Community health nursing 1

Health is very important for every individual. Nowadays, a nurse’s role is not limited to patient care in an acute care setting; community health is also a part of the care criteria. Community health nurses play an important role in improving the health of populations in areas such as the environment, social justice, and health promotion. The determinant that I chose is biology and genetics. According to Healthy People 2020, “ lists of biological and genetic social determinants of health include age, sex, inherited conditions, family history of heart disease, family history of cancer, and HIV status ” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018, About Determinants of Health). Biological and genetic illness runs from one generation to the next generation. The personal factor I would like to discuss is having breast cancer in Hispanic women. When I thought about the community around my home, I realize most of the population belongs to Hispanic American category. In this population, the most common cause of death for women is breast cancer. According to American Cancer Society’s report, “ 57.5 million Americans, or 18% of the population in the continental US and Hawaii, identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino. Cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanics, accounting for 21% of deaths”. The death percentage is increasing day by day. Family history of breast cancer in women increases the risk of individual women to develop breast cancer during their lifetime. According to Ramirez, “ Lifetime risk of developing breast cancer greatly increases if a woman inherits a mutation; 60% of women who have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer compared to 12% of women in the general population”(Ramirez, 2015). I think, high risk women should get genetic testing done to avoid passing on breast cancer in their next female generation. A community health nurse could use screening, health teaching, counseling, collaboration and community organizing interventions from the Public Health Intervention Wheel to address biological and genetic determinants, thereby, improving the health of targeted population. Screening is “Identifying individuals with unrecognized health risk factors or asymptomatic disease conditions” (Nies & McEwen, 2019, p. 15). A person who has history of breast cancer needs to start early screening at age 30 that includes family history, and genetics counseling. Screening is important for early diagnosis and prevention. The community health nurse needs to collaborate with the general population on systemic factors such as the availability of and access to care, lack of interpretation services, and socioeconomic and insurance status for patients. Health teaching sessions focusing on genetic screening initiatives, so that mother could correct the mutated genes before the baby is born; education about health bias or prejudice against minorities, clinical uncertainty when interacting with minorities, or stereotypes about the health behaviors of minorities (Cadet, 2015)