Question

Alan is a public health nurse assigned to assess the health care needs of aging baby boomers in Duxbury County. Currently, 25% of the population in Duxbury County is older than age 65 years; however, in 25 years, this percentage is expected to increase to more than 50%. Five primary care providers (PCPs) are practicing in the county, and service waiting lists range from one to three weeks, and only of these PCPs specializes in geriatric care. A single 54-bed long-term nursing care facility is located in the northern region of the spacious county. Because of the rural roads, no public transit system is in place.

The first step in community assessment is to define the community?

What (or who) is the community of interest that Alan and his committee must assess?

Answer 1

The first step of community assessment is defining the specific community in terms of its population, the region and the needs of the community while assessing the health care needs.

As this community comprises of older adults who are more than 65 years ,they are the special interest for assessment as this is a problem which requires immediate attention to provide better health care for the rising group of population.So collection of information must be focused on how to gather proper data, problems, strength and weakness of the community in order to find out solutions for better health care.Once the team identifies the specific needs of the population and the concerns it will be easy to make proper intervention.