Clinical for me has thus far been a very interesting experience. Professor Stewart knows how to bring the life to the party. He is informative, captivating, and best of all passionate about being a clinical instructor. He has been involved in many different areas of nursing such as: long term care, acute care, school nursing, case management; which enables him to explain the connection between the various fields of nursing. He explains community nursing as placing emphasis on the individuals and family within their natural setting in the communities. So one of the very first task the class did was to walk around and survey the community. The purpose of the community survey was to identify community resources, determine quality of life in the community, and assess the family structure. We were interested in things like: proximity to hospitals, nursing homes, parks, food stores, laundry mats, school, etc. The focal point of the exercise however, was much more profound than superficial. We simply look at the exterior of the buildings, scanned the environment directly proximal to the buildings, and were able to create a depiction of the interest of the people residing in the buildings and moreover, the community. For example, by looking at the buildings we saw that most of the buildings were equipped with fire escapes and window guards; indicating that fire and children safety were a concern amongst community residents.
So that was the first day of community clinical… being able to analyze what you see and defining it in terms of the overall community. Because each community is unique and has properties that are particular to itself and residents. Identifying those properties and how they facilitate, impede, or impact the delivery of nursing care to the community is the primary focus of this course.
