Community Health Nursing
Community Health Nursing
Community Health tests epidemiology, levels of prevention, national health programmes, immunisation, home visiting, sanitation and Haryana-specific schemes. Questions often ask which level of prevention an activity belongs to.
Core rules
- Levels of prevention: primordial (healthy lifestyle), primary (immunisation, health education), secondary (screening, early diagnosis), tertiary (rehabilitation).
- Incidence counts new cases in a population at risk over time; prevalence counts all existing cases at a point or period.
- Cold chain: ILR 2–8 °C, freezer −15 to −25 °C. OPV is heat-sensitive but must not be frozen; check the vaccine vial monitor before use.
- National Immunisation Schedule: BCG, OPV-0 and hepatitis B at birth; pentavalent at 6, 10 and 14 weeks; measles–rubella at 9–12 months; DPT and OPV boosters at 16–24 months.
- Haryana health schemes include Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, CHIRAYU, National Health Mission and maternal death review.
Worked example
A village of 10,000 people records 50 new tuberculosis cases in one year. Incidence = new cases ÷ population at risk = 50 ÷ 10,000 = 0.005 = 500 per 100,000 person-years. Prevalence would count all existing TB cases, old and new, not only new ones.
Traps
- Screening is secondary prevention, not primary.
- Do not freeze OPV; discard reconstituted measles vaccine after 4 hours.
- Sub-centre, PHC and CHC follow a referral hierarchy - know which level handles which service.