The instructor welcomed us to the new class and new year. She further explained that the students should know the class requirements, and modifications would be allowed. She further mentioned the course flow for scheduling and a better understanding of what needs to be done. She urged the students to look around the course since some of the assignments are related to the later units. She promised to put the presentations for course materials ahead of time so that students can access them. She mentioned that a background in public health could be linked to population health since the nurses need to be aware of the available resources so as to optimize health outcomes. The instructor mentioned the populations that are high risk with existing comorbidities hence high chances of mortality. She mentioned the guidelines such as masking, handwashing, and social distancing. Some of the people are not adhering to these guidelines and hence become susceptible to COVID-19 disease. The disease is unpredictable due to the need for contact tracing and when one member of the family may be positive and infect the other members, especially the elderly. The instructor gave an example of the flu vaccine based on past data, but it is better than nursing. She reiterated that the students have come in contact with issues that address public health.
Notably, the fallout on Washington to protest and riot against the electoral college vote was also detrimental to the spread of COVID-19. She told the students they could write to her via mail or call her directly for any issue. The instructor urged the students to connect the community initiatives that relate to public health. She mentioned that students could examine state data and compare that to the community and regional or town data. She mentioned that there are discussion questions in all units except unit 8. Ordinarily, students should have one post with references and two responses, and they could all be posted over one day. There are assignments in unit two, four, five, six, seven and 8. For unit two, she mentioned that students could examine healthy people in 2030 to identify health indicators directly related to the community. Students will also be required to identify health disparities, delivery systems, and community leaders that could partner with and solve these problems through a development plan.
