Community Health Nursing

Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Community Health Nursing
Introduction
To effectively handle the health needs of a community, it is paramount to have the community properly defined. The definition of the community’s characteristics gives health workers the headway in their understanding of their scope of work. This paper seeks to understand the community of Tampa, Florida. To comprehensively cover the community, this paper will describe the population in Tampa, the defined boundaries of the community in Tampa, the racial composition, and unique characteristics of the community. Further, it will address the education levels, birth/death rates, the age of deaths, and the insured or uninsured population in relation to the Tampa community. To effectively describe the population of Tampa Area, this paper will focus on the wider Tampa area rather than the Tampa City.
The Population being Assessed
Tampa is the third largest city in Florida. It is a humongous metropolitan area that surrounds the Tampa Bay, which is a natural harbor in Florida’s west coast (See Appendix 1). Tampa City is located approximately 200 miles northwest of Miami, and 20 miles northeast of St. Petersburg. The diversity of the population is highly defined from the perspectives of socio-economic backgrounds, culture, religions, beliefs, and ethnicities. The population is composed of different races (which will be statistically assessed later) including the Hispanics, Blacks, Whites, Asians, and even immigrants from different parts of the world. The population is a mix of different professionals who work in white and blue collar jobs. It is a mixture of all the social classes; upper-class, middle-class, and working class. The community has both the rich and the poor.
Tampa area is largely an urban setting, which according to Data USA (2018) has a population of 3.03 million people that represents a 1.91% annual growth rate. Tampa City population, as of July 2017, was estimated to be 385,430 according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2018), which represented a 14.8% change from 2010 to 2017. The population age distribution is dominated by females who are 51.7% while people under the age of 18 years are estimated to be 21.7% as indicated by the U.S. Census Bureau (2018). Senior citizens (above 65years) represent 12.2% of the entire Tampa City population.
The population demographics in Tampa Area is diverse as it has been previously mentioned. According to Data USA (2018), the Whites dominate the population with a representation of 57.7% followed by Hispanics with 22.1%. Blacks come in second with 14.3%. Asians represent just 2.5%. The following is a graphical indication of the population distribution in the Tampa area.

The economy of the area is as diverse as its population. To begin with, a snapshot of poverty prevalence is as follows. Out of the total population, 14.2% of the population lives below the poverty line, which is slightly above the national average of 14%. The largest demographic living below poverty levels are females aged between 25 and 34. The leading race when it comes to poverty levels are Whites who are followed by Hispanics and in the third position are Blacks. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2018) evaluated the number of children living under the poverty line and posits that 49% of black children live in poor families, 29% and 18% of Hispanic and Asian children respectively live under the poverty line. Poor families live in public housing where living conditions are concentrated.
The education levels in Tampa are somewhat advanced. The city of Tampa, as indicated by Town Charts (2018), has 32.2% of its population with25 years and above with bachelors degrees or higher, 25.9% with high school diploma, 25% with some college or associate degrees, and 11.2% with less than high school. A small percentage is unschooled. Out of those with bachelors and above, the majority got their degrees in physical and related sciences, followed by social sciences. The least degree holders are in computer and mathematics as indicated in the chart below.

To support the economy, the population in the area work in different sectors of the economy. To begin with, 1.38 million out of the 3.03 million residents are employed, which represents a 2.38% annual growth (Data USA, 2018). The jobs that have a high preference in the area include administrative jobs, which are held onto by 14.6%, sales by 12.5%, and management with 10.5% as indicated in the graphic below. The most specialized jobs in the Tampa metropolitan area are health technicians, healthcare support, and sales. Those who get the highest remunerations include legal practitioners, health practitioners, computer and mathematical practitioners, architecture engineers, and lastly people in management. On the lower side, the professions that employ the least number of people include legal, law enforcement, firefighters, farmers, and physical trainers. The employment field that is least specialized includes material moving, education and library, and production. The lowest paying jobs in the area include material moving, cleaning and maintenance, farming and fishing, personal care, and food and serving.

