Sentinel City: Sample Selection and Application
Sentinel City: Sample Selection and Application
Introduction
The simulation offered in the Sentinel City’s assessment provides fundamental insights on community and population health assessment and nursing practices. This is critical to improve the efficiency of service delivery and improvement of health care services in the community and among respective individuals. The Sentinel City tour offers enormous opportunities to learn and look closely to factors influencing community health and capacity to sustain health needs among the people. The experience offers a chance to learn extensively through immersive virtual nursing scenario that provide population focused nursing practices and health assessment. This culminates in the analysis of the health care prevention, treatment, and interventions measures that can be utilized to improve the overall health of individuals in the community. Therefore, the assessment of the city provides fundamental insights on enhancing a common environmental health conditions that affect thousands of people in the same locale or geographical environment.
Assessment of Needs in Health Care and Risks in Sentinel City
Sentinel City is made up of a total population of 663,862 within four neighborhoods. The overall median household income for the city residents constitutes of $135,104. This is fundamental for the assessment of the population’s capacity to sustain health insurance and access to better health care services. The four neighborhoods constitute of a) Industrial Heights, b) Nightingale Square, c) Acer tech Square, and d) Casper Park District (Sentinel City).
- Industrial Heights: The neighborhood’s total population accounts for 38,855 residents. The neighborhood has both the lowest population and lowest median household income of $24,672. The population distribution comprises of the Latinos or Hispanic ethnic majority 46.8 percent followed by African American 13.1 percent. The population aged below 18 years comprise of 13.1 percent and those above 65 years 0.9 percent. The Industrial Heights has the highest of uninsured individuals standing at 37.5 percent. This indicates the neighborhood’s vulnerability to health hazards and low access to quality health care. Furthermore, it is a poverty stricken neighborhood as compared to others in the Sentinel City.
- Nightingale Square: The neighborhood has a total population of 103,974 residents. The population distribution is spread in that it constitutes of the Whites majority comprising of 81.3 percent followed by Latinos with 3.7 percent. The neighborhood’s assessment shows that persons below 18 years of age constitute of 2.9 percent while those above 65 years are 13.9 percent. The median household income of the neighborhood constitutes of $269,500 by far the highest with uninsured individuals comprising of 0.7 percent. That is the least number of uninsured individuals in the entire Sentinel City.
- Acer Tech Square: The neighborhood has a total population of 168,390 residents. The population distribution comprises of Whites ethnic majority constituting of 70.2 percent followed by Hispanics at 13.7 percent. The persons below 18 years constitute of 7.0 percent and those above 65 years are 19.8 percent. The neighborhood has the highest of the elderly population positing a higher need for geriatrics nursing practices. The median household income of the neighborhood entails $166,300 with a total of 1.5 percent of uninsured individuals.
- Casper Park District: This is the most populated neighborhood with a total of 352,643 residents. The population distribution comprises of the Whites majority with 63 percent followed by Latinos at 24 percent. The neighborhood has a median household income of $80,134 with a total of 22.7 uninsured individuals. The persons below 18 years of age comprise of 33.8 percent and those aged 65 years and above 6.5 percent. The neighborhood has the highest population of young people below 18 years shows enormous potential for the future.
Sample Selection: Neighborhood/Community Safety Assessment
In my tour of the city, I paid close attention to the Industrial Heights neighborhood that I found to be poverty stricken and the least developed of the four neighborhoods. Industrial Heights has a myriad of health and safety hazards that posit profound threats and risks for the overall health of the community (Chircrop & Cobbett, 2020). The neighborhood suffers from extensive socioeconomic disparities that undermine its populations’ capacity to access quality and standard health care services. The neighborhood assessment shows that it has the highest of uninsured individuals (37.5%) compared to Nightingale Square’s 0.7% that is the least. As well, the neighborhood has the lowest median household income of $24,672 as compared to Nightingale Square’s $269,550 and way below the Sentinel City’s average of $135,104. The tour of Industrial Heights led to the noticing of poor environmental conditions that pose a high risk for the residents. For example, I noticed stray animals in the streets, buildings in disrepair and others emitting smoke that was a source of population, spilling garbage, trash cans, graffiti on the walls, reckless driving and ignorance of traffic rules/lights, and high levels of drug abuse. The neighborhood has high prevalence of more health and safety hazards that threaten its population putting it at high risk of health complications (All Answers Ltd, 2018).
Moreover, drug abuse in the neighborhood shows worrying statistics that caught my interest during the tour of the city. Industrial Heights has alcohol as the most abused drug at 26 % followed by tobacco at 24%. Other drugs highly abused in the neighborhood comprise of marijuana 12%, heroin 7%, cocaine 5%, CNS depressants 5%, club drugs 2%, and methamphetamines 1%. The assessment of Industrial Heights shows that crime occurrences are higher compared to other parts of the city. The common arrest charges identified from the neighborhood’s statistics show that cannabis charges were the highest at 23%. Issuance of warrant of arrest constituted of 23%, battery charges 17%, controlled substance abuse 16%, criminal trespassing 9%, public intoxication 6%, and reckless conduct 6%. However, the overall crime in the neighborhood showed a downward trend.
Application of Windshield Survey and Community Health Assessment
The Windshield Survey approach entails a systematic observation method of an area that is made from a moving vehicle. The Sentinel City’s tour provided illuminating insights on the community health needs and assessment of environmental and socioeconomic conditions that posit serious health threats and risks to the population. The unsafe socioeconomic and environmental factors are major impediments to quality health care services acting as the source of limiting the ability of citizens to live a healthy life (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). The community health assessment indicates that there are several key determinants that influence the health status of the Sentinel City’s health; – employment and working conditions, income and social status, access to health services, physical environments, education, and substance control capacity. Industrial Heights is the worst hit by the identified conditions as it shows adverse implications on the populations. The data collected shows the neighborhood is poverty stricken with a high population with no health insurance. Hence, it impedes access to quality health services. The drug menace in the neighborhood exposes it to further health menace putting thousands of its residents and future generations at risk. Therefore, deliberate steps ought to be taken to minimize the disparities gap in the neighborhood to improve on the overall health of the residents.
References
All Answers Ltd. (November 2018). Community Health and Population Focused Nursing Action Report. Retrieved from https://nursinganswers.net/essays/community-health-and-population-focused-nursing-action-report.php?vref=1
Chircrop, A. & Cobbett, S. (2020). Gett’n on the bus: evaluation of Sentinel City® 3.0 virtual simulation in community/population health clinical placement. Int J Nurs Educ Scholarsh, 17(1):/j/ijnes.2020.17.issue-1/ijnes-2019-0109/ijnes-2019-0109.xml. doi: 10.1515/ijnes-2019-0109.
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2014). Foundations of nursing in the community: Community-oriented practice. St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby.
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