One of the roles nurses may take on as they advance their education is that of the public health nurse (PHN) whom works at the county or state level striving towards infection management and prevention. The American Public Health Association, Public Health Nursing Section (APHA/PHNS) defines public health nursing as “the practice of promoting and protecting the health of populations using knowledge from nursing, social, and public health sciences” (2013). This role widens the scope of nursing to incorporate more “advocacy, policy development, and planning, which addresses issues of social justice” (APHA/PHNS, 2013). In a study of Irish PHN, it was found that their common roles included building relationships with individuals and communities;
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A qualitative study of PHN in Ireland found that some of them described advocacy as a nursing intervention in itself; this case, they were working with the “Irish Travellers” minority group, collaborating with them to help them obtain needed health screenings (McDonald et al., 2014). Keller et al. (2011) tell of PHN rural Haiti, whom worked to create “father’s clubs” to give underserved populations access to essential information on the health needs of their newborns. These new fathers had the opportunity to learn about their child’s dietary needs, immunization needs, growth and development, giving them opportunities to improve their children’s quality of life equal to that of the general …show more content…
Sometimes the law is the starting point of the PHN’s actions. When Zucker et al. (2012) undertook a study of mobile outreach strategies for screening and vaccinating at-risk populations (in this case, alcohol and injection drug users), their first step was to consult state Department of Public Health protocols for immunizations to determine best practices. Their mobile lab was created after consulting with the state Department of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control, and local hospitals to determine the best practices in this area, as
A qualitative study of PHN in Ireland found that some of them described advocacy as a nursing intervention in itself; this case, they were working with the “Irish Travellers” minority group, collaborating with them to help them obtain needed health screenings (McDonald et al., 2014). Keller et al. (2011) tell of PHN rural Haiti, whom worked to create “father’s clubs” to give underserved populations access to essential information on the health needs of their newborns. These new fathers had the opportunity to learn about their child’s dietary needs, immunization needs, growth and development, giving them opportunities to improve their children’s quality of life equal to that of the general …show more content…
Sometimes the law is the starting point of the PHN’s actions. When Zucker et al. (2012) undertook a study of mobile outreach strategies for screening and vaccinating at-risk populations (in this case, alcohol and injection drug users), their first step was to consult state Department of Public Health protocols for immunizations to determine best practices. Their mobile lab was created after consulting with the state Department of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control, and local hospitals to determine the best practices in this area, as