Community Health Advocacy
Community Health Advocacy
Shannon Jensen
NUR/544
August 25, 2014
Dr. Louama Driscoll
Community Health Advocacy
The levels of prevention in epidemiology help provide a framework for health professionals to intervene and prevent disease, injury, or disability. What is epidemiology? The World Health Organization (2014) states “epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events and the application of the study to the control of disease and other health problems” (para. 1). The National Asthma Education and Prevention Guidelines data showed that exacerbations of acute asthma episodes have gotten more severe over the years (Dougherty & Fahy, 2009). In 2010, one out of eleven children was diagnosed with asthma (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Children are presenting with a combination of symptoms that show an increase in severity with expiratory airflow and decreased lung function testing (Dougherty & Fahy, 2009). When children present with shortness, wheezing, chest tightness or cough in school, the student has to report to the school nurse for their asthma protocol treatment ordered by a physician. If symptoms are not easily controlled, the child may have to be treated in and outpatient setting. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), children missed a total of ten million days of school and cost the United States fifty-six billion dollars a year for treatment. In 2009, the yearly average cost was $1,039 per child with asthma. The Healthy People 2020 made pediatric asthma an initiative due to the increasing prevalence and cost in the United States.
Epidemiology Framework
The epidemiology framework consists of three levels of prevention; primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary prevention strive to reduce the occurrence rate of new cases in disease. Primary prevention approach to promoting a healthier lifestyle is to emphasize on educating individuals on risk
Shannon Jensen
NUR/544
August 25, 2014
Dr. Louama Driscoll
Community Health Advocacy
The levels of prevention in epidemiology help provide a framework for health professionals to intervene and prevent disease, injury, or disability. What is epidemiology? The World Health Organization (2014) states “epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events and the application of the study to the control of disease and other health problems” (para. 1). The National Asthma Education and Prevention Guidelines data showed that exacerbations of acute asthma episodes have gotten more severe over the years (Dougherty & Fahy, 2009). In 2010, one out of eleven children was diagnosed with asthma (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Children are presenting with a combination of symptoms that show an increase in severity with expiratory airflow and decreased lung function testing (Dougherty & Fahy, 2009). When children present with shortness, wheezing, chest tightness or cough in school, the student has to report to the school nurse for their asthma protocol treatment ordered by a physician. If symptoms are not easily controlled, the child may have to be treated in and outpatient setting. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), children missed a total of ten million days of school and cost the United States fifty-six billion dollars a year for treatment. In 2009, the yearly average cost was $1,039 per child with asthma. The Healthy People 2020 made pediatric asthma an initiative due to the increasing prevalence and cost in the United States.
Epidemiology Framework
The epidemiology framework consists of three levels of prevention; primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary prevention strive to reduce the occurrence rate of new cases in disease. Primary prevention approach to promoting a healthier lifestyle is to emphasize on educating individuals on risk