Primary Health Care Community Resources Paper
You may create a profile of an older person who can be living alone, living in a health care facility, married or single; whatever scenario presents. However, you should focus only on ONE older person, rather than his or her spouse as well, or other people who may be living with the client. Be sure to provide 5-10 sentences at the beginning of your Resource paper describing your client, so that I may “get to know him/her” too.
Think about your client’s physical/cognitive health status. Formulate a list of self-care strengths and deficits that could be addressed. Look for strengths that may need to be supported and enhanced, as well as deficits. For example, could the older person have a tendency to fall, but is unsure how to make the home more safe (i.e., a reduced potential for home accidents). Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns can be a helpful organizing tool.
Following the identification of your client’s potential health care concerns, next identify potential self-care strengths/deficits. Then, determine the nursing diagnoses and select one health care concern (i.e., prioritized Nursing Diagnosis) for which you think the client would like more information or education such as: nutritional needs; safety; memory; sexuality; exercise/activity; meeting the needs of older individuals as caregivers; osteoporosis; medication use; bladder/bowel problems; cognitive issues etc.
This prioritized Nursing Diagnosis then becomes the basis for your Primary Care Community Resources Paper.
- b) Writing your paper Based on the prioritized Nursing Diagnosis you selected for which you could provide health teaching, research the topic and identify three (3) community resources to critique as the basis for your paper. For example, for an elderly person who is malnourished, the services/resources might be a nutritional eating program, meals-on-wheels, or involvement at a local seniors’ church group. Or, if the person is living in a facility and the nursing diagnosis is perhaps one of self-isolation, perhaps you could look at three programs that might be offered to the individual to improve his/her quality of life. You may wish to include an explanation of the underlying disease process (e.g. osteoporosis and the Osteoporosis Society of Canada). You may do so if you feel it will add to the overall paper in terms of the purpose of the service/resource. However, your explanation should be BRIEF: a paragraph or two. The disease process is not the focus of this paper. Rather, the more creative you are in identifying resources and/or services that may assist your elderly client, the better!
The paper should include the following:
- Title Page (1 page) USE PAGE BREAK after the Title page
- Table of Contents (1 page) Be sure to number the sections and subsections (1., 2., 1.1, 1.2 etc.)– see following sample paper). USE PAGE BREAK after the Table of Contents
- Introduction (1 page maximum) The paper should begin with an introduction to your client and the mutually determined nursing diagnosis. This section outlines the purpose and scope of your paper as well as a little bit of information about your client, her/himself.
- Content of paper: (6-7 pages maximum) Give this section a title (not ‘content of paper’) that will reflect what you are going to talk about. This section focuses on the discussion of the history of three community resources - when were they established, how did they come to be? Purpose of the services and/or resources: How will it help your client? Is it geared specifically to the elderly or to the population in general?
- Conclusion: (1 page) How will the resource/service would meet the older person's needs? Does it meet your expectations in terms of service delivery and use by the client? Is it useful, relevant, and financially attainable? Is it a value-added service to the client? Emphasize the benefits of the resources to your client. Use examples of your client’s needs that may be met by these resources. USE PAGE BREAK after the content of your paper.
- References (or Bibliography): Include citations (APA 6th edition format) of the materials you have commented on in your paper. Make sure the References are at the end of the paper starting on a new page with PAGE BREAK. All references mentioned in the paper must be included.
Suggestions for putting your paper together
As you are not submitting any samples of pamphlets, information sheets, etc., be sure to comment on their content and readability as you critique each one and be sure to cite them in your References section. Please use a 12pt font size. Use Section Headings and Subheadings to organize your work . Synthesize the information you have identified. Incorporate highlights from what you have read to support your discussion. When you have used a reference in the content of your paper, be sure indicate the author(s) by putting the last name and publication year in parentheses ( ). Provide your own ideas and opinions. This paper is not merely a review of the three resources and NOT a discussion of a medical diagnosis. The total length of the paper is to be no more than 13 pages in length, including the Title page, Table of Contents, and References. The total paper (including References) is to double-spaced, following current APA referencing standards.
Hints on how to select materials for your references
- Have a combination or mix of journal articles, text books and/or Internet references (a minimum of 8 altogether, in addition to your course textbook if you choose to use it) that reinforces your diagnosis (isolation, nutrition, poor balance, for example). • Reference sources should be no older than 5 years (2014) unless there are very limited references on your particular topic… or it is just such a great article! • Please do not count your course text as one of your reference sources nor the additional article readings at the end of the chapters, in developing your Reference list.
APA 6th edition (2010) format and referencing style is required. The following link may also be helpful for reference purposes on writing and using APA style essentials and guidelines: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_styl e_guide/general_format.html
A few formatting points to help you in the layout of your paper: •
PLEASE DO NOT USE ANY TEMPLATES FOR THE TITLE PAGE, TABLE OF CONTENTS TO ORGANIZE YOUR IN-PAPER CITATIONS, OR for the REFERENCE LIST (APA TEMPLATE ON THE COMPUTER) OR PROGRAMS SUCH AS MICROSOFT MANAGER. It is very difficult to mark within the confines of these pre-constructed outlines.
- Running Head: (e.g., “SHORT TITLE OF PAPER (50 CHARACTERS OR LESS))”. You can find out how to put this title in your paper by looking in “Headers and Footers” in your word processing program.
- Numbering pages: Start your numbering on the title page and continue throughout your assignment. (On a Mac, it is under “Insert”).
- Page Break: This very necessary feature is used so that you can start a “clean” page for the Introduction and Reference portions of your paper.
