Question 1

Which of the following actions demonstrate effective public health nursing practice in the community?

Accepted Answer

Evidence that public health nurses are practicing effectively in the community would include organizing services where people live,work,play,and learn; working in partnerships and with coalitions; and participating in epidemiologic studies.Increasing number of staff does not have a relationship to the effectiveness of public health nursing practice.

Question 2

Which of the following is responsible for the dramatic increase in life expectancy during the 20th century?

Accepted Answer

Improvements in control of infectious diseases through immunizations,sanitation,and other population-based prevention programs led to the increase in life expectancy from less than 50 years in 1900 to more than 78 years in 2013.Although people are excited when a new drug is discovered that cures a disease or when a new way to transplant organs is perfected,it is important to know about the significant gains in the health of populations that have come largely from public health accomplishments.

Question 3

Which of the following best describes community-oriented nursing?

Accepted Answer

By definition,community-oriented nursing has the goal of preserving,protecting,or maintaining health and preventing disease to promote the quality of life.All nurses may focus on individuals and families,give direct care to ill persons within their family setting,and help manage acute or chronic conditions.These definitions are not specific to community-oriented nursing.

Question 4

Why are nurses increasingly providing care in clients' homes rather than in hospitals?

Accepted Answer

An increasing number of clients are receiving care in the home because it is less expensive and clients prefer to receive care in familiar and comfortable settings.It is not more efficient nor more convenient,since travel time has to be considered.Nurses differ as to their preferred employment setting.

Question 5

Two nurses plan to walk under a huge downtown bridge where various homeless persons live.Why would the nurses go to such an unsafe area?

Accepted Answer

In most nursing practices,the client seeks out and requests assistance.In public health nursing,the nurse often reaches out to those who might benefit from a service or intervention,beginning with assessment of needs.The other answers reflect responses where the nurse is trying to give assistance to this population that may or may not be helpful or welcomed.

Question 6

Which of the following best defines aggregate?

Accepted Answer

An aggregate is defined a collection of people who share one or more personal or environmental characteristics.Members of a community can be defined in terms of either geography (e.g.,a county,a group of counties,or a state)or a special interest (e.g.,children attending a particular school).These members make up a population.The term population may be used interchangeably with the term aggregate.A large group of persons,a collection of individuals and families,and another name for demograhpic group are not accurate definitions of the term aggregate.

Question 7

Which of the following variables have led to a stronger commitment to population-focused services?

Accepted Answer

As overall health needs become the focus of care in the United States,a stronger commitment to population-focused services is emerging.Threats of bioterrorism,anthrax scares,and the emergence of modern-day epidemics have drawn attention to population-focused safety and services.Economic turmoil and demand for high-technology care have not contributed to a stronger commitment to population-focused services,rather it has occurred as overall health needs have become the focus of care.

Question 8

Which of the following is a basic assumption of public health efforts?

Accepted Answer

Public health practice focuses on the community as a whole,and the effect of the community's health status (resources)on the health of individuals,families,and groups.The goal is to prevent disease and disability and promote and protect the health of the community as a whole.Public health can be described as what society collectively does to ensure that conditions exist in which people can be healthy.The basic assumptions of public health do not judge the morality of health disparities.The focus is on prevention of illness not on spending more on illness care.Additionally,individual responsibility for making healthy choices is the directive for lengthening life span not the role of the government.

Question 9

Which of the following actions best represents public health nursing?

Accepted Answer

A public health or population-focused approach would look at the entire group of children being served to determine whether available services are effective in achieving the goal of improving the health of the school population.Caring for clients and their families focuses on individuals and families and not on the entire population.Public health focuses on care of populations.

Question 10

The public health nurse has a clear vision of what needs to be done and where to begin to improve the health of the community.Why would the nurse spend time meeting with community groups to discuss the most important task to be addressed first?

Accepted Answer

Historically,health care providers have been accused of providing care for or to people without actually involving the recipients in the decisions.Public health nursing is a "with the people"-not a "to the people" or "for the people"-approach to planning.The purpose of meeting with community groups is not to increase their self-esteem or make them feel good about their contribution,rather it is to allow them to act for themselves to solve the problems they are facing.The first task of working with the group should occur before addressing maintaining communication links.

