Outbreak At Watersedge

8.2 Responsibilities to the public-Nurses, individually and collectively have a responsibility to be knowledgeable about the health status of the community and existing threats to health and safety. Through support of and participation in community organizations and groups, the nurse assists in efforts to educate the public, facilitates informed choice, identifies conditions and circumstances that contribute to illness, injury and meet national health objectives. In addition, the nurse supports initiatives to address barriers to health, such as poverty, homelessness, unsafe living conditions, abuse and violence, and lack of access to health services.

Community health nurses face many concerns that can create environmental and global health issues. In history, humans have battled many health epidemics, from as early as the black plague, to polio, and more recent issues of measles, small pox, and HIV/AIDS. Many vaccines have been created and billions of lives have been saved, but there is still many unimmunized. Communities worldwide are at risk for many communicable diseases and should be prepared and knowledgeable about their community’s risks, protocols, and how to keep their community members safe.

Scientists have studied the impact of water borne pathogens over time. Just how dependent human life is on the waterways is one such question which arises. The study involves the effect of such pathogens on human life. This study was narrowed down to the area of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay each weekend is occupied for recreational use. Such activities as swimming, fishing, and body surfing are common place. Normally each year thousands of pounds of seafood are distributed from out of the bay. There is a vast amount of people who come to visit the area each year.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, coordinate efforts in conjunction with states and other partnersto offer a system of health surveillance, which would monitor and prevent disease outbreaks, which includes bioterrorism. The goal of the agency is to implement strategies to prevent diseases as well as maintain national health statistics. Another role of the CDC is to safeguard against international disease transmission, this is vital as the agency has personnel located several countries outside the United States. Looking at the agency’s core functions, examining influences in the workplace, and identifying roles of the agency personnel is vital to

During an epidemic I would anticipate the local health system would be taxed in order to respond to the number of cases impacted by the outbreak. Utilization of the current health care settings, whether it be primary physician offices, Urgent Care or the Emergency Department the ability to triage, staff and provide supplies for these facilities would be challenging. Additional facilities may be incorporated into the reporting system in order to function as overflow from these clinic sites

This paper focuses on describing the BSPH interdisciplinary and cross-cutting competencies that comprises the frameworks of public health, communication in public health practices, diversity and culture, and professionalism. The frameworks of public health practices focuses on the prevention of diseases and the health of the various communities. Public health officials seek to conduct research to enhance prevention. Officials also focus on investigating the public health problem that allows them to detect and control infectious diseases that may affect the health of a population. Investigating the problems may also aid in determining the magnitude, scope, and the characteristics of a public health threat. Planning, implementing, and

Based on my personal research and reflection, I have identified American Public Health Association, an association of public health professionals in the United States and other professionals from health related fields. This association comprise of environmentalists, nurses, doctors, dentists and many other professionals. However, there is more clarity about nurses in the public sector. The American Association of nurses is one of the largest groups registered by APHA. I therefore, choose nurses as a group of public health professionals to research on. Nurses in the public health sector are known to be people focused as well as community development oriented. Historically speaking, the American Association of Nurses has witnessed several changes in their current operations in comparison to earlier operations. Thatcher, (2012) asserted that “Earlier nurses were focused more on community organizations, population orientation as well as health promotions”. The community and population were the main partners to the association of the earlier nurses. Much emphasis was put on health promotion and prevention measures for various diseases. Community health care and health equity were also given priority by the American Nursing Association (ANA).

Kulbok, P. A., Thatcher, E., Park, E., & Meszaros, P. S. (2012). Evolving Public Health Nursing Roles Evolving Public Health Nursing Roles: Focus on Community Participatory Health Promotion and Prevention. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(2). doi:

The question that the researcher answers: 1) the research question posed in this article was “What will it take to achieve effective public health strategies to end this bloody epidemic?” (Bettigole, p. 2)

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defined the role of public health as “fulfilling society’s interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy” (IOM, 2011). Prevention of epidemics and the spread of disease, protection against environmental hazards, promotion of health, disaster response and recovery, and providing access to healthcare are main functions of public health.

Nurses must possess an understanding of both global health issues, as well as community health concerns. Working on a behavioral services unit, means that I frequently deal with the homeless or shelter living populations of my city. As nurse I know that this patient population is more susceptible to preventable communicable diseases. I work hard to encourage any patients who either homeless or live in local shelters to take advantage of the hospitals flu and pneumonia vaccines. My effort in this area helps maintain public and personal health, as well as prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

At Henry Street, the nurses resided within the community; therefore, they too experienced the community’s public health problems. In addition, being part of the community enabled them to provide immediate interventions and education on universal precautions. Subsequently, children were less sick and attended school regularly. Infection control was proven to be effective in lowering the infant and children mortality rates. In 1914, Henry Street’s records indicated, community nurses treated a total of 3,535 cases of pneumonia, including children and adults (Lewenson, 1996, p. 103). The work of Dock and Wald raised public awareness regarding the benefits of public health nursing and the increasing need for additional community nurses. There was a dramatic increase in public health nurses at a rate of 1,413 nurses in 1909 to 15,865 nurses in 1933 (Lewenson, 1996, p. 104). Dock, along with Wald, Mary Gardner and Mary Brewster “advocated a new national nursing organization to address public health issues and found leadership of both the Superintendents’ Society and the American Nurses Associations supported the formation of a fourth nursing organization” (Lewenson, 1996, p. 105). With established partnerships and constituencies, advancements of the nursing profession, better understanding of medications and disease processes, Dock and other influential nurses were able to improve health access, patient outcomes and transfer new knowledge and ideas to individuals and their

Working in nursing facilities, physician offices, hospitals, and a school nurse, there is one common thread that runs through it all; how to address the ever changing public health issues in the community. Public health is everyone’s responsibility, to come together with ideas to what matters in their own communities. Addressing public health concerns play a key role in assuring the health and wellbeing of the community. Working together to successfully change their communities. To choose specific actions to carry out the strategies and tactics you have developed. To narrow down the concerns to something achievable. You need to get people involve in the community efforts to have change. Developing strategies to have a clear obtainable goal long and short. (1) Does the community care about the problem, (2) what are the strengths and weaknesses of the organizational structure? You need to involve many diverse people to give you the power you need to make the changes that are needed. Statistical data from outside sources may become a necessary as part of the approach. Resources and education are needed to achieve the goal. Nursing facilities present a challenge safety concerns for the staff and the residents, physician offices must follow their patients to make sure wellness visits are made to keep up with public health issues, such as Immunizations. Schools face one of the biggest problems for our children

The CDC Foundation defines public health as the science of protecting and improving the health of families and communities through healthy lifestyles promotion, research for disease and injury prevention and detection and control of infectious diseases (CDC Foundation). Public health focuses on providing healthy conditions for the entire population. The key three main functions of public health are: monitoring the health of at risk populations to identify health problems, formulating public policies to solve national health issues, and assuring that everyone has healthcare equity, quality and accessibility. Currently it is a wide range of public health campaigns such as: clean drinking water, safe job sites, motor-vehicle safety, and safe sex

Outbreak at Watersedge game was a fun experience that allowed me to assimilate the epidemiological process, which I used in order to find the infectious agent that caused the outbreak and to identify the disease, caused by that agent. The process I went through in order to start my investigation started at the Watersedge Department of Health, where I visited as a new intern.