Perception Of Public Health Professionals

In disadvantaged communities where health disparities exist, it is imperative for the community health nurse to take on the advocacy role and be the voice for the people who could not or would not speak for themselves. Nies and McEwen’s (2015) definition of advocacy implies three assumptions, e.g., (1) awareness of the need to take on the cause of an individual, group, or community, (2) belief in the desirability of the cause, and (3) confidence in one’s ability to speak or act on someone’s behalf. (p. 1). To take on the advocacy role, the community health nurse targets decision makers who, with the stroke of a pen, could positively impact health promotion and disease prevention in the community. Similarly, the nurse in an advocacy role could write to public officials to request to support the cause, e.g., legislate a law of no smoking in private homes with young children. Using a more active and public display of advocacy, a nurse could join rallies or organizations that already initiated arguments for and against a cause, e.g., American Nurses Association (ANA). Furthermore, if it has to improve population health, public health implies action (Bassett, 2003). The improvement of public health does not rest solely on health care professionals; thus, one way that the community health nurse could advocate is to engage the community and urge people to get involved (Bassett, 2003). Lastly, just as “Public health takes place in boardrooms,

Public health deals with the public, community, and society as a whole. It promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play. I believe that the many leadership, teamwork, communication and community skills I have gained through NHS and FBLA, will allow me to excel in the Public Health Field. Which will, in turn, allow me to be the best I can be, enabling me to be a great positive force in my community.

While both medical care and public health work to improve the lives of many people, there are several distinctions between the two fields. Healthcare providers such as nurses and doctors are responsible for diagnosing and treating illnesses for individual patients. The care ranges from minor injuries to severe and chronic diseases. Meanwhile, public health strives to improve the well-being of a population. Public health advocates for the overall “promotion and prevention” of diseases before it even becomes an issue for healthcare providers. Public health encourages people to adopt healthy lifestyle choices and strives to control the outbreak of diseases. Although public health is often overlooked in the grand scale of medical care, it is undoubtedly the main aspect in ensuring that the overall health of a community is prospering.

Public health as it is implicated in the lives of the community – it is important to conceptualise what this might mean. Moreover, public health has seen as a multidiscipline perspective in which it can be defined on many levels, and I find that it could be elusive to understand its meaning. By simple understanding of public health, I refer to an approach derived by Winslow (1920) and Baggott (2000).

The following international, national, and local agencies are aimed at keeping the public safe while seeking optimum health and well-being for all citizens involved. They provide assessments, develop policies, assurance, meet unmet needs, and enable access to health care (McCowan, 2013). They hone communities’ capabilities to respond effectually to health issues by shielding and endorsing the health of the community and its residents (McKenzie & Pinger, 2016-b).

The Advances in public health have been possible due to the contributions of people with ideals of change who decided to make a difference in their communities through the creation of innovative ideas capable of changing the lifestyle of a community. Public health is about helping people to stay healthy, and protecting them from that psychosocial factor that may affect their life and that is why the public health worker must have a passion for a change and for a better quality of life for their community. In the beginnings of public health there were two people who acted as agents of social change and they were Sara Josephine Baker and Clara Barton.

Meeting these goals will help the disparity in the community. The public health nurse is out in the community, they can see what changes in the community need to be done to better the health in the population. They work with the local health departments to understand what the greatest need is for funding to make the improvements in the community. As the American Public Health Association reports, “only 3 percent of our health care spending is focused on prevention and public health, when chronic conditions—the most common, costly and preventable of all health problems— account for 86 percent of our health care costs”. The Health Care Reform has made a special funding geared toward public health. As the American Public health Association reports, “the Prevention Fund is the nation’s first mandatory funding stream dedicated to public health programs”. A compentcy in the public health nurses position would be to collaborate with the community, local businesses, health oraginazations and local health departments to address the need of the community. Garcia et al. (2014) explain, “an important skill is learning how to develop collaborative community partnerships to

This is assignment is to review and reflect on your own personal values and beliefs which shapes how you interpret and analyze population health. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how you see your role as a healthcare professional in advocating for, and influencing population health. Describe the connection of this role to public health and address your thoughts around the influence that health care providers may have or not, in promoting the health of the community. What role should heath care providers play, and what strategies may increase the influence of healthcare providers in improving population health? This assignment can be approached from a clinical, academic or public health focus.

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

‘Public health is everyone’s business’ illustrates Jones (2012, p.2). The Faculty of Public Health regard public health as a combination of health protection, health advancement and promoting health (Griffiths and Dark, 2006, cited in Jones, 2012, p.6).

It was very fascinating to learn that this case study of what was happening in Chicago was fairly analogous to the public health changes throughout the nation. After reading the case study, one can be certain that the history of Public health has certainly had it’s share of ups and downs.

The 20 plus years I have worked in public health has allowed me to witness changes in the health

Assess the role of the family, community, organizations and international community in in improving public health

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:

By participating in the Future Public Health Leader Program (FPHLP), I hope to gain knowledge and experience of working in a Public Health environment with people of similar interest. As I am completing my second year at University of California, Santa Cruz, I have decided to major in Community Studies and Psychology with an emphasis in Public Health. This is because of the large stigma of health issues attached to my Samoan community.