Reflection On Community And Public Health

Community and Public Health Nursing Journal 2
Summary

Some of the most gratifying things about being a nurse is the distinctive role we have with those we care for. Our role encourages openness and transparency for clients and their families to reveal things to us they may not be willing to say under most circumstances. Furthermore, nursing is a life path that comes with incalculable responsibilities to be both a compassionate health care provider and a conscientious advocate. This semester I had the opportunity to experience nursing from the perspective of a Community Health Nurse in Montclair, California. It has given me a chance to practice these responsibilities in different ways. It has also given me a new perspective on nursing.
As

I have learned more about places like the Montclair Youth Opportunity Center, which is a trendy hub for many young people during the summer or after school during the school year. Additionally, I have continued to learn about the screening tools public health nurses use to identify health risks in the community. So far, I have learned about the nursing child assessment satellite training (NCAST) feeding/teaching scales, comprehensive chromosome screening (CCS) tool, Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST II), and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). Lastly, I had the opportunity to try grant writing, which was a very informative experience. I have already seen so much to Community Health Nursing this semester and look forward to learning about the many more things public health nursing has to offer throughout my nursing

To answer my questions I looked to my clinical instructor and other resources such as course literature. From these resources, I learned that the purpose of health promotion is to move individuals, groups, and communities closer to optimal well being by educating (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). Prior to this I thought it also involved preventing illness, but health promotion does not focus on this. Examples of health promotion programs include health education demonstrations, supporting smoke-free environments, encouraging physical fitness, general wellness, smoking cessation, exercise and physical conditioning, weight control, stress management, nutritional awareness, and work safety (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). In my research I also found that altering personal habits, lifestyle, and environment have a lot to do with promoting