Essay For All is an all-time reliable one-stop-shop destination for quality public health nursing assignments. Public health is a scientific study that focuses on protecting and enhancing the health of populations. Various ways can be used in promoting public health, such as early identification, prevention and response to infectious diseases, education, and promotion of healthy lifestyles.
Specialists in public health are committed to various research topics, including the analysis of the effects of personal choice, the health of genetics, and the environment in developing policies and interventions vital to protecting communities and families. Pubic health is a segment of the health sector crucial in ensuring healthy people and a healthy community. That is why active programs seek to support substance use education, awareness, and vaccination programs, among other crucial topics.
Public health nursing profession
Public health nursing is an exciting career. A public health nurse primarily considers or researches various factors behind specific injuries or illnesses affecting a wider population. Other nurses may wait for the availability of nurses at the hospitals to manage their health conditions. However, the trend is different when it comes to public health nurses. For instance, public health nurses interact with communities to improve their health.
Healthcare education and awareness are at the profession’s core, whereby the nurses must educate the public on ways to ensure healthy living and related practices. That is why public health nurses mainly collaborate with schools, community groups, and senior centers, among other organizations, in creating awareness of significant health concerns affecting the community.
In the process, the nurses may educate the people on safety practices and the need for tests and vaccinations and teach them how to care for their loved ones facing various health-related challenges. As a public health nursing student, there are many possible career opportunities you are likely to explore in various settings, such as;
- Community health centers
- Non-profit organizations
- Government agencies
- Outpatient clinics
- School systems
Social determinants of public health
Public health nurses and related officers advocate for healthy lifestyles, explore injury and disease prevention, and identify, mitigate, and respond to infectious diseases. Public health initiatives focus on the overall well-being of individuals and smaller families extending to the entire community.
While doctors focus on treating sick people, public health specialists deploy various initiatives to prevent people from getting injuries or sickness. Encouraging healthy behaviors is central to public health strategies to ensure a healthy community. Understanding social perspectives of public health are very important.
Social determinants of public health include where people work, age, live, are born, and grow. Managing social determinants of public health is critical in improving health and controlling longstanding health and healthcare disparities. Based on the place of residence, work or education, social support networks, socioeconomic status, neighborhood, education, and physical environment determines the overall wellbeing of the people’s public health.
For instance, education or literacy levels play an integral low. Areas with high illiteracy levels are highly vulnerable to suffering public health challenges due to the inability to take necessary measures, precautions, and the required lifestyle to ensure healthy living. However, areas with well-educated people make it easier for public health personnel to control the emergence or spread of diseases.
Such people can easily take precautions for their lives and avoid practices that may trigger or lead to the fast spread of diseases, which will likely have devastating impacts on their lives. The physical environment and neighborhood affect an area’s public health status. For instance, areas with access to contaminated environments or water bodies become a significant health risk to the environment’s inhabitants and those in the surrounding.
Necessary approaches to manage social determinants of public health in the healthcare system
It is the role of both public health professionals and the community to ensure good public health. Collaboration between the involved parties is also vital, whereby public health professionals must liaise with the community to ensure the effective implementation of public health initiatives.
Education
Education helps stir behavior change among people and a shift in their actions through increased knowledge. At times public health sector invests resources and time into offering education programs and training to ensure that people understand what they need to do to ensure a healthy lifestyle and living. Besides, offering public health programs has been of great importance.
Communication
Due to the close interaction required between public health personnel and society, communication is very integral. With communication, people will understand what is required of them. Besides, public health professionals will only implement their strategies if required. Hence, communication is the fundamental way public health nurses can raise awareness of healthy behaviors among the general public. Some commonly adopted communication means include mass media campaigns, health fairs, public service announcements, and newsletters.
Policy formulation
Public health nurses in a society can be of significant influence in driving healthy behaviors in a population. Failure to implement policies and regulations to govern people’s health-related choices can increase public health concerns. However, establishing policies tends to create a sense of discipline and direction for the people. Besides, it also supports improved collaboration between the people and public health officials.
Importance of addressing social perspectives of health
A society that wants to reduce health disparities and improve health through various initiatives should also address social perspectives of public health. Health equity can only be evident when there shall be no systematic disparities in public health and among the existing social groups. For instance, some societies can benefit from improved and increased public health initiatives, while others still need to be addressed because of various factors, including the people’s socioeconomic status.