The most dominant industries in terms of employing residents of Tampa include health and social assistance at 15%, retail trade at 13.1%, professional, scientific and technology services employ 8%, while accommodation and food service industries and educational services, and finance industries, employ 8.2%, 7.3%, and 6.8% respectively (Data USA, 2018). The most common industries include health care and social assistance, and retail trade. The most specialized industries include finance and insurance, management of companies, administration, support, and waste management services. The highest paying industries include utilities, professional, scientific, and technology services, as well as, mining, quarrying, and gas extraction. The lowest earning industry includes real estate and agriculture.
Health in Tampa area is well defined with important statistics to show for it. To begin with, the state of Florida enjoys Medicare and Medicaid coverage, which raises health and safety statistics. In the state of Florida, the most likely groups to have health care coverage are people in the age brackets of 6-17 years, which is assisted by Medicare and Medicaid (Data USA, 2018). The ratio of primary care clinician to patient ratio is 1:73. The average per patient per year reimbursement by Medicare is $10,943, which is higher per enrollee than the national average by $1,355 (Data USA, 2018). The highest prevalence of homicides in the area is in Duval County (Data USA, 2018). There are 56 dentists for every 100,000 people and 134 mental health professionals for every 100,000 people. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2018) puts the health uninsurance rate in Tampa at 17% while the national average is 14% indicating that the area is not doing very well. As such, lower-income residents find it hard to access health care, especially when handling and preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
Tampa health statistics are further complicated by the birthrate of teen mothers who stand at 3% according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2018). Babies who are born at low birth weight stand at 11 %. The aging population is on a rapid increase and the situation is worsened by the prevalence of uninsured aging adults, especially at the ages of 55 to 64. This means that the area experiences a significant challenge when it comes to equitable access to affordable health care. In 2014, the most prevalent conditions as paid for by Medicare in the state of Florida were Congestive Heart Failure followed by Pneumonia, and in the third position was Acute Myocardial Infraction. Diabetes is also a significant case in the state with more than 23,010 black enrollees and a total of 192,660 enrollees in 2014.
Other vital statistics with regards to the health of the people in Tampa are necessary, to get an overview of birth data, mortality, and causes of death, (CDC, 2018). The percentage of births to unmarried mothers is 46.9%, which is way above the 39.8% national average. The cesarean delivery rate in Florida is 37.4%, the preterm birth rate is 10.2%, and the teen birth rate is 19.3% in Florida (CDC, 2018). The leading causes of death in Florida in 2016 are heart diseases, followed by cancer, accidents, respiratory diseases, and stroke. Mortality data indicates that firearm deaths lead by 12.6% against a national average of 11.8%, homicide rate stands at 6.8%, while drug overdose deaths stand at 23.7% against a national average of 19.8%, which might be attributed to poverty, which had been described earlier. Infant mortality rates are 6.1 deaths for every 1000 live births, which is higher than the national average of 5.9 deaths (CDC, 2018). The marriage rate is 8.1% while divorce rates are 3.9% (CDC, 2018).
Importance of Community Health Assessment
The importance of this assessment cannot be underestimated. It has provided comprehensive information about Tampa’s community health status, as well as, needs and issues that need attention. To health workers, health organizations, and policymakers, the information is critical in the development of health improvement plans and strategies, which will justify the placement of resources in the society to meet the Tampa’s community needs. It will inform strategic planning efforts that should be designed to offer an overall health and safety improvement to the entire population. Further, the assessment is a community resource for organizations and individuals with a dimension in the health sector.
The specific importance of this assessment is critical and has several benefits. To begin with, the assessment can be used as a basis to offer improved organizational and community coordination and collaboration between different stakeholders in the health sector. With the assessment, there has been a creation of important knowledge in public health and how different aspects of the community affect each other, such as poverty and insurance uptake. The assessment will ensure a strengthened partnership within the Tampa area and the local public health systems, due to the identification of common problems, which should be addressed collaboratively. The assessment has identified important strengths and weaknesses in the system that can be used to address important quality improvement efforts in the area. In the future, the assessment will provide a benchmark for health care practice improvements.
How will Information for the Community Assessment be Collected?
To collect information on community assessment, a health organization needs to collaborate with different community organizations in Tampa area, to identify areas of concern that are reflective of the health care needs from the perspectives of individuals, families, and the community at large. To achieve this, a stakeholder group should be created and should comprise of representatives from different fields in health care. For instance, the study may consider medical, pharmacy, minority, the uninsured, first responders, insurance providers, aging populations, private business, state prisons, state health department, federal health officers, and health practitioners among others. People in such a stakeholder meeting should have the requisite experience and in-depth knowledge of the issues at hand, such as knowledge in chronic disease management, reproductive health, domestic violence, minority populations, uninsured populations, poverty elimination and, social improvement among others. Analysis of health and statistical databases is important.
Conclusion
The Tampa area has a bag of mixed fortunes when it comes to health. With the positives about the community, it has been identified that the community has an enlarged scope of educational background. The community is easy to inform, as well as, share ideas with since they are able to reason at a higher level. Secondly, the population of Tampa is largely economically productive. This means that with increased development of health awareness, a great improvement in behaviors and intervention actions will likely be adopted. Looking at the different aspects of important health parameters, it has been established that teenage pregnancies are high in the area and need to be stemmed. Chronic illnesses are high and they are the leading cause of deaths, implying that the area has a high financial burden on the health community. Homicide levels are also high indicating that there are significant mental illnesses in the area. In essence, a deeper review of the statistics provided will inform health care practitioners where interventions are necessary.

References
CDC. (2018). Stats of the State of Florida. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/florida/florida.htm
Data USA. (2018). Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area. Retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/geo/tampa-st.-petersburg-clearwater-fl-metro-area/
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2018). Tampa, Florida. Retrieved from https://www.rwjf.org/en/cultureofhealth/what-were-learning/sentinel-communities/tampa-florida.html
Town Charts. (2018). Tampa city-FL, Florida Education Data. Retrieved from https://www.towncharts.com/Florida/Education/Tampa-city-FL-Education-data.html
U.S Census Bureau. (2018). QuickFacts; Tampa City, Florida. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/tampacityflorida

Appendix
Map of Tampa, Florida