Community Health Services for Patients Inflicted with HIV/AIDS Report

This report examines community health services for individuals affected by HIV/AIDS, focusing on the impact of the disease on individuals, families, and communities, particularly in the context of Australian healthcare. It highlights the crucial role of community nurses and primary healthcare services in providing social and mental support, identifying health problems, and educating patients and their families on prevention techniques. The report details interventions used to promote and protect the HIV population, including social support, addressing challenges in integrating HIV services, and leveraging technological advancements for treatment. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of health promotion interventions, such as public health policy advocacy and the use of biomedical and ecological models to reduce social inequalities and improve patient outcomes. The report concludes by underscoring the positive impact of community nursing practice in enhancing the quality of life for individuals living with HIV/AIDS and reducing new cases.

RUNNING HEAD: community health services for patients inflicted with HIV/AIDS
Community Nursing Practice
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Community health services for patients inflicted with HIV/AIDS
Table of Contents
Criterion 1..................................................................................................................................3
HIV and its impact on individual, family, and community....................................................3
The role played by community nurses and primary healthcare services...............................4
Criterion 2..................................................................................................................................6
Interventions used to promote and protect the HIV population.............................................6
Interventions used by community nurses:..............................................................................7
References................................................................................................................................10
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Criterion 1
The criterion considered in this part of the paper is the impact of HIV on family,
community members and very individual who has been grappling with the disease. The
criterion majorly emphasizes on community nursing practice and the use of primary
healthcare to promote as well as protect the people, who are prone to the risk of HIV or are
having HIV.
HIV and its impact on individual, family, and community
According to statistics, 963 cases of new HIV have been detected in Australia in the
year 2017, which is the lowest since 2010. Also, this reflects a 7% decline in the last five
years. One of the major reasons behind HIV in Australia is male to male sex as well as
injecting drug use apart from heterosexual sex (King, McGregor, McManus, Gray, & Guy,
2018).
HIV is now known for many decades and these diseases remains the most dreadful
and most feared diseases among people. The major reason behind this is that HIV is a disease
that is not limited to a single individual rather it affects the families as well as communities in
which the patient resides. Family of HIV patient is affected in many different manners like, if
they have poor access to information then it may lead to delayed medication or even may
think that revealing about the disease may bring disgrace to their family and society may not
accept them. This will in turn affect the treatment of an individual. Having said that, it has
been seen that many family members suffer from mental illness because of the anxiety and
depression that they have to live with a person who is HIV positive. This problem is further
aggravated when there is a conflict between the religious and cultural beliefs regarding HIV’s
medication. If a child is detected HIV positive, then the family face difficulty in deciding
when and how to disclose this to him/her and how to make him/her understand the
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precautions that he/she needs to take in order to promote their health as well as protect the
health of others (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, 2019).
The role played by community nurses and primary healthcare services
Community nurses play a very important role in providing the social as well as mental
support to the individuals who are suffering through HIV as well as to their family and
communities (Simon, et al., 2016). Their main aim is to identify the health problems
prevailing in a community and then providing them with the necessary healthcare support as
well as financial support if required for their treatment (Australian Primary Health Care
Nurses Association (APNA), 2017). The community nurses develop many intervention plans
in order to deal with the issues being faced by the patient and also educate them properly
about the disease so that their health can be assured. Apart from this, the community nurses
also try to educate the family and community members about the necessary prevention
techniques for better treatment of the patient (Everynurse, 2019).
Some of the most important services that are rendered by community nurses include
providing extended care to patients after their stay in hospital. They also offer hospital in-
home services which aim at giving hospital-like care at home (Escoffery, et al., 2019).
Community nurses also offer general nursing care in the cases of chronic conditions. Hence,
in all, it can be said that community nursing tries to maintain the independence of the patients
and provide them with the healthy lifestyle so that they can recover speedily (Health Direct,
2019).
According to Adeny and others (2013), it is believed that HIV services with primary
healthcare services will help to a great extent in health promotion of HIV patients. It has been
monitored that community nurses can provide primary healthcare services to the patients and
protect them as well as their families and community from the adverse impact of HIV. One of
the most important benefits of primary healthcare service rendered by community nurses is
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that the people get the required treatment regardless of their HIV status (Odeny, et al., 2013).