Addressing social perspectives of public health, such as limited education, racial differences, stigma, limited access to healthcare, and poverty, becomes vital to ensure a uniformly healthy nation. Hence, public health institutions and organizations should launch education programs to reach out to the communities and enlighten them on best practices for healthy living and disease prevention.
The role of society in ensuring public health
Public health personnel needs help to ensure good communal health. In health history, various cases of the emergence and spread of various contagious and infectious diseases related to public health exist. For instance, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery are not new. They are conditions whereby poor sanitation and hygienic practices of people trigger the diseases and their spread, affecting many lives.
While public health people may warn society about the impending risk of specific disease outbreaks, people need to comply with the stipulated measures and avoid any risky behavior that can result in the spread of the disease. In case of a public health threat, public health officials need to create awareness among the people through various platforms such as;
- Announcements in public locations
- Digital advertisements
- Local news channels
- Social media
- Email or phone messaging
- Community events
Response of public health officials in case of communicable diseases
A communicable disease is caused by bacteria or viruses, which spreads from one person to another by contacting contaminated surfaces or objects through the air or contact with infected insect bites, blood products, or bodily fluids. Late detection of communicable diseases impairs the strategies used in containing the diseases.
Hence, it is the role of public health officials to ensure early identification of cases of communicable diseases to implement the best containment measures. Common examples of communicable diseases are blood-borne diseases, measles, and salmonella: measles, hepatitis, and HIV. In case of an impending outbreak, public health nurses serve the role of educators to the public and also to clinicians concerning the best practices to undertake.
Application of quarantine and isolation approaches
Pandemics and epidemics make the public health sector always on the move to ensure effective management of the disease’s spread. Highly contagious diseases make it challenging, especially without adequate cooperation from the public. However, certain diseases force public health officials to issue orders on quarantine and isolation to limit the spread of diseases. In this case, quarantine people’s movement, especially to or from the affected areas.
On the other hand, isolation helps separate health from infected people to limit further infections in the healthy population. Quarantine or isolation is never a violation of people’s rights of movement but a critical approach used in protecting the health and welfare of the public. The covid-19 pandemic is the recent health challenge that forced the health sector through the public health segment to advocate for quarantine and isolation to limit the further spread of the virus. In global health history, some of the diseases that demanded the need of quarantine and isolation are;
- Yellow fever
- Smallpox
- Plague
- Infectious tuberculosis
- Diphtheria
- Cholera
- Measles
- Viral hemorrhagic fevers
- Severe acute respiratory fevers
Public health policies
Public health professionals can only operate with some basis of guiding policies. A public health policy refer to actions, decisions, regulations, and laws executed within the society to promote wellness while ensuring meeting specific public health initiatives or goals. The policies help ensure a given population’s general safety and wellness since the policies create clear goals and solutions regarding total health. Public health policies are not limited to formal legislation but extend to involve community outreach efforts. That is why the policies affect wide-ranging sectors, including;
- Business sector
- Agriculture sector
- Education sector
- Insurance sector
- Health care sector
Despite different policies, they all aim to support a good public health population. Significant governmental and non-governmental organizations help formulate public health policy, including the food and drug administration, disease control and prevention centers, and world health education. Apart from conducting research and executing health and education initiatives, the organizations also create policies and laws to improve society’s access to healthcare, vaccines, clean water, and nutritious food.
Different types of public health policy
Alcohol
Excessive alcohol consumption habits are among the leading causes of road accidents, health complications, sexual assault, and violence. Therefore, public health policies are enacted to fight alcohol dependence and minimize its effects on users. However, alcohol-related policies differ from one community or country to another. The limitations set on alcohol consumption have helped regulate its harmful effects, especially on people’s health and overall well-being.
HIV
HIV is a severe health condition that led to public health policy vital in educating the public about the dangers of the disease. Such awareness and education programs have helped in teaching communities or the general public about ways of preventing HIV/AIDS, stigma prevention, and ways of living with the virus. The main aim of the policy is to minimize the spread of the virus while supporting the healthy living of people who already have the virus.
Tobacco use
Due to its easy availability, tobacco is among young adults’ most commonly abused drugs. However, it poses significant health risks to consumers. In response, there are developed public health policies that help lower the risk of illnesses and deaths from tobacco consumption. Among such policies are the increment of tobacco prices and also establishment of tobacco-free areas in communities to safeguard non-smokers from the harmful health effects of secondary smoking.
