ANANDGOWDA.S ASST.PROF COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING YENEPOYA NURSING COLLEGE, MANGALURU

1. FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNITY
HEALTH NURSE

2. • A community health nurse
performs various functions while
she works in any defined
community health setting.
• There are various roles &
functions of a community health
nurse. They are as follows.

3. 1. Care provider
2. Health educator
3. Counsellor
4. Resource person
5. Sensitive
observer
6. Advisor
7. Planner
8. Care manager
9. Medical assistant
role
10. Collaborator
11. Advocate
12. Researcher
13. Evaluator
14. Consultant

4. 1. CARE PROVIDER

5. 1. CARE PROVIDER
She provides a continuous and
comprehensive are to the
familily, group of people and
community at large.

6. • She emphasizes more on
promotive and preventive health
care.

7. • The community health nurse
appraoches the family and
persuades them to implement
promotive and preventive
measures.
• Care during illness is beneficial
gaining acceptance, trust and
confidence.

8. • She also provides care during
illness for which usually the
family members come forward
to seek help.

9. Provides wound dressings and
treat minor illnesses
Provides antenatal care, postnatal
care and neonatal care.
Conducts the deliveries in
community
Provides geriatric care & provides
the first aid

10. • The care is provided at home,
clinic, school, work place etc.
• This function is referred to as
“CARE PROVIDER ROLE”

11. 2. HEALTH EDUCATOR

12. 2. HEALTH EDUCATOR
• The community health nurse
educates the individual, family,
groups of people and the
community at large.
• Teaches the modes of spread
of genetic and infectious
diseases.

13. • Health education thus given
focuses on promoting health,
preventing illness and aspects
related to care during illness and
rehabilitation & disability
prevention.

14. • The nurse conducts planned
health education sessions for
organized community groups
e.g., school children, antenatal
mothers, eligible couples, elderly
etc.,

15. • Health education for the family
is planned and implemented as
part of the family care plan.
• Teaches about proper diet

16. • The community health nurses is
involved in giving
incidental/casual/spontaneous
health education according to
the situation. (washing of hands
before a feeding child)

17. • These functions refer to as
“HEALTH EDUCATOR ROLE”

18. 3. COUNSELLOR

19. 3. COUNSELLOR
• The community health nurse
helps individual, families and the
community at large to recognize
and understand their problems to
be solved, find solutions with-in
resources and implement feasible
and acceptable solutions.

20. •Community health nurse conducts
the counseling of individuals
•Counsels the families in
community about some social and
mental problems and also for
motivation of family planning,
vaccination.

21. 4. RESOURCE PERSON

22. • The community health nurse
explores community resources in
terms of money, manpower,
material, agencies etc.
• She makes use of these resources
in helping individual, family
groups and community to meet
their health and nursing needs.

23. 5. SENSITIVE OBSERVER

24. • The community health nurse
makes observations of any
untoward change in health
behaviour and health status of
the community, people, their
surroundings, unusual
occurrence of disease & take
action accordingly.

25. • E.g., Providing information,
health education to people to
improve their behaviour and
health status, working with the
family and providing direct care
during illness, notification to
health authority about
communicable disease.

26. 6. ADVISOR

27. • The community health gives
some suggestions on practical
situation which requires
immediate actions and where
there is little scope of health
education.

28. • E.g., In case of a client with
diabetes mellitus, the
community health nurse advices
with concern on the foods to be
included and avoided. (according
to the socio –economic condition
of the individual & family)

29. 7. PLANNER

30. • The community health nurse
while giving comprehensive care
to family and community makes
a plan on the basis of identified
health problems and health &
nursing needs.

31. • She plans with other team
members to provide appropriate
care, which is referred to as
planner role.

32. 8. CARE MANAGER

33. • The community health nurse
implements the care which is
planned for the family and
community.
• She directly provides the care
with the active participation of
family and community members.
• She makes use of family and
community resources.

34. • Organizes and manages various
programmes of health and assume
leadership of nursing team for
supervision of nursing and other
staff.
• She guides the family and
community and refers when
required. She maintains a record of
the care given to families and the
community.

35. • The community health nurse
evaluates the effectiveness of
care given in terms of change in
health status, health behaviour,
reduction in illness, improvement
in clinic attendance-immunization
& rate of utilization of the
community health services.

36. 9. MEDICAL ASSISTANT ROLE

37. • Community health
nurse assists the
physician and co-
ordinates with the
other team
members in the
community health
care team in
rendering
community health
services.

38. • She obtains orders from the
physician and explains it clearly
to the clients, families, helps and
guides them to carry on medical
treatment at home.

39. 10. COLLABORATOR
•Community health nurse works in
the collaboration with other health
workers of government or NGO’s in
community
•Community health nurse works
with doctors ,dispensers,
vaccinators, TBAs, Midwives, LHVs
etc in the the community

40. 11. ADVOCATE
•Leads for installation of facilities of
health care in suitable and required
places
•Participates the district govt.
meetings and talks to administration
for the favor community for solution
of health care , social and financial
problems

41. 12.RESEARCHER
•Community health nurse works hard
for searching new methods of care.
•Community health nurse also searches
causes of illnesses
•Community health nurse collects
statistical data like morbidity rate ,
mortality rate, birth rate etc, analyses
that data

42. 13. EVALUATOR
•Community health nurse after
implementation of any project or
health programme, she evaluate
the success or outcome.
•Community health nurse conducts
the surveillance and evaluates the
special health programmes in
community.

43. 14. CONSULTANT
•Community health nurse advice is
taken before start of any health
care programme in community.
•Community health nurse renders
the services for prevention of
diseases and promotion of health
in the community

44. THANK YOU