Apart from this, the author has also mentioned that by collaborating primary healthcare
services with HIV, the community nurses can utilize the available resources and health
facility structures in the best possible manner (Pfeiffer, et al., 2010).
According to APNA, primary health care services can help in preventing HIV with
the help of well-targeted HIV testing. The main benefit of this is that if the patient receives a
diagnosis at the right time, then he or she can start their treatment at an early stage, which
will help in reducing the risk of HIV and will also stop its spread. The community nurses
with the help of primary health care services can identify the patients and can educate them
regarding the side effects of their medication and the extra care that they need to undertake
(Siqueira, Bittencourt, Nóbrega, Nogueira, & Silva, 2015). This way they ensure that their
family is protected and a healthy community environment is ensured (APNA, 2017).
Primary health care services are based on practical experiences, scientific experiences
as well as socially acceptable methods that can help individuals, families as well as
communities. With the help of primary healthcare services, the community nurses can
provide people-centred care, which acts as a boon to the people suffering through chronic
diseases. Apart from this, primary healthcare services also help in putting in place all the
government policies that are directed towards supporting the patients through the funding
process (Banfield, McGorm, & Sargent, 2015). Hence, it is believed that primary health care
services require as well as promote community self-reliance as well as individual self-
reliance with their active participation in health promotion activities (WHO, 2018). These are
some of the basic roles and responsibilities that are played by community nurses for health
promotion and protection from HIV.
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Criterion 2
In this part of the paper, the interventions which are used to promote and protect the
HIV inflicted population have been discussed. Interventions provided by community nurses
are very helpful to make the patient inflicted with HIV/AIDS live a better life even with the
deadly disease.
Interventions used to promote and protect the HIV population
Social support is one of the most important things that is required in maintaining the
health of HIV positive population. It has been seen that in many cases, the individual
suffering through HIV lacks in getting adequate social support from their family and friends,
especially in the marginalised communities. And this further deteriorates their condition.
Friends and family usually take away their support because of the fear of stigma within the
community. Though, in the case of Australia, it has been seen that individuals having
HIV/AIDS enjoy more privacy and confidentiality than in other nations (Carman, Grierson,
Hurley, Pitts, & Power, 2010).
According to Tshililo, Mangena-Netshikweta, Nemathaga, and Maluleke (2019), there
are certain common challenges faced by the nurses while integrating HIV and AIDS services
with primary healthcare. Like for example, lack of proper policies that firmly declare about
the integration of HIV services with primary healthcare. Disclosing the HIV status openly is
also a challenge in front of them as they are pressurized by many cultural limitations as well
as societal limitations. Apart from this, some of the major challenges in integration include
lack of clinic space, extra cost of providing necessary training to the community nurses so
that they can handle everything properly, providing pharmacy services as well as laboratory
services, etc. if not available (Tshililo, Mangena-Netshikweta, Nemathaga, & Maluleke,
2019). One of the most important challenges is the lack of human resources to offer
community nursing and primary healthcare services especially in the rural areas (Fronczak,
Oyediran, Mullen, & Kolapo, 2016).
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To deal with such challenges and fight with HIV/AIDS, Australia has made many
sustained efforts to deal with this virus. Also, Australia’s domestic response towards HIV is
considered as the world’s leading model of best practice. Australia ensures that the HIV
vulnerable population are offered with quality prevention services, testing services as well as
proper treatment and care. Also, the nation ensures that they fight strongly against the HIV
related stigma and discrimination that are faced by this population. Australia also tries to use
technological interventions so that advanced medical treatment can be offered to the HIV
population in the country. These interventions ensure the availability of more potent, as well
as advanced antiretroviral treatments which aims to begin the treatment as soon as possible.
This helps the HIV population to improve their short-term health outcomes as well as long-
term health outcomes (Australian Government Department of Health, 2018).
Apart from this, Australia has also adopted measures to offer pre-exposure
prophylaxis to people who are at medium or high risk of this disease. Along with this,
Australia is also meeting the international obligations that target HIV. Like for example,
Australia is supporting the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS
which aims at accelerating the fight against HIV and bring an end to the AIDS epidemic by
2030 (Australian Government Department of Health, 2018).
