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Key Roles And Responsibilities Of Public Health Nurses in The Community

Nurse wring down on a health planner

Public health works to advance the community's general well-being, protect it from environmental risks, infectious disease transmission, and other threats, and ensure that all community members have access to safe and effective medical care. Promoting health and preventing disease for diverse population groups is the main goal of public health nursing. This could entail helping and caring for specific population members.

What Does a Public Health Nurse Do?

In terms of nursing practice, community public health nursing is similar to clinical nursing restricted to the four walls of hospitals. Additionally, it stresses curative and rehabilitative interventions through effective, tailored techniques, promotes wellness and prevents illness through education and health teachings, offers comfort and care through its sensitive nursing care interventions, and so forth. However, its distinctiveness lies in the fact that it extends beyond simply caring for a single client to include the entire family and the community.

Public health nurses provide treatment for entire communities, in contrast to most nurses who focus on one patient at a time. Public health nurses can raise awareness of health issues, enhance community health and safety, and broaden access to care by engaging with entire communities.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

A public health nurse's responsibility is to advance public health. In this role, nurses concentrate on facilitating access to care for underserved and at-risk people. Through evidence-based care and education, public health nurses work to lower health risks and assist prevent disease at the population level.

Health Planner

An individual, group, family, or community's needs and concerns are identified by a public health nurse. They create health plans, particularly when a community doctor is not available. They support other members of the health team in executing health programs in the setting and interpret and carry out nursing plans and programs.

Patient Coordinator

Public health nurses may encounter situations they are unable to handle quickly. They must be able to direct patients in these situations to specialists who can give them the care they require. Along with an understanding of local public health resources and policies, this calls for good communication skills. For example, they might advise a pregnant woman with iron deficiency to visit a free or low-cost community health facility so she can receive the prenatal care she needs.

Educator

The primary objective of a public health nurse's work is to raise awareness of critical health issues among individuals, families, and communities. They give advice on ways to prevent illness so that people don't have to deal with the physical, emotional, and financial burden of preventable diseases. Since they need to contact people, this calls for practical knowledge of how communities work.

Statistician and Research Scholar

The community's health status is regularly assessed by public health nurses through the use of surveys and home visits. They carry out studies on the populace's health. In the conduct and implementation of studies, they collaborate with both government and non-government groups.

Public health nurses work in assessment, advocacy, education, prevention, assessment, and evaluation within the community. They make up the largest professional group within the field. In addition to fostering community health and safety, they play a crucial role in disease prevention.

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Photo Source: Nurse writing down
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