As a public health nurse, you will likely be asked to explain what public health is and how it differs from the common understanding of health care and nursing.
Current Issues in Public Health
As a public health nurse, you will likely be asked to explain what public health is and how it differs from the common understanding of health care and nursing. As a public health professional, it is important to understand the diverse areas of public health practice, the historical background of the field, and the current landscape of priorities. For this Discussion, you will explore an area of public health that is of personal interest to you by focusing on various components that help define the health issue from a public health practitioner perspective.
To Prepare:
Review this week’s Learning Resources.
Consider the perspectives on urgent public health issues shared in this week’s media resources.
Reflect on the past contributions made within the field and consider the historical context of current issues.
Consider a public health issue you are seeing in your community, country, or even globally, and select one that is of personal interest to you.
By Day 3
Post a brief description of a current issue in public health. Explain how this public health issue emerged, the current efforts to address the issue, and whether the efforts have had any effect on the issue. Then, identify how a nurse with public health expertise may intervene to address the current public health issue described.
NURS6710 Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice
Week 2 Discussion
Distinguishing Characteristics of the Public Health Nurse
In the first week of this course, you learned that a key distinguishing element of the public health field is its focus on the health and health outcomes of populations rather than the individual. Public health nursing integrates the unique skill set of a licensed nurse with the foundational principles of public health. Public health nursing practice, thereby, extends the focus of care delivery from the individual to interventions designed to enhance the health of populations, communities, and specific aggregates living in those communities. Through educational preparation and experience in both nursing and public health, the public health nurse is prepared to respond to the unique needs of not only individuals, but also families, communities, and populations. For this week’s Discussion, you will explore the commonalities and differences between population versus individual directed practice.
To Prepare:
Review this week’s Learning Resources and reflect on any insights they provide.
Consider the distinguishing characteristics of the public health nurse experience.
By Day 3
Post an explanation of at least two ways that public health nursing differs from nursing practice focused on individualized care. Then, explain how your role as a public health nurse is informed by skills or expertise that you have gained thus far as a professional nurse.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues by expanding on one of the ways they think public health nursing differs from individualized care that you didn’t identify. Explain why you agree or disagree with this difference.
NURS6710 Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice
Week 3 Discussion
Public Health Organizations and Agencies
Public health systems are commonly defined as all public, private, and voluntary entities that contribute to the delivery of essential public health services within a jurisdiction. This concept ensures that all entities’ contributions to the health and well-being of the community or state are recognized in assessing the provision of public health services.”
The role played by organizations and agencies is vital to the progress and efficiency of public health. They aim to provide strategic and high-level measures of achievement. For this Discussion, you will use your previously selected topic of interest to understand the roles and initiatives of organizations and agencies.
To Prepare:
Review the media for this week. Then, select a topic for this Discussion.
Review the World Health Organization (WHO) website to familiarize yourself with a public health organization at the global level; Review a public health organization at the national level (for the United States, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC))and then look into your state and local health agencies.
By Day 3
Post an explanation of how global and national public health organizations/agencies have developed programs, initiatives, or activities to address your selected public health topic of interest. Then, explain how your local and state health organizations/agencies have developed programs, initiatives, or activities to address your selected public health topic. Explain how the global/national programs, initiatives, or activities compare to the local/state programs, initiatives, or activities. Are the initiatives similar? Are there differences? Discuss similarities and/or differences that you identify.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues who selected a different topic than you. Explain how your local and state health organizations/agencies have developed programs, initiatives, or activities to address your colleagues’ selected topics.
NURS6710 Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice
Week 4 Discussion
Debate: Public Threat or Individual Right?
One important ethical principle is the concept of “autonomy” or an individualistic approach. This principle places primary emphasis on the liberty, privacy, and informed consent of individual persons in the face of a health intervention carried out by other parties, such as immunizations to prevent infectious disease. These are public health interventions carried out with the justification of “doing good” by protecting the welfare of the public. These interventions are grounded in the ethical belief of actions being informed by determination of the greater good for the benefit of the larger society—the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Note: You will be assigned to one side of the debate for this week.
By Day 3
Post and participate in a debate via the Discussion threads.
Debate the topic: Is a family’s choice to not vaccinate/immunize their child a threat to the public’s health or is it an individual right? As a public health nurse, what are the key ethical and legal issues that contribute to the issue of vaccinations and immunizations?
By Day 6
Respond to one or more of your colleagues assigned to the other side of the debate with your opposing arguments.
NURS6710 Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice
Week 6 Discussion
Defining Health
“The range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that influence health status are known as determinants of health. Determinants of health fall under several broad categories: Policymaking, Social factors, Health Services, Individual Behavior, and Biology and Genetics”. —Healthy People 2020
As stated, these categories of health are broad. One important competency of a public health nurse is the ability to recognize and consider the linkages between these categories when addressing the health needs of a population.
For this Discussion, you will consider definitions of health across populations.
To Prepare:
Review the Healthy People 2020 website and reflect on what makes some people healthy and others unhealthy.
Review this week’s Learning Resources, giving specific attention to perspectives provided by the “Determinants of Health” video.
By Day 3
Post a response to the question: “In your own words, how do you define health?” Explain the resources needed to achieve optimal health in a population. Then, explain what resources are available in your own community for supporting the achievement of health.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues by comparing your responses to the question: “How do you define health?” Then, compare the resources you included as necessary to achieve optimal health in your community to those cited by your colleagues and explain why the necessary resources may differ between individuals and communities.
