One of the other issues that often come up during my community health nursing experience at Masaryk Towers is that I see a lot of clients that approach to have their blood pressure or blood sugar measured that are not aware of the exact parameters or the importance of having either measured. They are doing so without a clear understanding of what blood pressure means or what affects their blood sugar. Though I provide the teaching without judgment it is discouraging to realize that so many members of the community are in need of the education. I feel like a lot of the clients in this community (among others) need to learn how to take advantage of their health care providers’ services and to demand to be educated about their health.

There are of course reasons why clients prefer not to ask too many questions of their health care providers. Usually the fear of the unknown and the white coat effect account for it, but also clients feel that if they don’t know they will be less afraid of the issues. I think there is a need for the clients to be independent and to feel like they are in control of their health care. I think one of the biggest successes for community health nurses would be to help the community members feel in control of their health care and capable of being involved in it, instead of being passive recipients.