Guidelines for Caring for Populations Milestone 2:
Assessment and Diagnosis
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an opportunity to utilize community assessment strategies, uncover a community health problem, and identify the components of one community health nursing problem related to the community dynamics.
Course Outcomes
This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes.
CO2: Assess the health needs of individuals, families, aggregates, and communities using demographic and epidemiological data to identify population health risks. (PO 4)
CO6: Utilize a systems-based and collaborative approach to address factors that influence the health of a community and population health problems. (PO 2)
 
Points: 225 points

Directions

 
Watch the Milestone 2 tutorial by clicking this link. This tutorial is also available on Course Project page under Course Home as well as Week 4 Assignments page.
 
This paper is expected to be no more than four pages in length (not including the title page and reference list). Below are the requirements for successful completion of this paper. Please use the following categories as the first level headings on your paper. See the documents in the APA category in Course Resources for assistance with APA formatting.

• [Introduction:] This beginning of your paper should catch the reader’s attention with interesting facts about your community and should include the purpose statement of the paper. This should be one paragraph. APA states that you should nottitle this as introduction; however, you are still expected to write a separate introduction. The title of the paper should be repeated at the top of page two and centered.
• Community Overview: Identify the community that you are assessing by name and state and provide a general description of the community. What is the general character of the community? Statistics should not be included here. Your community should be the area you live or work in and should include a residential area. It should be a large enough area to answer the questions in the text. This should be one paragraph.
• Demographic Data: Compile a range of demographic (population description) data for your community by examining U.S. Census Bureau reports. Using this data, describe your community. Compare your community data to state or national data. A summary of this data should be no more than two paragraphs.
• Epidemiological Data: Compile and summarize a range of epidemiological (illness, morbidity, and mortality) data for your community by examining data from sources such as city or county health department reports, County Health Rankings (countyhealthrankings.org), or the Centers for Disease Control to describe priority health problems in your area. See the Webliography for applicable sites to search. Compare your community to state or national data. This comparison will help to identify a priority community health problem specific to your community. A summary of this data should be no more than two paragraphs.
• Windshield Survey: Provide a summary of your observations from your first milestone. Make sure to discuss observations related to your identified problem. This should be one to two paragraphs.
• Problem Diagnosis:
  • Using the assessment data, identify one community health nursing problem that you consider to be a priority concern.
  • Relate your choice to one of the Healthy People 2020 specific numbered objectives(not just a goal). Healthy People objectives are located within a topic area under the Objectives tab.
  • Your rationale should also include why this is a problem in your community and factors that contribute to the problem. Avoid discussion of interventions in this milestone.
  • Include a discussion of your problem with information from at least two scholarly sources (such as professional journal articles). (Review the documents in the APA category in Doc Sharing for help in determining sources that are considered scholarly—hint, .com websites are not considered scholarly sources). This should be no more than three paragraphs.
• Summary: Summarize your community assessment and diagnosis findings and include a brief statement about the problem and the major factors that contribute to this problem. This information should be no more than two paragraphs.
• Reference Page: All references should be cited within the paper and should be included on the reference page.

Guidelines

• Application: Use Microsoft Word 2010 (or later) to create this assignment.
• Use the categories above as APA headings for the sections of your paper.
• Length: This paper is expected to be no more than four pages in length (not including the title page and reference list).
• Submission: Submit your file via the basket in the Dropbox: Milestone 2 Assessment and Diagnosis, by 11:59 p.m. MT Sunday of Week 4.
• Scholarly Writing: APA format is required. Review APA documents in the APA category in Course Resources and use the free resources of SmartThinking for writing tutors.
• Save your paper with your last name in the document title (e.g., Smith Assessment and Diagnosis).
• Late Submission: See the course policy on late submissions.

Best Practices in Preparing the Paper

The following are best practices in preparing this project.
 

• Complete the demographic, epidemiologic, and windshield survey prior to choosing a problem to focus on.
• Choose one nursing problem specific to your community.
• Make sure all elements of the paper are addressed and headings for each category are included.
• Review directions thoroughly.
• Cite all sources within the paper as well as on the reference page.
• Proofread prior to final submission.
• Check for spelling and grammar errors prior to final submission.
• Use the A column of the rubric below to ensure that you have included all the needed elements.
• Abide by the CCN academic integrity policy. The paper must be your original work. Once submitted to the Dropbox, check back to ensure that your Turnitin similarity index is less than 24%, if not revise and resubmit prior to the deadline.