Compare And Contrast Public Health Vs Acute Care

Public Health vs. Acute Care Healthcare.

About similarities, both fields provide health services to the individuals suffering illness, or risks to their health status and wellbeing. In both sets, the principal pillars of the care are the nurses following the physicians’ orders, because all nurses must communicate their findings to the physician managing the patient’s care. Both setting, nurses begin their careers in the same way and practice under the same license. They must earn an associate degree, nursing diploma or bachelor’s degree and must pass the NCLEX-RN licensing exam (Greenwood, 2017).

Considering the differences, acute care, is a front-line healthcare position, acute care nurses are demanding to perform a wide diversity of tasks

However, a home health nurse works alone. Acute care nurses usually have direct contact with physicians at the patient’s bedside, while a home health nurse often has only phone contact, usually sees multiple patients each day and must often travel from one home to another. The goal of the hospital nurse is to help the patient get healthy enough to go home and be discharged from the hospital, while the purpose of the home health nurse is to keep the individuals at their homes and prevent hospitalization or long-term care in an institution such as a nursing home. Both acute care nurses and home health nurses coordinate care provided by other health professionals (Greenwood, 2017).

In both types of health care, the benefits are for the patient, their families and the community in general. Even when the acute health care is mostly focused on the patient as an individual, the fact that those services are there, and are accessible in case of an emergency need; brings peace of mind to all the member of the community. While, the public health provide care in the safety of patient’s home where the patients have a higher autonomy than in the hospital, where doctors, nurses and other medical professionals regularly make decisions they feel are in the best interest of the patient (Greenwood,