Vulnerable Population and Self-Awareness Paper

All children should be offered the same opportunities. Local policy will be based on national policy but with information relevant to the local area (e.g. contact details, list of professional bodies etc.)

Lester is a 40-year-old man referred to me for counselling by his doctor. He is currently married and lives with his wife, Carolyn, and their 16-year-old daughter Jane. He is employed as a fast food attendant (Cohen, Jinks & Mendes, 1999). At the initial examination Lester dresses untidily and unshaven, and avoids eye contact. Lester reports an overall feeling of unhappiness (Cohen, Jinks & Mendes, 1999). He stated that he has become reckless and self-destructive and worried about some of his recent life decisions.

31 y/o AA male patient seen today for psychiatric-mental health assessment. He is awake, alert and oriented x4. He is calm, cooperative and follows commands during assessment. The patient reports he is depressed, difficulty sleeping and nightmares at night. The patient explained his depression is as a result of deep thinking from a news he received two days ago from his elder brother that his mother is ill. Stressors identified by the patient include losing his job a week ago before the news about his mother; his wife is 6-months pregnant with their first child, who currently works part-time at her present job; patient relates difficulty paying monthly bills and inability to provide adequately for his family as a man. The patient denies mood swings, suicidal/homicidal thoughts and ideation. Patient reports his spouse is at work at the moment and he does not want to put stress on his wife due to her current condition. Patient denies been hospitalized for depression or psychiatric illness; and denies family history of mental illness. Patient reports he is seeking help because he does not like feeling this way using terms of “helpless and loss of worth from his spouse”. Patient reports he needs help with his depression and nightmares before his current condition get out of hands and ruined his marriage.

Among American civilians, whites have historically and significantly led the way in the rates of suicides. Although leveling off after the 1990’s, the rate of white suicides has still been almost twice as much as minority groups. It has also been shown that males commit suicide significantly more than females.

New norms of what is perceived as a family are emerging, according to Kaakinen, each distinct, with its own set of characteristics defining a healthy family (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hanson, 2015, pg. 37). Based on current demographic indicators, nursing must adapt to these evolving changes, to effectively identify real and potential risks affecting both the health and safety of the family unit.

The homeless are a vulnerable population. They are defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as “an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family), including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.” (The National Health Care for the Homeless Council, 2016). They are a social group throughout the US who are susceptible to all of the life’s cruelties. They are much more at risk for adverse illnesses due to their lack of available resources and medical help. Many have predetermined illnesses which need daily treatment but cannot acquire the medication needed. The homeless population lacks the funding for life’s necessities, thus the luxury of insurance and medicine is a dream.

It also shows that not every family has the same strengths and how the every family’s strengths can differ from each other’s. Which allows the nurse to use this tool to identify their strengths as a family to help them to set a family goal to achieve together and formulate a problem solving plan. It’s an easy tool because the questions are straightforward and it is a child friendly tool, suitable for any age not just the adults. It is a family assessment therefore the children’s feelings shall not be neglected. External family members can take part in this assessment as well, not only will it improve the family members’ relationship with each other and as a family but also help build a trusting relationship with the nurse which will allow the family members to voice out or share anything without feeling uncomfortable. (Smith LM

Nursing is generally viewed as a simple profession were you learn to take blood pressure, temperature and smile. However in reality nurses are the most reliable people the vulnerable population trust during the time of need. The vulnerable population include the mentally challenged, the unborn, those with few financial or social resources and those with cases as the incarcerated and the immigrants. The nurses also play an important role in promoting social justices. The nurses apply the ethical principles of justice to care for this venerable population with very limited funds. To provide nursing care to this population, nurses avoid to be judgmental and focus to care for the client as a person not a criminal in order to deliver effective nursing care. For example a study conducted by Kim-Lu, D. (2015).found that despite the expected impact of the Affordable Care Act in reducing uninsured rates, future efforts to remedy the barriers to access to healthcare for the Asian American subgroups will require a multifaceted approach that moves towards integrating vulnerable populations, such as immigrants, into the mainstream healthcare system and establishes targeted interventions such as language assistance and comprehensive case management services.

My second nursing diagnosis was also connected to my family that I am assessing for this class, they happen to live in the neighborhood also. One family is a part of many that make of the community. Alteration in family coping related to lack of emotional support/family support while family member is going through a stressful time. Interventions; counsel them and have them set aside one day a week to interact together by going to some of the community family night outings at the churches in the area, also seek counseling through local clergy or support groups like emotions anonymous to help them express their perceptions of what is happening to their family.

Society is a complex dynamic of various cultures, life experiences and unique characteristics relevant to the individuals within. Emergency personnel thus need to also be able to identify and treat a large expanse of patients, from various cultures and backgrounds, and among these clients come those whom are considered identifiably “vulnerable”. The Queensland Ambulance Service has taken on-board the “Vulnerable Clients Program Initiative, launched on the third of September 2010, which aims to enhance the understanding of QAS personnel to assist vulnerable client groups in the

Vulnerable population means a group of population that at greater risk of developing health problems due to their less awareness, availability, and access to needed resources to fulfill their healthy wellbeing requirements. Elderly population, pregnant women, homeless person, population with suicide or homicide prone behavior, substance abuser, persons living with infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, disable and chronically ill patients fall under vulnerable population group. “vulnerable populations are those with a greater than average risk of developing health problems by virtue of their marginalized sociocultural status, their limited access to economic resources or their personal characteristics such as age and gender”(Chesnay, M. &. Anderson, B. 2012). People with lower incomes and less education tend to be at higher risk for health problems.

Stanhope and Lancaster (2008) define vulnerable populations as “those defined at a greater risk for poor health status and health care access”(p.712). The role of a public health nurse in contrast to a vulnerable population is to establish interventions to help break the cycle of vulnerability thus aiding to eliminate health disparities within the population. The term “risk” helps public health nurses establish a person probability of something happening to them. This epidemiological term is used with the triangle of host, agent and environment in contrast to ones health within a population. The author will discuss vulnerability as discovered within a community based on surveying the community and establishing risk and interventions on the

Vulnerable population is not limited to a specific disease, race, income, or gender. There are different situations that can cause an individual to be classified into this category. A Vulnerable population can also include the neighborhood where an individual resides because healthcare resources may be limited. The focus of this will include the understanding of how the different biases affect the delivery of healthcare to individuals. It will also include a self-reflection of the learning prior and post about the population. It will identify a character and describe how he or she may be identified in a vulnerable population.

For my module 1 case, I am tasked to review the case of Lanesha Johnsons and answer the following questions; from a cultural perspective, is it unusual that Grandmother Marietta is the primary caregiver? Discuss the ways in which Lanesha, Grandma Marietta, and Hannah Healthcare approach this situation from totally different perspectives. How does Lanesha 's temperament affect the situation? What responsibilities do health care providers have in this situation? The case regarding Lanesha Johnson is both frustrating and eye opening, because it seems that the resolution to this case is so easy, but when you look at it through the lens of cultural barriers, the situation because much more murky. Let’s address the first barrier, Marietta as the primary caregiver.

To begin with, it is important to start with the fact that more than half a million people in the United States are homeless and forced to live on the streets and either sleep in an unsheltered location, or at a housing project (emergency shelters, short-term transitional housing, or safe havens). Moreover, according to a Social Solutions’ article (2016), 15% of the homeless population are individuals who have experienced homelessness for a period longer than a year (chronic homelessness). It is because of those facts about homelessness that I had decided to volunteer at a faith-based temporary overnight shelter and subsequently record my experiences and what I observed during my visit.