Sentinel Health Assessment

Sentinel Health Assessment

            Epidemiology involves the analysis of health determinants by noting the occurrence, distribution, and setting control measures of diseases in a population, in this case, Sentinel City. Throughout the City, health hazards, among other determinants exist, which act as a threat to public health. Nearly 20% of the total population under 60 years of age in all the neighborhoods do not have health insurance cover, which implies that they would not access full health care in case of illness. For instance, the food stalls and restaurants, such as Joe’s Grocery, are a threat to public health as the foodstuffs sold cause infections. Also, the environmental concerns of litter and poor sewerage patterns pose a health danger to the residents, especially in Industrial Heights. Most elderly persons, between the ages of 50-60 years, have diabetes in the four regions. Besides, STI infections and mental illnesses among the younger residents were observed to increase with time. Therefore, the authorities need to curb the health risk posed to the younger generation in the neighborhoods.

First, the three main health problems include an insufficient number of health centers, environmental health, and low community nursing initiatives. Despite that health centers within the neighborhoods are well equipped to conduct pregnancy tests and cancer screening occasionally in a year, they are not sufficient to address the health concerns of all the people in the four neighborhoods (Cooke, 2017). Moreover, the state of the immediate environment is dilapidated, as sewerage channels pass near houses, especially in the more impoverished areas and trash is seen scattered all over. Also, Community Nursing initiatives lack in the districts to address health hazards, such as unhealthy foods in restaurants and poor conditions of the stalls that pose a risk to the general public.

As a preventive measure, community nursing can improve the kind of foods sold in restaurants and reduce environmental health hazards by clearing the trash in the neighborhoods. Additionally, the administration in the four areas should ensure every citizen has the medical assurance to avoid unequal access to health care, especially to the homeless people (Marmot, 2017). Furthermore, health facilities need to be set up to serve STI cases and pregnancy issues, and also training of health care providers and the general public will help avoid more infections related to communicable diseases.

On the other hand, the health situation in the City provides an insight into the health risks and preventive measures in the community. In this case, environmental health issues can be reduced in many places, and nurses can transfer the mitigation measures against the spread of sexually transmitted infections to people in any community. Finally, nurses can employ knowledge from this community simulation to curb diseases that are caused by unhealthy foods in public restaurants such as Lilly’s café.

In conclusion, nurses can use the information collected around the neighborhoods towards health improvement. The demographic knowledge indicates the number of people without health covers and the relative population of the young and old persons, which enables health care providers to know the best approach to use in health care. Environmental health is a significant concern, and community nursing will provide an immediate solution through survey and control of unhealthy foods served to the public. Finally, more health centers need to be opened to address the health concerns, such as diabetes and STIs of the growing population in Sentinel City.

References

Marmot, M. (2017). Social justice, epidemiology, and health inequalities. European journal of            epidemiology, 32(7), 537-546.

Cooke, D. (2017, October). Virtual Simulation-A Method of Clinical Instruction for Undergraduate Nursing Courses. In E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 297-302). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).