conditions.At first glance, this appears to have elements of primary and secondary prevention, but this is not the case because primary prevention aims at ensuring that a condition does not develop (whereas these children already have the disease).Furthermore, although the children are being taught techniques for recognizing respiratory danger, it is in the context of disease management (i.e., when to use an inhaler).

Question 8

To help congregation members better meet their nutritional needs, a parish nurse encourages them to participate in activities that focus on fellowship, as well as serving healthy meals to both attending and homebound church members.What do programs such as this exemplify?

Accepted Answer

Health ministries comprise those activities and programs in faith communities that are organized around health and healing to promote whole health across the lifespan.Health ministries' services may be specifically planned or informal and may include visiting the homebound, providing meals for families in crisis or for those returning home after hospitalization, organizing prayer circles, volunteering in community HIV/AIDS care groups, serving "heart healthy" church suppers, and holding regular grief support groups.

Question 9

A PHN is participating in which activity when tracing the sexual contacts of clients with STIs for screening purposes?

Accepted Answer

Primary prevention activities include contacting and tracing individuals exposed to a client with an active case of TB or an STI.Once contact has been made, the actual screening is a secondary prevention activity.

Question 10

A public health administrator is in the process of hiring a new PHN.Which of the following statements by a potential employee would raise the greatest concern for the employer?

Accepted Answer

Working in collaborative partnerships is an essential role of public health nursing.Partnerships and collaboration among groups are much more powerful in making changes than are the individual client and the PHN working separately.Part of the reason for this is that multiple perspectives are examined in the process of arriving at the best solution.

Question 11

Which of the following represents the primary difference between parish nursing and all other fields of nursing?

Accepted Answer

Parish nurses are found in faith congregations, including communities that serve diverse cultures.Parish nurses also serve faith communities in other countries.

Question 12

A family member asks an HHN to explain the concept of hospice care.Which of the following actions would the HHN need to include as the fundamental underlying philosophy of hospice?

Accepted Answer

Hospice care refers to the delivery of palliative care to the very ill and dying, offering both respite and comfort.If the client and family agree, hospice care can be comfortably delivered at home with family involvement under the direction and supervision of health care providers, especially a home health nurse.

Question 13

What is the basic difference between home health care and other types of health care?

Accepted Answer

Home health care differs from other types of health care in that home health care providers practice in the client's environment.

Question 14

The increasing complexity of societal needs and rapid changes in public health no longer allow adequate time for on-the-job training and education.As a result, which of the following is the current minimum level of educational preparation for a military nurse?

Accepted Answer

Educational preparation for military nurses should be at least a baccalaureate degree.

Question 15

Through which one of the following actions can the community health nurse (CHN) provide tertiary prevention?

Accepted Answer

An example of tertiary prevention is the provision of case management services that link clients identified with serious mental illnesses to mental health and community support services.

Question 16

Through which one of the following interventions can the parish nurse implement primary prevention of obesity in school-aged church members?

Accepted Answer

An example of primary prevention is encouraging the provision of healthy snacks and meals to children and adults at all events inside and outside of school.

Question 17

The CHN has arranged for students in all classes at the local school to receive visual acuity testing to determine if they need glasses.Which level of prevention is represented by this activity?

Accepted Answer

CHNs implement screening programs for genetic disorders or metabolic deficiencies in newborns; breast, cervical, and testicular cancers; diabetes; hypertension; and sensory impairments in children.They also ensure follow-up services for clients with positive test results.Secondary prevention involves screening children for illnesses or conditions.In this instance, visual acuity testing is being used to screen for visual problems requiring corrective lenses.

Question 18

An HHN in training states, "I don't understand why we have to collaborate with so many other disciplines.Doesn't this conflict with the concept of holistic nursing practice?" Which of the following statements would be the best response by an experienced colleague?

Accepted Answer

Home health nursing involves interdisciplinary care.Coordination of care provided by an interdisciplinary team is an essential indirect function of the HHN.Team conferences are an ideal time for enhancing collaboration and continuity of services for optimal client care and use of resources and services.Without effective collaboration, there would be no continuity of care and the client's home care program would be fragmented.This does not conflict with the concept of holism, however.Holism does not require that the HHN provide all services (i.e., direct client care).Many services, such as coordination of care, provide indirect care and contribute to holistic nursing care provision.

Question 19

Which of the following is a core competency required of PHNs?

Accepted Answer

Skill in developing policy and planning programs to improve health is part of the set of core public health competencies, which are divided into the following eight domains: 1) Public Health and Nursing Sciences; 2) Assessment and Analysis; 3) Policy and Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation; 4) Partnerships, Collaboration, and Advocacy; 5) Diversity and Inclusiveness; 6) Communication; 7) Leadership and Professional Responsibility; and 8) Accountability.The other competencies listed are better suited to nurses who work in tertiary facilities, such as hospitals.

Question 20

Which statement by a parish nurse exhibits a misunderstanding of the concept of pastoral care?

Accepted Answer

Pastoral care by a parish nurse implies providing care by stressing the spiritual dimension of nursing, lending support during times of joy and sorrow, guiding the person through health and illness throughout life, and helping identify the spiritual strengths that assist in coping with particular events.The parish nurse is able to provide pastoral care; she or he does not have to involve the pastor.

Quiz 3: Community Health Nursing in Canada: Settings, Functions, and Roles