What is “Public Health Nursing”?
Often the “accomplishments” of public health are not readily identifiable by the general public. The essence of public health is that it focuses on disease and injury prevention and health promotion in the community. A public health nurse practice incorporates the core functions of public health: assessment, policy development, and assurance.Public health nurses collaborate to empower their diverse clients, an individual, family, community or population, to improve health and reduce health disparities. The delivery of nursing care occurs at the individual, community or systems level and within the context of the global environment.
Internal and external environmental factors also influence the health of populations, so knowledge of emergency preparedness planning, response and recovery is included as part of a public health nurse’s repertoire. Finally the public health nurse of this century identifies, analyzes and prioritizes the health needs and trends for all.
There are many types of nurses and they are all important! Broaden your horizons and search for new types of nursing that may interest you!