Now that the semester is at an end it is nice to take a step
back and see all that we, as a group, have accomplished over the past
semester. I feel that we
have accomplished a lot in the amount of time given to us to achieve our goals.Going out into the community to check the height and weight of children in about 70 schools is no easy task. We had a great deal of help from the sophomores juniors, MN students and the BSN students from Ursuline college. we would not have been able to accomplish our goals without their help. The teachers and staff were also incredibly kind and accommodating Everyone we met was helpful and cooperative and seemed to appreciate
what we were trying to do within their communities.
During the
time I spent in all the of the Cleveland schools this past semester I was able
to identify a few strengths and positive aspects within the community. Many of the schools we visited were brand new
buildings with modern facilities. Even the buildings that were not brand new were
relatively clean and gave the students an adequate atmosphere for learning.
Another positive was the attitude of the teachers and staff. Everyone was
always incredibly cooperative and did what they could to help us achieve our
goals in a timely and efficient manner. A lot of the teachers seemed generally
interested in our program as well. When
we were travelling to a few schools collecting feedback about our data brochure
many of them wanted to keep the rough draft to share with the rest of the
faculty. I guess overall I would say I was surprised by the amount of
cooperation and enthusiasm we received from most of the schools. I got the
impression that they wanted us there and that what we were doing was important
to them.
After
spending time in the schools I believe the role of public health nurse is very
important for overall community well-being. The obesity rate in many of the
schools is well above the state and national average. Also, many schools in the
Cleveland school district do not have school nurses. One of the primary roles
all nurses play no matter what setting they are in is educator. These kids
probably do not have anyone to teach them how to eat right and take care of
themselves. I know money is always what it comes down to but the lack of health
education is having a severe negative effect on young kids within the
community.
I think one
of the major goals of this project was to learn how to learn how to work well
as a team. A lot of effort needed to be put in to get everything ready to go
out into the community and check the children’s height and weight. Even more
time and effort was needed to analyze all the data we collected during our
screenings. Our project would not have been successful if we did not learn to
work together . Another goal of this course was to learn to accept
more of a leadership role. I think this came into play more during the actual
screenings. Sometimes we would be out at the schools as the leaders with no
other faculty so we would be the ones calling the shots and everyone would be looking
to us to know what they needed to be doing. I think I handled the
responsibilities of being a leader and met the goal I set for myself in the
beginning of the course.
In the hospital it might just seem like nurses are
there to help fix people that are broken or sick. Now I think it is important
that we, as nurses, spend more time working to prevent sickness and disease
before it occurs. The data we collected in the Cleveland schools offers
valuable insight on a very concerning problem affecting the youth of the
Cleveland school district. If it’s not corrected there will be many more sick
people in hospitals when these children grow up and reach adulthood. Waiting until something goes seriously wrong
and requires medical attention is not a good way to handle any health
issue.
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