I did not realize what it exactly meant to be a community and public health nurse, until taking this course. It was an eye opener for me. I learned that the community nurse can be essential in helping find areas within a community that’s in need of implementing programs, to reach out to those in need; such as rural areas in need of vaccines, educational programs for schools for a healthier lifestyle, or providing a healthy meal for seniors or children, to name a few. A few attractions toward being a community health nurse include being able to make a difference in people’s lives, working in a wide variety of settings, more freedom and less supervision than working in a hospital or nursing home, and enjoying a flexible schedule (Institute for Career, 2005).
I know now that there are numerous areas in which the public health nurse is needed and how important his/her role can be when working with a variety of individuals/families. I also see how the intervention wheel can be used to help improve public health interventions within communities (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). This course has opened up opportunities
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According to Healthcare Daily Online (2015), public health nurses have important duties, one of those is advocating with local, state and federal authorities to improve access to services for those who are generally under-served in the community. Although I only spent a few weeks at the various community programs I felt that I made an impact on the individuals I met, and I know I had some eye-opening events which I will remember for a long
Wide reaching, nurses significantly outnumbered physicians as providers of health care often having utmost vast reach remoteness to underserved communities. Having personally lived in one of the underserved communities in my hometown Western Africa before moving to the United States of America and my life calling to be a nurse from a young age with the deep desire to make a difference. I plan to contribute and continue to contribute immensely to the underserved communities by delivering quality health care to remote regions around the world. I do volunteer service at several clinics in the Atlanta area with many well-known Emory physicians that care for homeless and underserved populations, these volunteer experiences provide me with opportunities and fulfillment to develop added headship skill and experience to meet my daily patients, needs.
Community health nursing is a vocation; striving to improve the health of the community by promoting, stabilizing and protecting the health of individuals, families and identified aggregates. We are able to have the furthest reach when we can isolate a specific deficit of an aggregate through assessment and subsequently the development of a community support program. Community support programs promote health, access to services and self-advocacy.
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2012). Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in the community (8th ed.). Maryland Heights, MO: Mosby Elsev
Public health nursing is an important aspect of nursing field, which contributes tremendously to the safety and health of our society. Public health nurses work hard to assure our communities are healthy and are able to attain needed support to be self-sufficient. However, it seems their hard work goes unnoticed by vast majority of our society. This of course, is my opinion, but I would say that if I were to survey various communities, most people would say that “Nurses just work in the hospital”. I could be very wrong.
The purpose of this paper is to address differences between public and community health, research public health resources on a borough, state, and national level as well as review a brief history of those agencies. Whereas public health and community health is often used interchangeably, public health is coordinated on a national, state, and borough scale and public health is a profession that includes more than just nurses. Public health can include emergency personnel, health educators, public officials, public health nurses, social workers, and community individuals. Community health uses information and implements the research from public health arenas to a specific population.
Through volunteering as one of the only a professional nurse I can apply empowerment in my community, through community participation. The application of knowledge obtained through participation in this collaborative project (student health promotion and disease prevention project SHPDPP), and the establishing at least a level 1 partnership: As a higher degree nursing student I am learning an approach to exceeded typical outcomes, advocacy in areas of social justice and improve compassionate connections with this vulnerable population, individuals at a homeless shelter (in particularly Veterans/aggregate), forging new territory in my
1. This year, my community nursing placement is at Donview Middle School Health and Wellness Academy. It is a fairly large Middle School with over 400 students, 19 classrooms and 29 teachers (N. Vohra, personal communication, September 9, 2014). As the name of the school suggests, Donview focusses on the health and wellness of its students. However, was not always a Health and Wellness Academy, Donview has only recently been changed into a Health and Wellness Academy. The school is located in a quiet residential area of North York with the building itself being fully equipped with lockers, a cafeteria, a gym, a large outdoor field and a fitness studio. The school has been in this location since the 1970’s (V. Bradbury, personal communication, September 16, 2014).
Community health nurses incorporate community participation and knowledge about the total population with personal, clinical understandings of the
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
Public health nurses can utilize outreach to help make health care more assessable to the communities they serve by implementing health education and counseling in areas the population congregate, for example: schools, community centers, churches and workplaces. Comprehensive services and
Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2015). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.
Community health nurses find out information about the community’s involvement and knowledge. They use their clinical understanding and experience to bring information to the community’s about different health issues in that area. For example if HIV was increasing in their area they would collect the numbers and data and bring it to the attention of other health care agencies to bring
Smith, C., & Maurer, F. (2013). Community/Public Health Nursing Practice (5th ed.). :. []. http://dx.doi.org/. Retrieved from www.evolve.elsiver
For example, community education about current health issues is one of the functions of primary health care, so a registered nurse can assume the role of an educator and educate the community about the current threat. Community education is one of the most important aspects of nursing because their code of ethics requires them to keep the community accurately informed on health related issues (Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council [ANMC], 2006). Furthermore, the education informs community about prevention methods because primary health care supports the active participation of patients for both individual and public health.
The role of the community health nurse in the participating family’s community is to focus on the health needs of the aggregate or group. Community health nursing refers to a systematic, comprehensive focus on wellness, health protection, and disease, and injury prevention for the population residing in a specific area. The nurse functions as advocate, case manager, consultant, health care provider, educator, and collaborator with other agencies for healthy outcomes of the entire community. Nurses involved in the health of a specific community such as the family participating will assess the members living in the demographic