NURS6710 Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice
Week 7 Discussion
What Determines Health?
Public health nurses contribute to the promotion of positive health outcomes by addressing social and physical environment needs within the communities they serve. International and national public health organizations and initiatives are unified in the premise that health is significantly influenced by factors beyond the individual level. These factors are termed the social determinants of health. According to the World Health Organization, the social determinants of health (SDH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies, and political systems.
Healthy People 2020 highlights the importance of addressing the social determinants of health by including “Create social and physical environments that promote good health for all” as one of the four overarching goals for the decade. This emphasis is shared by the World Health Organization, whose Commission on Social Determinants of Health in 2008 published the report, Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity Through Action on the Social Determinants of Health. The emphasis is also shared by other U.S. health initiatives such as the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities and the National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy.”
For this Discussion, you will choose a topic that is considered a social determinant of health and explain how it influences the health outcomes of a population.
To Prepare:
Review the video from the Worlds Apart series included in this week’s Learning Resources which highlights the experience of Alicia Mercado who is attempting to manage chronic disease within a challenging social and economic environment.
Choose a topic that you think is a social determinant of health and review academic literature and reliable online information on the topic you choose.
By Day 3
Post an explanation of why the issue you identified is a social determinant of health and explain how this issue contributes to health, both positively and negatively.
NURS6710 Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice
Week 8 Discussion
Diversity Eye-Opener
An important first step toward cultural competence is an awareness of one’s own culturally-informed beliefs, values, attitudes, and potential biases. Recognizing the potential limitations in one’s cultural knowledge and being open to new ideas, contradictory information and advice illustrates an important concept referred to as “cultural humility.” When you understand how culture shapes your own beliefs, you become more open to understanding that someone of another culture may have a different perspective on a specific health issue and different strategies for achieving health. As a core competency of effective public health nursing, this Discussion assists in exploring your own cultural perceptions.
To Prepare:
Complete the Diversity Eye-Opener Self-Assessment.
Review this week’s Learning Resources.
Reflect on the intersections of health and culture.
By Day 3
Post an explanation of the traits you believe you possess that enable you to effectively facilitate cross-cultural communication. Then, explain what traits you possess that might make it challenging for you to be effective in cross-cultural encounters with diverse others .
Lastly, summarize at least two strategies for effective, culturally competent health care practice.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues by offering at least one strategy your colleague could use to mitigate the traits that would make it challenging for them to effectively communicate in cross-cultural encounters.
NURS6710 Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice
Week 9 Discussion
Health Indicators and Health Disparities
Public health nurses play an important role in addressing the health needs identified during the assessment process. Only by close examination of health data can health professionals identify health disparities and take steps to address them. Numerous sources of community-level health data are available to guide public health nurses as they partner with communities in the pursuit of health for all. It is vital that all public health professionals have an understanding of the health status of their city, county, region, state, and nation, as well as global health issues of concern. This week, you will analyze health indicators for your own community, identify potential health disparities seen in your own area, and then compare your findings with your classmates from across other localities.
For this Discussion, you will examine multiple localities to identify health disparities within and across states for a given health indicator.
To Prepare:
Review this week’s Learning Resources.
Take the Health Equity Quiz found on the Unnatural Causes website.
Research health indicators (outcomes) for your state, city, and/or county.
Research a state other than your own that is similar demographically with higher health indicators.
By Day 3
Post a health indicator for which your state ranks high and explain why you think your state ranks high on this indicator. Then, identify a health indicator for which your state ranks low and explain why you think your state ranks low on this indicator.
Compare your findings to a state that is similar to yours demographically but has higher indicators. Explain why you think this state is achieving higher health indicators than yours.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues by comparing your state to your colleagues’ states, offering insights on your findings. Then, explain what this information might mean in regard to current and future public health nursing practice.
NURS6710 Public Health Nursing Theory and Practice
Week 11 Discussion
The Public Health Nurse and Emergencies and Disasters
Multiple natural and man-made disasters have occurred throughout history. These events represent community emergencies when they are large enough to have a major impact on community functioning. When such events exceed the community’s capacity to manage them, they are called disasters. Because of the nature of these events and their impact on the people living in the affected communities, organized efforts must be employed to plan for, manage, and recover from the impact. Planning for, preventing, and responding to public health needs during times of emergencies and disasters has long been a role of public health nurses.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina demolished many U.S. communities in the southern Gulf of Mexico region, especially in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Imagine you are transported back in time and are practicing as a public health nurse with the New Orleans health department during the weeks leading up to, during, and following this disaster.
Group 1: Planning Surveillance Phase
Group 2: Acute Phase
Group 3: Recovery Phase
Note: The Instructor will assign students to one of the three groups/phases for this Assignment.
To Prepare:
Review this week’s Learning Resources. Pay close attention to this week’s readings that discuss the nurse’s roles during public health emergencies and disasters in one of the following categories: Planning/Surveillance Phase, Acute Phase, Recovery Phase.
Review and consider the disaster scenario provided in the Discussion introduction from the perspective of the role you have been assigned.
By Day 3
Post an analysis of your assigned phase and provide an explanation of the role, responsibilities, and actions of a public health nurse in responding to the threat during that specific phase. Take into consideration any special community aggregates that might need extra support during times of crisis.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues who were assigned the other two phases by offering a new suggestion for actions that might have been beneficial during that time.
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