Foundations for Population Health in
Community/Public Health Nursing 6th Edition
By Marcia Stanhope
,Stanhope: Foundations for Population Health in Community/Public Health Nursing,
6th Edition
Chapter 01: Community- and Prevention-Oriented Practice to Improve Population
Health
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following best describes community-based nursing?
a. A practice in which care is provided for individuals and families
b. Providing care with a focus on the group’s needs
c. Giving care with a focus on the aggregate’s needs
d. A value system in which all clients receive optimal care
ANS: A
By definition, community-based nursing is a setting-specific practice in which care is
provided for “sick” individuals and families where they live, work, and attend school. The
emphasis is on acute and chronic care and the provision of comprehensive, coordinated, and
continuous care. These nurses may be generalists or specialists in maternal–infant, pediatric,
adult, or psychiatric mental health nursing. Community-based nursing emphasizes acute and
chronic care to individuals and families, rather than focusing on groups, aggregates, or
systems.
2. Which of the following best describes community-oriented nursing?
a. Focusing on the provision of care to individuals and families
b. Providing care to manage acute or chronic conditions
c. Giving direct care to ill inNdivR
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d. Having the goal of health promotion and disease prevention
ANS: D
By definition, community-oriented nursing has the goal of preserving, protecting, or
maintaining health and preventing disease to promote the quality of life. All nurses may focus
on individuals and families, give direct care to ill persons within their family setting, and help
manage acute or chronic conditions. These definitions are not specific to community-oriented
nursing.
3. Which of the following is the primary focus of public health nursing?
a. Families and groups
b. Illness-oriented care
c. Individuals within the family unit
d. Health care of communities and populations
ANS: D
In public health nursing the primary focus is on the health care of communities and
populations rather than on individuals, groups, and families. The goal is to prevent disease and
preserve, promote, restore, and protect health for the community and the population within it.
Community-based nurses deal primarily with illness-oriented care of individuals and families
acorss the life span. The aim is to amanage acute and chronic health conditions in the
community, and the focus of practice is on individual or family-centered illness care.
,4. Which of the following is responsible for the dramatic increase in life expectancy during the
20th century?
a. Technology increases in the field of medical laboratory research
b. Advances in surgical techniques and procedures
c. Sanitation and other population-based prevention programs
d. Use of antibiotics to fight infections
ANS: C
Improvements in control of infectious diseases through immunizations, sanitation, and other
population-based prevention programs led to the increase in life expectancy from less than 50
years in 1900 to more than 78 years in 2013. Although people are excited when a new drug is
discovered that cures a disease or when a new way to transplant organs is perfected, it is
important to know about the significant gains in the health of populations that have come
largely from public health accomplishments.
5. A nurse is developing a plan to decrease the number of premature deaths in the community.
Which of the following interventions would most likely be implemented by the nurse?
a. Increase the community’s knowledge about hospice care.
b. Promote healthy lifestyle behavior choices among the community members.
c. Encourage employers to have wellness centers at each industrial site.
d. Ensure timely and effective medical intervention and treatment for community
members.
ANS: B
Public health approaches could help prevent premature deaths by influencing the way people
eat, drink, drive, engage in exercise, and treat the environment. Increasing knowledge of
hospice care, encouraging on-site wellness centers, and ensuring timely treatment of medical
conditions do not address theNfUocR
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gOovMerall health through health promotion
strategies. This is the major method that is suggested to decrease the incidence of premature
death.
6. Which of the following is a basic assumption of public health efforts?
a. Health disparities among any groups are morally and legally wrong.
b. Health care is the most important priority in government planning and funding.
c. The health of individuals cannot be separated from the health of the community.
d. The government is responsible for lengthening the life span of Americans.
ANS: C
Public health practice focuses on the community as a whole, and the effect of the
community’s health status (resources) on the health of individuals, families, and groups. The
goal is to prevent disease and disability and promote and protect the health of the community
as a whole. Public health can be described as what society collectively does to ensure that
conditions exist in which people can be healthy. The basic assumptions of public health do not
judge the morality of health disparities. The focus is on prevention of illness not on spending
more on illness care. Additionally, individual responsibility for making healthy choices is the
directive for lengthening life span not the role of the government.
7. Which of the following actions would most likely be performed by a public health nurse?
a. Asking community leaders what interventions should be chosen
b. Assessing the community and deciding on appropriate interventions
c. Using data from the main health care institutions in the community to determine
, needed health services
d. Working with community groups to create policies to improve the environment
ANS: D
Although the public health nurse might engage in any of the tasks listed, he or she works
primarily with members of the community to carry out core public health functions, including
assessment of the population as a whole and engaging in promoting health and improving the
environment. The interventions of asking community leaders which interventions should be
chosen, asessing the community and deciding on appropriate interventions, and using data
from health care institutions do not demonstrate the engagement of the community when
making decisions about what the community actually wants and needs.
8. Which of the following public health nurses most clearly fulfills the responsibilities of this
role?
a. The nurse who met with several groups to discuss community recreation issues
b. The nurse who spent the day attending meetings of various health agencies
c. The nurse who talked to several people about their particular health concerns
d. The nurse who watched the city council meeting on local cable television
ANS: B
Any of these descriptions might represent a nurse communicating, cooperating, or
collaborating with community residents or groups about health concerns. However, the nurse
who spent the day attending meetings of various health agencies is the most representative,
because in public health, concerns are addressed from a broader perspective. In public health,
broad concerns of the community should be addressed. Concerns are broader than recreation,
individual concerns are not as important as aggregate priorities, and watching television (a
one-way form of communication) is less effective than interacting with others.
9. Which of the following best defines aggregate?
a. A large group of persons
b. A collection of individuals and families
c. A collection of people who share one or more characteristics
d. Another name for demographic group
ANS: C
An aggregate is defined a collection of people who share one or more personal or
environmental characteristics. Members of a community can be defined in terms of either
geography (e.g., a county, a group of counties, or a state) or a special interest (e.g., children
attending a particular school). These members make up a population. The term population
may be used interchangeably with the term aggregate. A large group of persons, a collection
of individuals and families, and another name for demograhpic group are not accurate
definitions of the term aggregate.
10. A registered nurse was just employed as a public health nurse. Which question would be the
most relevant for the nurse to ask?
a. “Which groups are at the greatest risk for problems?”
b. “Which patients should I see first as I begin my day?”
c. “With which physicians will I be most closely collaborating?”
d. “With which nursing assistants will I partner the most?”
ANS: A
