Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

 Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

Communities differ in resources, education, access to health facilities, and exposure, among other factors. These differences determine people’s health and vulnerability to health problems. At the community level, health care professionals such as community health nurses have a better understanding of people’s health needs and practical interventions. They also better understand vulnerabilities and how they vary across communities. Awareness of diseases and prevention measures is among the leading strategies for promoting healthy living. Community teaching improves awareness of diseases and their risks, enabling affected and at-risk populations to avoid diseases and improve their overall health. The purpose of this paper is to describe the community teaching experience, including the summary of the teaching plan, the epidemiological rationale for the topic, evaluation, community response, and areas of strengths and improvement.

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Summary of Teaching Plan

Elderly adults are a vulnerable population, primarily due to their advancing age and deteriorating physical and mental health. As they advance in age, elderly adults also become more dependent on other people for caregiving. The other defining characteristic is a high risk for physical injuries due to decreased bone density and low engagement in physical exercises. As a result, teaching this population is vital for enhancing their understanding of health, illness, and well-being in old age and how to live a quality life overall.

The teaching took place in a long-term care nursing home to access elderly patients affected or at risk of osteoporosis admitted to the long-term care nursing homes. The topic was secondary prevention of osteoporosis among elderly patients in long-term care nursing homes. Since elderly patients are physically weak, the teaching was primarily theoretical through a presentation, education brochures, and watching illustration videos. Due to concentration problems and tiring quickly, the session lasted for 45 minutes only.

Health care professionals should have specific objectives when teaching populations about healthy living and other topics that dominate health education. One of the core objectives was to enhance awareness of osteoporosis as a common disease among elderly adults with a huge potential of reducing elderly adults’ productivity and overall quality of life. As a public health concern, osteoporosis predisposes elderly adults to physical risks such as fractures (Inderjeeth & Inderjeeth, 2021). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describe the loss of bone density leading to weak bone structure, tissue, and strength as the leading cause of osteoporosis. Other predisposing factors include insufficient calcium intake, gender, age, and body frame size (Shi et al., 2019). An in-depth understanding of these factors and their relationships can help elderly adults prevent osteoporosis or manage it better.

The other objective was to reduce the risk of osteoporosis in long-term care facilities. A significant portion of health and nursing research focuses on preventing fractures and their associated morbidities. However, many studies overlook how osteoporosis contributes to fractures due to decreased bone density, structure, and tissue as a person’s age advances. Due to this gap, the teaching focused on enabling elderly adults to implement interventions to improve bone health to reduce the risk of osteoporosis among them in long-term care facilities. They can also share the knowledge with friends and relatives in other settings to improve their health and productivity.

The main reason for opting for secondary prevention is its effectiveness in addressing the health needs of the target population. Elderly adults are already affected or at risk of developing osteoporosis and its associated adverse effects. Pflimlin et al. (2019) found secondary prevention effective in increasing awareness of osteoporosis’ cause, risks, effects, and prevention in elderly populations. As a result, it is a practical approach to promoting lifestyle and behavior modification, a key objective of community teaching. Overall, the anticipated outcomes included patient empowerment and sustained improvement in outcomes related to osteoporosis prevention.

Epidemiological Rationale for Topic

Diseases are effectively addressed when their causes, incidence, and distribution among populations are known. Osteoporosis is among the most typical health problems affecting the elderly population in the United States. CDC statistics show that over 10.2 million people aged 50 years or more had osteoporosis, while 43.3 million had low bone density in 2010 in the USA (CDC, 2021). The high number of people with low bone density predicts a possible increase in osteoporosis cases unless adequate preventive measures are adopted in health care settings, families, and communities. The age-adjusted prevalence for osteoporosis in 2017-2018 revealed that the prevalence is higher among adults aged 65 years and above at 17.7% than those aged 50 years and above at 12.6% (CDC, 2021). The difference in prevalence shows the increased probability of getting osteoporosis as age advances.

There is a significant gender variation in osteoporosis prevalence. Women are more affected than men considering that the observed prevalence in women over 65 years is 27.1%, while it is as low as 5.7% in men (CDC, 2021). Such difference can be attributed to low bone mass and hormonal changes in women in the post-menopausal period. Age-adjusted data further shows an increase in prevalence from 9.4% (2007-2008) to 12.6% (2017-2018) in women, while that of men shifted from 3.7% to 4.4% in the same decade (CDC, 2021). The effects of osteoporosis are far-reaching and regrettable. Typical effects include fractures and perioperative complications in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery (CDC, 2021). Complications, prolonged care, and attention for patients with osteoporosis extend hospital stays and increase health costs.

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Evaluation of Teaching Experience

Overall, the teaching plan and engagement with the elderly population were great successes. Education sessions and interaction with the populace allow health care professionals to apply their knowledge in health promotion. The same case applies to the education session. It was an excellent opportunity for a collaborative experience to promote health through secondary prevention. Besides exploring osteoporosis in-depth, I got a better chance to practically apply professional skills and knowledge in addressing a health problem. The other success of the interactive session was the application of learning theories and concepts. I adopted the teach-back method of patient education to ensure that patients understood concepts and could restate them in their own words. The teach-back method is learner-centered and improves comprehension and application of knowledge in real-life situations.