Food safety policy
Food safety policy is among the highly emphasized public health areas of interest. For instance, food providers must adhere to these policies to ensure that food prepared and sold to the public is prepared safely and hygienically, making it safe for consumption. The many cases of foodborne illnesses make public health officials strict in ensuring people comply with the food safety policy. Public health is a promising career, especially if the students complete the course with a well-informed mind in different aspects of the profession. Good public health understanding enables a person to choose a career from a long list not limited to;
- Sanitarians
- Public health nurses
- Epidemiologists
- Nutritionists
- Restaurant inspectors
- Scientists and researchers
- Social workers
- Community planners
- Public health physicians
Infection control measures
Public health officials commonly emphasize infection control practices in case of an outbreak of communicable diseases. The practices help minimize infection transmission from infected to healthy people or from a healthcare practitioner to the patient. Monitoring and adjusting every day habits can help in preventing disease spread. Infection control in public health settings is the measures executed to prevent and contain the spread of infectious diseases. Such measures include;
- Quarantine
- Procedures for decontamination of people
- Disinfection of the environment and equipment
- Droplet and airborne precautions
- Infection control standards
- Hand-washing
- Controlling vectors behind the infection
- Prophylaxis of exposed people
Health disparities in public health and the possible solutions
Health disparities have been a topic of concern for many years that need to be addressed effectively by public health professionals. Effective addressing of the disparities is likely to support and maintain health equity. Health disparities are hindering situations associated with people’s health status depending on social factors like gender, age, education, ethnicity, and income. The existence of these factors causes reduced life expectancy rates and also limited access to quality care. Health disparities revolve around issues like
- Mental health
- Burden of disease
- Life expectancy
- Mortality
- Limited access to care
- Underinsured/uninsured
In this case, people from racial minority groups meet significant barriers to accessing healthcare in the United States. Besides, the members of the black community have increased cases of mental health illnesses commonly associated with unaddressed behavioral health issues and childhood trauma. The public health sector requires a lot of effort to address such existing health disparities to ensure all public members have improved access to quality care and life without considering their differences.
Among the options that public health officials may take to address some of the health disparities include the following;
- Advancement of health equity
- Increasing health literacy in an affected community
- Increased awareness among health practitioners
- Partnering with organizations
- Offering increased access to public health resources
Challenges faced by public health resulting from antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance
Over many years, health practitioners have relied on antimicrobial agents and antibiotics to treat patients with infectious diseases. The drugs have significantly helped minimize the spread of diseases and the resulting mortality rates. After extended use of the drugs, the infectious organisms are now developing resistance to the medications.
More research in public health has triggered the rise of vaccines leading to immunization of certain diseases that have threatened the public’s health, such as cholera and typhoid which are more rampant in developing and underdeveloped countries. Some vaccinations can help minimize the risk of contracting such infections even during outbreaks. Effective working of vaccinations has helped public health officials to concentrate on other measures of ensuring the good health of individuals and the public.
Typhoid as a common public health threat
Typhoid is a bacterial disease that is very risky. It is a food or waterborne disease that spreads through contaminated water or food intake. Poor sanitation has been the leading cause of typhoid. People in both rural and urban areas are susceptible to typhoid, especially with poor sanitation habits, overcrowding in residential areas, and fighting for scarce natural resources, which limits access to adequate safe water and food.
Climatic change is also among the factors that lead to the strained ability to control typhoid outbreaks. However, with increased sensitivity and awareness, communities are trying to adopt healthy practices to keep food and waterborne illnesses away from their settings. Some of the strategies to keep safe from typhoid even during a breakup is through
- Drinking treated or purified water
- Hand washing practices
- Exemplary uses of toilets or pit latrines
- Effective management or disposal of fecal wastes
- Increased access to hand-washing facilities
Public health research
Public health nurses need good research skills to help research the community’s health. Exploring the social context of communities is very important to determine the level of vulnerability to public health challenges. Besides, it also helps determine some of the initiatives to take and use among communities to secure their public health. Some communities thrive in very unhealthy social setups that place them at high risk of contracting various health challenges.
However, it is the role of public health officials to visit communities and find out some of the possible health challenges affecting them. Adequate public health research helps prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases because of effective measures in place to mitigate any health conditions. It also supports adequate preparedness by the people in case of any breakout.
With public health research, a disease outbreak finds public health professionals prepared to handle the outcomes. Besides, poor and untimely handling of public health issues may lead to losing lives before finding effective solutions for the underlying problem.
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