COMMUNITYHEALTHNURSING

1. IDENTIFY COMPETENCY NUMBER, LETTER AND SUBCATEGORY

Category: R-1: Community Health Nursing
Subcategory: R-1-4: Demonstrate knowledge of social determinants of health and how they impact
individuals, groups, and communities.
2. DESCRIBE ONE SIGNIFICANT LEARNING EXPERIENCE IN THIS COURSE RELATED
TO THE CHOSEN CLPNA COMPETENCY. PROVIDE AN EXAMPLE.
When I first learned about the social determinants of health I had just began working as a health care
aide in the community health setting, specifically, in home care. Having the opportunity to go into
clients homes and getting to know them has given me insight into how things such as income and
socialization affect their overall health. Specifically, in the case of income, it became clear to me the
effects of a high income background versus a low income background on ones health.
3. DESCRIBE WHAT YOU LEARNED AND HOW IT RELATES TO THE COMPETENCY.
EXPLAIN WHY IT WAS MEANINGFUL.
Specifically, I was able to see how income can affect an individual and their family. In some
instances, families have the ability to hire additional, private services outside of what governmentfunded home care can provide for their loved one. In other situations, it seems families may not have
the means to give their loved one additional help. In my experience there seems to be a difference in
the individuals outcome when they do not get as much help as they need.
This is meaningful to me as a nursing student because I have the potential to go on to work in
community health nursing and collaborate with leaders in the community to advocate for more
services for lower income families. It is also meaningful to all other members of society: people have
the ability to decide who should make decisions for their communities by voting, politicians have the
ability to execute and fund services, and so on.
4. USE THE PROFICIENCY CATEGORIES TO RATE YOUR PROFICIENCY IN THE
CHOSEN CLPNA COMPETENCY. EXPLAIN WHAT WAS DONE TO ACHIEVE THE
COMPETENCY.
Good being able to relate what I learned from the course readings into real-life scenarios really
helped to reinforce the information. I was directly able to see how social determinants of health affect
individuals. I believe with more experience working in the community health setting, I will be able to
relate the information to groups and communities, and push my proficiency to excellent.
5. DESCRIBE HOW YOU WILL APPLY THIS LEARNING IN YOUR CURRENT AND
FUTURE NURSING PRACTICE (this must relate to the competency you have chosen to write
about)
I believe this information will be beneficial in any health care setting, and not only in community
health. I can bring this information into my clinical practice as a student, and future practice as a
nurse, and apply it to clients or patients in any scenario, and it will allow me to obtain a better overall
picture of their health.