The education session was also a great success from a learner’s dimension. The priority nursing diagnosis that guided the development of the teaching plan was deficient knowledge among the elderly patients affected or at risk of osteoporosis. As a result, the central focus was to ensure that patients understood the lifestyle and behavioral interventions to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and its associated complications. Such knowledge would help elderly patients make lifestyle and behavioral modifications to enhance their health and wellbeing. Porter et al. (2022) found that inadequate knowledge about osteoporosis predisposes elderly patients to behaviors that increase the risk of its worsening and complications. The knowledge gained was integral in behavior change and improving treatment outcomes in the nursing home.

Community Response to Teaching

An educational session cannot be successful if the audience does not respond positively. The learners should be active throughout the session, ask relevant questions, and respond as requested. Barriers to learning should be minimal too. Several elements indicate that the community responded positively and the content was relevant to them.

1. Active participation: no major issues such as noise, unwilling participants, or unnecessary interruptions/movements were experienced. Participants were attentive when concepts were being explained or demonstrated. They also responded when asked questions regarding their feelings, behaviors, health status, and knowledge about osteoporosis.
2. Asking questions: learners who ask questions show readiness to learn and intention to use the knowledge gained. They sought clarifications and further insights into osteoporosis, particularly dietary interventions and illness management. They also asked questions regarding symptoms and prevention strategies, particularly when a person’s physical state cannot allow them to engage in physical exercises.
3. Note-taking: it is impossible to retain all the knowledge gained in a single session of 45 minutes. In response, the participants took notes for reference as they start lifestyle, behavioral, and dietary modifications. Note-taking was also an indicator that information was beneficial, and the patients were willing to share information with other people.
4. After-session remarks: the elderly adults gave positive remarks about the presentation, materials shared, and the overall content. They considered it timely and relevant to their health at a critical age. They also promised to apply the knowledge and requested to be visited regularly.

Areas of Strength and Areas of Improvement

Learning outcomes depend on the strategies used to teach and manage learners. Among the key strengths was combining different teaching strategies. Lecturers, presentations, and discussions were used interchangeably to ensure that participants captured as much information as possible. Patients were also actively involved by asking them questions, and brainstorming was also considered since it promotes creativity (Cho & Kim, 2018). Besides, the education session explored many areas to enhance understanding of osteoporosis, including causes, prevention, and management. The other key strength was the response to barriers. For instance, translators were incorporated to address language barriers during the teaching session.

Despite these strengths that helped achieve the targeted objectives, several areas require improvement. One of such areas is learning assessment. I primarily asked questions, implying the need for more assessment strategies such as simulations and group works. The other important area requiring improvement is follow-up. A follow-up is necessary to monitor and evaluate how the elderly adults will apply the knowledge gained.

Conclusion

Nurses should identify vulnerable populations in their communities and develop practical interventions to address their needs. A teaching session is a practical way of sharing knowledge to enable people and communities to make more informed decisions about their health. As discussed in this paper, my community teaching targeted elderly patients affected and those at risk of osteoporosis admitted to the long-term care nursing homes. The primary objective was to enhance their knowledge of osteoporosis to enable them to make appropriate behavioral and lifestyle modifications to prevent and reduce the risk of fractures and other adverse outcomes. The session was successful, and it is expected to significantly improve health outcomes.

References

CDC. (2021, May 13). Products—data briefs—number 405—March 2021. https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc:103477

CDC. (2021). Osteoporosis or low bone mass in older adults: United States, 2017–2018. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db405.htm#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%20in,United%20States%20in%202017%E2%80%932018.

Cho, H., & Kim, H. K. (2018). Promoting creativity through language play in EFL classrooms. Tesol Journal, 9(4), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.416

Inderjeeth, C. A., & Inderjeeth, K. A. (2021). Osteoporosis in older people. Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research, 51(3), 265-274. https://doi.org/10.1002/jppr.1743

Pflimlin, A., Gournay, A., Delabrière, I., Chantelot, C., Puisieux, F., Cortet, B., & Paccou, J. (2019). Secondary prevention of osteoporotic fractures: Evaluation of the Lille University Hospital’s Fracture Liaison Service between January 2016 and January 2018. Osteoporosis International, 30(9), 1779–1788. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-019-05036-0

Porter, J. L., Varacallo, M., & Castano, M. (2022). Osteoporosis (Nursing). In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK568781/

Shi, L., Min, N., Wang, F., & Xue, Q.-Y. (2019). Bisphosphonates for secondary prevention of osteoporotic fractures: A Bayesian Network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. BioMed Research International, 2019, e2594149. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2594149

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Assessment Description
The RN to BSN program at Grand Canyon University meets the requirements for clinical competencies as defined by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), using nontraditional experiences for practicing nurses. These experiences come in the form of direct and indirect care experiences in which licensed nursing students engage in learning within the context of their hospital organization, specific care discipline, and local communities.

Note: This is an individual assignment. In 1,500-2,000 words, describe the teaching experience and discuss your observations. The written portion of this assignment should include:

Summary of teaching plan
Epidemiological rationale for topic
Evaluation of teaching experience
Community response to teaching
Areas of strengths and areas of improvement
You are required to cite a minimum of three sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Course Resources if you need assistance.