Running head: EFOLIO - ESSENTIAL VII

eFolio - Essential VII

Naomi Everett
Frostburg State University

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eFolio - Essential VII

Clinical Prevention and Population Health

The essence of the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing
Practice Essential VII is to prepare baccalaureate graduates to provide population-focused
nursing with an emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention (American Association
of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2008, p. 24). Population focused nursing involves identifying
determinants of health, prioritizing primary prevention when possible, actively identifying and
reaching out to those who might benefit from a service, and using available resources to assure
best overall improvement in the health of the population (AACN, 2008, p. 24). In addition, the
baccalaureate prepared nurse understands that it is necessary to collaborate with the population
and other healthcare professionals in order to promote community health (AACN, 2008).
Exemplar
Of all the work I completed in this course, the community Health Assessment Survey
best incorporated the requirements of Essential VII. The essence of this assignment was to select
a community to examine, complete a community profile inventory, complete a community needs
assessment, analyze the data, formulate and prioritize community diagnoses, and make
recommendations to the community based upon Health People 2020 initiatives. The first portion
of the assignment was to present the Health Assessment Survey as a written report with graphs,
pictures and figures. The second portion of the assignment was to present this information to a
fictitious entity in the form of a slide show presentation with voiceover.
Reflection
This assignment deepened my knowledge of what it means to provide population-focused
care and has increased my ability to assess the health and adequacy of the services, facilities, and

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provisions of a defined population; one of the directives of Essential VII (AACN, 2008). The
comprehensive nature of the project necessitated that I look at the selected community with
objectivity, without being critical or judgmental. In this role, it is essential that the public health
nurse not only remain objective and not impart her morals on a community but also encourage
the community to express its needs. There must be collaboration. Rather than using my own
priorities to formulate and rank the nursing diagnoses for the community, it was important that I
listen to the community, through the data that I collected, and base my diagnoses and
recommendation on what the community needed most.
Another very important aspect of nursing practice is to advocate for the client. In public
health nursing the client is a population as a whole rather than an individual. The public health
nurse is tasked with being an advocate for social justice, including a commitment to the health
of vulnerable populations and the elimination of health disparities (AACN, 2008, p. 25). As I
conducted the community assessment I found a number of vulnerabilities in the community.
This project served as a practical exercise in seeking out the vulnerable, formulating a plan, and
advocating for their needs.

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References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education

for professional nursing practice. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/educationresources/baccessentials08.pdf