Public Health Nursing

Public Health Nursing

Public health nursing, also known as community health nursing, is a field dedicated to promoting and safeguarding people’s health by preventing diseases. Public health nurses combine nursing expertise with public health knowledge to raise awareness and reduce health risks within communities. In this article, you will explore various resources on public health nursing and gain a clear understanding of its principles. Whether you are a student aspiring to join a nursing program or simply seeking knowledge in this field, this guide will provide you with valuable insights.

What is Public Health Nursing?

Public health nursing is a practice aimed at promoting and protecting the health of diverse populations. It requires the application of nursing skills and public health knowledge. As a public health nurse, your primary focus is on the well-being of the community, involving health promotion, disease prevention, and health awareness.

Public health nurses play a crucial role in the healthcare workforce, often working in various settings such as community health, schools, homes, health departments, and more. To excel in this field, you must possess a strong foundation in clinical knowledge. This knowledge enables you to establish meaningful relationships with those you serve and implement effective health programs and policies to meet the community’s needs.

Nursing Annotated Bibliography Writing by Professionals

Differences Between Public Health Nursing and Community Health Nursing

While public health nursing and community health nursing share similar goals, they differ in their specific focus and areas of operation. Community health nursing addresses the overall factors affecting a population’s physical and mental health, while public health nursing concentrates on the scientific aspects of preventing infectious diseases.

Public health nurses often work at the federal level, collaborating with health departments, offices, and medical laboratories. On the other hand, community health nurses operate on a local scale, providing healthcare services at state and county levels, as well as local hospitals and clinics.

Major Professions in Public and Community Health Nursing

If you are considering a career in public and community health nursing, there are numerous options available to you. Some of the primary professions in these fields include:

1. Public health engineer
2. Epidemiologists
3. Medical Author
4. Biostatistician
5. Hospital Administration
6. Health program coordinator
7. Public and community health mentor

These professions offer diverse opportunities to work in various public health-related settings, allowing you to choose a path that aligns with your interests.

The Role of Epidemiology in Public Health Nursing

Epidemiology plays a central role in preventing diseases and enhancing community health. It allows public health nurses to quantify health-related issues, such as injuries and disabilities. As a public health nurse, your responsibilities include ensuring that people lead healthy lives and preventing infectious diseases that could affect the community.

Epidemiology encompasses essential tasks in public health nursing, including field investigation, public health surveillance, evaluation, analytical studies, and establishing connections. The topics covered in public health nursing epidemiology range from infectious diseases to various health-related subjects, such as cardiovascular epidemiology, clinical epidemiology, and more.

Public Health Nursing: Roles and Responsibilities

Public health nurses have significant roles and responsibilities in safeguarding community health. Their duties include:

1. Managing Budgets: Overseeing financial aspects of public health nursing programs.
2. Assessing Health Trends: Identifying health trends within affected communities.
3. Establishing Relationships: Building rapport with individuals and tracking their health progress.
4. Record Keeping: Maintaining and analyzing medical data.
5. Delivering Healthcare: Providing quality healthcare services.
6. Creating Awareness: Raising awareness of infectious disease risks.
7. Monitoring Health: Tracking patients’ health status and changes.
8. Referring Patients: Directing patients to specialized healthcare providers.

The History and Evolution of Public Health Nursing

The roots of public health nursing trace back to the Philippines, where the first medical dispensary for the indigent was established in 1557. Dr. Francisco de Balmis introduced the first smallpox vaccination in 1805. Over time, public health nursing evolved, with health officers graduating from universities and reforms in 1999 shaping the agenda for advanced public health nursing and population health.

Global Public Health Nursing

You need to understand what is global public health nursing. Generally, global public health nursing is defined as an area for study, research, and practice that prioritizes improving health and achieving health equality for all people globally. Global public health aims to achieve quality public health results globally.

To understand global health, you must distinguish it from public health. Public health focuses on the country and a community population, while global health covers all international areas beyond the country’s borders. The following are some global health issues; they include:

• Noncommunicable diseases
• Pandemics such as Ebola, Covid 19
• Environmental factors such as flooding, droughts, and storms
• Political factors
• Food sourcing and supply

Public Health Nursing Process Definition

The public health nursing process is defined as a rational method of providing high-quality nursing care to prevent infectious diseases and promote community health. Public health nursing has an organized structure that helps health experts to apply interpersonal skills. You will refer to this orderly, systematic manner of determining the patient’s problem as a public health nursing process.

As a public health nursing expert, you need to identify the major issue with your patient and come up with a solution to solve the problem. You also need to evaluate the effectiveness of your plan in resolving the problem you identified in your patient. There are some different key concepts that you will come across in the public health process. These stages include:

• The assessment
• Diagnosis
• Results/ nursing care plan
• Implementation
• Evaluation and solution

Importance of public health nursing process

Using the health nursing process will help you think critically and become more creative in problem-solving. The public health process helps you sharpen your abilities in decision-making related to clinical practices. Following this process, your nursing care quality will improve, improving patient satisfaction.

Below are some of the importance of the public health nursing process. The primary importance of the health process includes the following:

• It helps to identify the patient and community health care needs.
• It helps you to determine the health priorities
• The public health process helps you to establish the health goals and the expected results
• The public health nursing process will help you to differentiate your health practice from other health care experts
• The public health nursing process forms a basis in the form of diagnosis, the nursing care plan, the application of the plan, and the evaluation
• It helps to establish quality nursing care
• The public health nursing process will help you improve the population’s health by creating health awareness

How ethical principles apply to public health nursing

As a public health nursing student, it is important to know how ethical principles apply to public health nursing. Public health nurses mainly advocate for patients and find a balance in delivering quality health care. As a public health nurse or student, you should treat your patients fairly and respectfully.

In public health nursing, five ethical principles are very important. They include:

• Accountability
• Respect
• Justice
• Autonomy
• Nonmaleficence
• Trust

Conclusion

Public health nursing is a vital field that focuses on disease prevention and health promotion within communities. This comprehensive guide provides essential insights into the world of public health nursing, its history, roles, and ethical considerations. Whether you are a student aspiring to join this field or seeking a deeper understanding, this resource equips you with valuable knowledge about public health nursing.