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Community nursing is nursing care delivered outside acute hospitals, for example in the home, within General Practice facilities, in community hospitals, in police custody, at a school or in a care home. In the UK, a community nurse needs a degree approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, as well as 1–2 years’ experience as a qualified Adult Nurse.
Community health nursing's primary focus is the public/community, in which prevention, promotion, and health maintenance strategies are utilized to help ensure the wellbeing of the entire community. Furthermore, in this type of nursing the client is the community rather than an individual patient. A community can be described as a group of persons who socially interact because of shared goals and interests.Reference:Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M.. Health: A community view. Community/public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations. Elsevier.
Being culturally competent is necessary for the community health nurse. A community may have many different cultures living within the area with different beliefs and traditions. It's also important to be aware of the socioeconomic factors in the community. The socioeconomic status is defined as the combination of economic status, education, occupation and income. There may be inconsistencies within the community resources depending on socioeconomic status. Unfortunately, socioeconomic status is often unevenly distributed in some races and ethnicities. It's therefore important for a community health nurse to recognize the areas of lower socioeconomic status that may need access to more community resources.
The job functions covered include: