Health Care Environment is the objective to "advocate for healthcare across the

continuum of health care environments" (FSU, 2015). This outcome is accomplished by

incorporating evidence based initiatives utilizing all disciplines, the health care team and
community resources to provide patient centered individualized care. It needs to involve
cooperation and communication with all health care providers, in all aspects of patient care. I
identified population characteristics, boundaries and access to health care, as well as commercial
and environmental aspects of the community. Professional nurses can and should be advocates
for making a positive difference concerning health at local, regional, national, and global levels.
The following exercises demonstrate attainment of this outcome. My contributions to the group
discussion board thread and the subsequent reflection journal entry I authored in response to
Module 3, of NURS 319, Disaster Nursing and Emergency Preparedness course regarding the
legal and ethical considerations for nurses responding to a local, interstate or national disaster
satisfies the tenets of the Health Care Environment outcome. These contributions required in
depth review of the current literature across disciplines such as state and federal law, interstate
reciprocity of healthcare workforces, workmans compensation and professional liability. This
interdisciplinary theory and practice was analyzed and juxtaposed against the competing and
often contradictory nursing literature regarding canons of practice, patient advocacy and scope of
practice as it pertains to disaster response. In this work, I argue for and advocate commercial,
legal and profession based solutions to the dilemmas facing current day disaster response nursing
practice.
The expository work Nuclear, Terror or Natural Disaster in My Community; What
Happens Next summarized a community and self-examination of the readiness to respond in the

aftermath of a large scale disaster. The research required identification and analysis of the major
disaster event risks for the community of Grandville, Michigan; a summary of the philosophy,
strategy and action steps for my personal household disaster response plan; and a listing of the
components of a disaster supply kit for my family of three, designed to enable survival for the
first 3 or more days in the event of a disaster. This writing incorporated extensive research from
the disaster nursing literature on personal survival strategies for individuals and populations, as
well as how to assess the environmental, logistic and commercial characteristics of the
community for first ensuring my own familys survival and then serving as a healthcare advocate
and resource and other potential roles in which nurses may be expected to function on behalf of
their communities in a disaster aftermath.
Ferris State University. (2015). BSN program outcomes
[Nursing]. Retrieved from http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/colleges/alliedhe/Nursing/BSNprogram-outcomes.html