Chapter 1: The Journey Begins: Introduction to Community-Health Nursing The nursing student is attending a 1-day orientation at the agency to learn about community health nursing. The nurse is reviewing that community health nursing has opportunities and challenges to keep the nurse interested and involved in a community-focused career for a lifetime. The presenter provided […]
Chapter 1: The Journey Begins: Introduction to Community-Health Nursing
The nursing student is attending a 1-day orientation at the agency to learn about
community health nursing. The nurse is reviewing that community health nursing
has opportunities and challenges to keep the nurse interested and involved in a
community-focused career for a lifetime. The presenter provided the students
with a list of questions about what was learned during the day. The student nurses
each have to prepare a 3-minute presentation for the question assigned to them.
Public health refers to a branch of medicine that deals with issues that may affect the health of members of the public. It involves developing and implementing strategies to promote health, including hygiene, epidemiology, and disease prevention and management practices (Rector & Warner, 2014, p. 65). Community health refers to the medical specialty that focuses on people’s physical and mental health in a specific region. It constitutes a medical specialty that involves developing initiatives to help community members maintain and improve their health and minimize the prevalence of various health conditions.
In healthcare, a community refers to a social unit with common norms such as values, customs, and identity. In public health, a collection of individuals who satisfy a particular description and demonstrate strong connections among them are said to belong to the same community. Such individuals are often predisposed to similar health conditions and require similar community health interventions to overcome health risk factors and adopt healthy lifestyles.
The primary level of prevention involves developing preventive strategies before health risks occur to ensure safety among members of society. Such interventions may include legislation and enforcement to ban or control the use of hazardous products and public health education about healthy and safe habits. Secondary prevention involves screening to identify diseases and implementing early disease management interventions (Rector & Warner, 2014, p. 169). Tertiary prevention involves managing diseases to regulate their rate of progression among people who have already been diagnosed.
Some characteristics of community health nursing include population focus, prioritizing the greatest good for the greatest number of people, perceiving clients as equal partners, and prioritizing primary prevention. Community health nursing also involves selecting strategies that create healthy conditions in which populations may thrive and actively reach out (Rector & Warner, 2014, p. 110). It involves optimal use of available resources and effective interprofessional collaboration.
Rector, C., & Warner, K. D. (2014). Community and public health nursing: Promoting the public’s health. Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins Health.
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Published On: 01-01-1970
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