Community nursing centers: an approach to caring for the underserved.

Abstract

HE 1994 Kids Count Data Book, a project of the Anne E. Casey Foundation, is a national effort to track the status of children and the needs of kids. This information may help guide decision making for health care system design to improve access and health care outcomes for women and children. The emphasis of the Kids Count data is on the increased prevalence of distressed communities negatively affecting the well-being of children. Health care professionals need to develop strategies to become involved in the community in order to improve services. The development of Community Nursing Centers is one approach to improve health care services for children. As reported in the Kids Count Data Book (1994), 20% of American children live below the poverty line: the poverty rate for single-parent families is 48%, and single-teenager births have increased to 9% from 7.5% in 1985. Primary care needs of many families are currently not met, with nearly 14% of the children in the United States uninsured. These are a few of the indicators that state the case for intervention through alternative models to address care from an anticipatory, educational, and prevention perspective provided by advanced practice nurses who follow clients across settings (Keefe & Biester, 1993).