The roal of public health nursing is to promote and protect the health of the population. This proactive approach does not limit their scope of practice to health concerns of individuals but also to developing and implementing programs and policies that help enhance the health of populations. The role of public health nurses is to focus on population centered care with the outcome of promoting health, preventing disability and disease, and improving the quality of life. An effective public health nurse is able to evaluate assessment data to define population diagnoses and set priorities accordingly. They can also serve as advocates for individuals and families in the population to develop policies, access resources, and protect their dignity. Most importantly the nurse should be capable of providing care, respecting human dignity, be unbiased by concerns of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.
Population Diagnosis and Priorities
Public health nursing is a practice that focuses on promoting and enhancing health of populations through the nursing knowledge, critical thinking, and disease or disability prevention. An effective public health nurse can also evaluate and gather data through an assessment that functions to formulate a diagnosis for the population and setting priorities. An assessment is derived from direct input from the population, data regarding access and use of health services, preventive and health promotion factors, risk factors, and basic nursing and public health skills. Public health nurses engage in research that enhances public health nursing practice and document the outcomes of specific activities and strategies. They have a responsibility to activel...
... middle of paper ...
...stand that information that is exchanged between individuals, families, communities, and populations are interconnected as a whole entity. Through the actions of advocacy nurses can promote self-determination in population and its aggregates which, can ultimately lead to health promotion, accessibility of resources, and human dignity. Advocacy empowers clients to participate in problem solving processes and decisions about health care.
Works Cited
American Nurses Association. (2007). Public health nursing: scope and standards of practice. Silver Springs, MD: American Nurses Association.
Stanhope M. & Lancaster, J. (2008). Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care
in the Community (7th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby.
Parse, R.R. (2003). Community: A Human Becoming Perspective. Sudbury, MA: Jones &
Bartlett Publishers.
Also, changing their perceptions about their health and to overcome the issues that restrict them from having a healthy lifestyle. (Lapkin & Doab 2015) Moreover, nurses can prevent illness in the community to worsen and assist them to manage their health. Nurses will have a better understanding of the factors that may influence the patient’s behaviour which can be used to assess them to provide them with better treatment. Further, fulfilling the patient’s needs, preventing further damage to their health while promoting a healthy environment. (Stein-Parbury 2014) Nurses may also promote health equity effectively, in addressing the social determinants of health in public health policies and research to increase health of the community and educate others in taking responsibility of their health, to reduce illness and disease in the community. (Lapkin & Doab
According to the American Nurses Association, nursing is defined as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, facilitation of healing, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association, 2016). Nurses have many jobs and responsibilities and wear many different hats. Nurses can perform at many different levels depending on their scope of practice which is defined by the board of nursing in one’s state of residence. It is important as nurses to understand and follow
Zerwekh, J., Claborn, J. (2006). Nursing today: Transitions and trends (pp. 343-346). St. Louis, Missouri:
Healthcare is a continuous emerging industry across the world. With our ever changing life styles and the increased levels of pollution across the world more and more people are suffering from various health issues. Nursing is an extremely diverse profession and among the highest educated with several levels ranging from a licensed practical nurse (LPN) to a registered nurse (RN) on up to a Doctorate in Nursing. Diane Viens (2003) states that ‘The NP is a critical member of the workforce to assume the leadership roles within practice, education, research, health systems, and health policy’.
According to Allender, Rector, and Warner (2014), public health is a combination of both an art and a science (2014). The mission of public health nursing is to promote health, prevent disease and ultimately prolong life (Allender et al., 2014). In order for this to occur an assessment must take place. An aggregate or community assessment begins with a collection of data. This includes: the community’s health needs, risks, environmental conditions, financial resources through local census data, and a windshield survey (Allender et al., 2014). Through public health nursing, communities can collectively come together to help promote an overall better health standing.