Question 11

Making sure that essential community-oriented health services are available defines which of the core public health functions?

Accepted Answer

Assurance includes making sure that essential community-oriented health services are available in the community.The definition does not fit the terms assessment,policy development.Scientific knowledge-based care is not a core function of public health.Assessment is systematic data collection on the population,monitoring the population's health status,and making information available about the health of the community.Policy development refers to efforts to develop policies that support the health of the population,including using a scientific knowledge base to make policy decisions.

Question 12

The nurse often has to make resource allocation decisions.Which of the following best describes the criterion the nurse should use in such cases?

Accepted Answer

The dominant needs of the population outweigh the expressed needs of one or a few people.All of the choices represent components of a decision that the nurse might consider in determining the needs of the aggregate.

Question 13

When talking to a women's group at the senior citizens' center,the nurse reminded them that the only way the center would be able to afford to provide transportation services for them would be for them to continue to write letters to their local city council representatives requesting funding for such a service.What was the nurse trying to accomplish through this action?

Accepted Answer

Public health nurses engage themselves and others in policy development and encourage and assist persons to communicate their needs to those with the power to take action.The nurse is demonstrating the role of advocate through this action,it goes beyond merely understanidng the women's concern,and instead mobilizes them to take action.This action does not demonstrate the nurse showing empathy rather the nurse is empowering these women.

Question 14

Which of the following is the primary focus of public health nursing?

Accepted Answer

In public health nursing the primary focus is on the health care of communities and populations rather than on individuals,groups,and families.The goal is to prevent disease and preserve,promote,restore,and protect health for the community and the population within it.Community-based nurses deal primarily with illness-oriented care of individuals and families acorss the life span.The aim is to amanage acute and chronic health conditions in the community,and the focus of practice is on individual or family-centered illness care.

Question 15

Which of the following public health nurses most clearly fulfills the responsibilities of this role?

Accepted Answer

Any of these descriptions might represent a nurse communicating,cooperating,or collaborating with community residents or groups about health concerns.However,the nurse who spent the day attending meetings of various health agencies is the most representative,because in public health,concerns are addressed from a broader perspective.In public health,broad concerns of the community should be addressed.Concerns are broader than recreation,individual concerns are not as important as aggregate priorities,and watching television (a one-way form of communication)is less effective than interacting with others.

Question 16

Which of the following best describes community-based nursing?

Accepted Answer

By definition,community-based nursing is a setting-specific practice in which care is provided for "sick" individuals and families where they live,work,and attend school.The emphasis is on acute and chronic care and the provision of comprehensive,coordinated,and continuous care.These nurses may be generalists or specialists in maternal-infant,pediatric,adult,or psychiatric mental health nursing.Community-based nursing emphasizes acute and chronic care to individuals and families,rather than focusing on groups,aggregates,or systems.

Question 17

A nurse is developing a plan to decrease the number of premature deaths in the community.Which of the following interventions would most likely be implemented by the nurse?

Accepted Answer

Public health approaches could help prevent premature deaths by influencing the way people eat,drink,drive,engage in exercise,and treat the environment.Increasing knowledge of hospice care,encouraging on-site wellness centers,and ensuring timely treatment of medical conditions do not address the focus of improving overall health through health promotion strategies.This is the major method that is suggested to decrease the incidence of premature death.

Question 18

A registered nurse was just employed as a public health nurse.Which question would be the most relevant for the nurse to ask?

Accepted Answer

Asking which groups are at greatest risk reflects a community-oriented perspective.The incorrect responses reflect a focus on individuals rather than a community-oriented perspective.

Question 19

Which of the following actions would most likely be performed by a public health nurse?

Accepted Answer

Although the public health nurse might engage in any of the tasks listed,he or she works primarily with members of the community to carry out core public health functions,including assessment of the population as a whole and engaging in promoting health and improving the environment.The interventions of asking community leaders which interventions should be chosen,asessing the community and deciding on appropriate interventions,and using data from health care institutions do not demonstrate the engagement of the community when making decisions about what the community actually wants and needs.

Quiz 1: Community- and Prevention-Oriented Practice to Improve Population Health