Public Health Nursing

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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...

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...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.

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