“A public health nurse is a nurse who works to promote and protect the health of an entire population” (Allender, Rector, & Warner, 2010, p. 839) the public health nurse I chose to interview was Barbara, she currently works for the Health department and has been there for three years. During the interview Barbara discussed the requirements for a public health nurse. The individual must have the ability to exercise independent judgment, planning and able to administer safe effective public nursing care. In addition be able to work effectively with individuals and families to assist them in the satisfactory solution of health problems, by recognizing and respecting of different cultural, ethnic and difference on health care practices. The nurse is also required to know disease prevention such as, different techniques on teaching, counseling, interviewing and resources available. Barbara stated that the most important part of being a public health nurse is being able to care. Barbara acknowledged that there are numerous individuals that she assists everyday that just want someone to exhibit that they care and understand. The education a public health nurse should obtain is a bachelor’s degree in nursing, which Barbara posses. “Public health nurses working with specific populations or in administration position should hold a master’s degree” ( Allender et al., 2010, p.839). Barbara discussed that before becoming a public health nurse she worked at St. Francis Hospital as med-surge nurse for five years, after that it was imperative that she change working environment. Barbara confirmed that working as a nurse in the hospital was extremely diverse then working as public health nurse. “Comparing public health nurse and general nurse, public health nursing is population based, focuses on the greater good, health promotion and disease prevention, and utilizes community resources. The general nursing is individual based, focuses on individual good, restoration of health and function, and manage resources at hand” (Minnesota Department of Health, 2007). In the beginning Barbara thought that public health nursing would be a difficult job to gain knowledge of however, she established that it was exceptionally effortless and gratifying career to posses. Barbara stated that she did not realize how much assistance was out there for the public until; she worked as public health nurse. Barbara spends 95% of her day going from place to place by doing home visits, investigating different cases, assisting with screening programs and enormous amount of paper work.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) developed a foundation for which all nurses are expected to perform their basic duties in order to meet the needs of the society we serve. The ANA “has long been instrumental in the development of three foundational documents for professional nursing; its code of ethics, its scope and standards of practice, ands statement of social policy.” (ANA, 2010, p. 87) The ANA defined nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” and used to create the scope and standards of nursing practice. (ANA, 2010, p. 1) These “outline the steps that nurses must take to meet client healthcare needs.” () The nursing process, for example, is one of the things I use daily. Other examples include communicating and collaborating with my patient, their families, and my peers, and being a lifelong learner. I continually research new diagnoses, medications, and treatments for my patients. As a nurse of ...
Provision 8 states, “The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public in promoting community, national, and international efforts to meet health needs.” (Nursing World, 2001). Provision 8 taught me that ANA’s goals are not limited to the health and welfare of individuals, but their goals also encompass the welfare of the community through promotion of collaborative work of nurses with other health professionals and the members of the community.
Resource utilization is important in nursing care delivery. ANA standards of nursing providing some stratergeis regarding resource utilization. The responsibility of the public health nurse is to assess the availability of resource and individual health needs to complete the healthcare tasks. The public health nurse considering certain factors that belongs to health care cost , safety , effectiveness and impact on nursing care in the planning and nursing care delivery. Also public health nurses are evaluating as such factors are bringing the expected outcome and its effectiveness. By the help of public health nurse the client and family members can identify the health services appropriate for health care needs.
A nurse’s role in our society today is exceptionally significant. Nurses are somewhat idolized and looked to as our everyday “superman”. “The mission of nursing in society is to help individuals, families, and groups to determine and achieve physical, mental, and social potential, and to do so within the challenging context of the environment in which they live and work” (“The Role of a Nurse/Midwife”). Many Americans turn to nurses for delivery of primary health care services and health care education (Whelan). In our country, there is constantly someone in need of health care. There will always be a baby being born or a person dying, someone becoming ill or growing old. Some people due to their physical and/or mental state of health are completely dependent on a nurse and wouldn’t be able to get through the simple obstacles of every day, or achieve the necessary requirements of a simple day without their aid. Not only do nurses help, and assist you when you’re sick, but also act to promote good health to others. They end...
Health is a state of well being, allowing humans to care for themselves independently. Everyone’s health condition is different and every person has a different perception of health. My view of health has affected my nursing practice in that I believe nurses must be competent, understanding the varying degrees of health and advocating on behalf of the patients. I believe when people no longer have the ability to take care of themselves independently, nurses are educated to assess, develop a plan of care, implement the plan, and make changes in order to achieve optimum health for all humans. I continuously make an effort to understand each patient’s specific health condition while striving to provide optimum
According to the American Nurses Association (2015) nursing is defined as optimization of health, prevention of injury, alleviation of suffering, and advocacy in the care of individuals and families. Two influences
...mmunity involvement and knowledge about the entire population with personal clinical understandings of the health and illness experiences of individuals and families within the population. Community and public health nurses focus on the avoidance of illness, injury or disability, the sponsorship of health and maintenance of the health of the populations, they work with communities, target health promotion and disease prevention, they act as teachers, counselors and play an vital role in preventing wide spread illness and disease. They also endorse, protect, and maintain the health of populations through the delivery of personal health services to individuals, families and defend the community as a whole. In low-income and rural communities, these nurses also provide important health care services. They are able to distinguish and respond to potential health crises.
In the course article, Framework for Community Health Nursing, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for South-East Asia discusses this topic from the perspective of future nursing education. From the literature I learned about the importance of driving the nursing profession towards the community health-care system. There is currently a need for revitalization of the primary health care systems as stated in this document. There is a need to change some of the focuses of education and training in new nurses in an effort to respond to the health care demands of today and the future since many students are not going into this field. In addition, nurses already working in community health should begin focusing on current prevention and promotion aspects of health. I plan to apply these ideas in my
Nursing entails self- directed and cooperative health care for the society at large in all contexts. It includes the promotion of appropriate practices to enhance health, prevention of diseases,