Module Components

• Overview

Topics

• Definitions
• Case Study
• Structure and Financing
• U.S. Public Health System

Nurs 467 - Public Health Nursing

Module 5: Healthcare Delivery

Case Study

The last time we saw Destiny and her friends and neighbors in Curtis Bay, they were concerned about a proposed incinerator that was to be built in Curtis Bay. We helped to conduct an assessment of the community by viewing a windshield survey, looking up data, and interviewing a key informant that was knowledgeable about the strengths and weaknesses of the community. For this module, we will be taking a look at the healthcare delivery system in the US to see how that may influence the overall health of Curtis Bay residents.

Let’s recap what we found out about the community in Module 3:

• Curtis Bay is a highly industrialized neighborhood, with more than one pollution-generating plant in the area
• The community is racially diverse, without a racial majority
• Almost 70% of children in Curtis Bay live in a single-parent household
• One-fifth of adults have no health insurance
• Median yearly household income is about $36,000
• Unemployment rate is 21.5% and almost 40% of families live in poverty
• Life expectancy is 69.2 years and infant mortality rate is 11.0 per 1,000 live births
• Less than half (46.4%) of pregnant women receive prenatal care in their first trimester
• Highest level of industrial air pollution in the state

If you have not viewed the Powerpoint presentation linked to this module, please do that first. Then read the content in the module. Be sure to watch the videos and click on the links throughout the module, they present crucial material for the case study. When you have reviewed all of the material, head to the discussion board for another interactive discussion.