Interventions used by community nurses:
Many health promotion interventions are also adopted in Australia with the help of
community nursing practice. Like for example, the nurses play their role in promoting public
health policy by suggesting and advising the policymakers on behalf of clients and
communities. Apart from this, the community nurses try to develop a partnership between the
primary healthcare services and HIV patients to offer them the clinical services at the right
time. The Australian government from time to time release certain funds for the betterment of
HIV population. The knowledge regarding this is provided by the community nurses to the
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individuals, families, and communities. Also, proper awareness is created by these
community nurses so that future cases of HIV positive can be avoided. It has been seen that
community nurses also try to empower individuals and communities and try to reduce the
social inequalities and offer the best health care services to individuals. The community
nurses use a biomedical model as an important intervention to emphasis on the healthy
lifestyle of the HIV population and also try to study their risk behaviours. The ecological
model is also an important intervention used by nurses to treat HIV population by promoting
social inclusion (ASHM, 2016). Hence, it can be said that because of these interventions and
health promotion, Australia is in a condition to reduce the number of new HIV positive cases
as discussed above through statistics.
Community nursing practice is acting as a blessing to the HIV population People who
are not aware of this disease and do not know what should be done after the diagnosis feel
helpless and lost. Community nursing aims to help such people and bring them closer to the
efficient and high-class treatment to fight the virus of HIV. In the above report, it has been
seen that the community nurses play a major role in HIV health promotion and prevention
with the help of primary healthcare services or through different interventions like the
biomedical, social or economic model. The main aim of these interventions is to improve the
condition of the HIV population in the country and to reduce the number of cases of HIV
positive in the future. These interventions and community nursing practice helps in social
inclusion and tries to bring an end to the social stigma and discrimination attached to this
disease. Many people face difficulty in receiving the right treatment due to this social stigma
or due to financial barrier. These challenges are reduced with the help of these interventions
that are adopted in Australia.
Along with this, the report also discusses the interventions that have been used by
community nurses in Australia to promote health of this vulnerable population. It has been
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seen that HIV is a disease that brings several tragic conditions to human being like poverty,
violence, prejudice as well as ignorance in the society apart from the physical abuse that is
being suffered by the patient. One of the most important negative conditions of HIV is that it
extends beyond the people who are living with the virus and results in consequences that can
affect the lives of family members, friends as well as other community people (Lyons, 2011).
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References
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. (2019). Families Living with HIV.
Retrieved from www.aamft.org:
https://www.aamft.org/Consumer_Updates/Families_Living_with_HIV.aspx
APNA. (2017). HIV prevention as a primary health care nurse. Retrieved from
www.apna.asn.au: https://www.apna.asn.au/hub/news/hiv-prevention-as-a-primary-
health-care-nurse
ASHM. (2016). Health promotion. Retrieved from Hivmanagement.ashm.org.au:
http://hivmanagement.ashm.org.au/index.php/hiv-management-for-nurses-and-
midwives/health-promotion
Australian Government Department of Health. (2018). EIGHTH National HIV Strategy 2018-
2022. Retrieved from Australian Government Department of Health:
https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-bbvs-1/$File/
HIV-Eight-Nat-Strategy-2018-22.pdf
Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA). (2017). Community health
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is-primary-health-care-nursing/community-health-nursing
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Carman, M., Grierson, J., Hurley, M., Pitts, M., & Power, J. (2010). HIV Populations in
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Escoffery, C., Lebow-Skelley, E., Udelson, H., Böing, E. A., Wood, R., Fernandez, M. E., &
Mullen, P. D. (2019). A scoping study of frameworks for adapting public health
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Everynurse. (2019). What Is a Community Health Nurse? Retrieved from everynurse.org:
https://everynurse.org/careers/community-health-nurse/
Fronczak, N., Oyediran, K., Mullen, S., & Kolapo, U. M. (2016). Dual indices for prioritizing
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Health Policy Plan, 31(3), 377-389.
Health Direct. (2019). Community nursing. Retrieved from www.healthdirect.gov.au:
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/community-nursing
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King, J., McGregor, S., McManus, H., Gray, R., & Guy, R. (2018). HIV in Australia Annual
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Lyons, M. (2011). The Impact of HIV and AIDS on Children, Families and Communities:
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Siqueira, M. C., Bittencourt, G. K., Nóbrega, M. M., Nogueira, J. d., & Silva, A. O. (2015).
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Tshililo, A. R., Mangena-Netshikweta, L., Nemathaga, L. H., & Maluleke, M. (2019).
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