Case Study 1
A nurse works in community health in a very large urban neighborhood of mostly African Americans and Hispanics. The socioeconomic level of the area is low, with most people eligible for or covered by Medicaid and Medicare. The nurse is concerned about the level of care that community members’ children receive. Clinic services are inadequate, and the hours of the clinics that are available often make it difficult for working parents to access services for their children and for themselves. The teens in the area are involved in a lot of drug activity and have little to do after school. The neighborhood has one high school, one middle school, and one elementary school. There are two small day care centers for preschoolers run by the city. The nurse is motivated to tackle some of these problems, but she is not sure how to go about it.
Case Questions
- Identify critical problems the nurse might identify.
- Do these problems have health policy relevance? Why or why not?
- What steps do you think the nurse should take in light of what you have learned about health policy in this chapter? Be specific regarding stakeholders, strategies, and political issues to consider.