Families and Community / Public Health Nursing

1. Families and Community / Public Health Nursing

2. Health definition • Health is a resource for life, not the object of living; it is a positive conceptemphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities (WorldHealth Organization, 1986).

3. Public Health • Definition : Public Health ~ The science and practice of protecting and improving the health of a community, as by preventative medicine, health education, control of communicable diseases, application of sanitary measures, and monitoring of environmental hazards. The American Heritage Dictionary

6. Community Health • Definition: Community Health ~ a subset of the health and human services system; it is an area of human services directed towards developing and enhancing the health capacities of people - either singularly as individuals, or collectively as groups or communities.

7. Definition of Public Health Nursing • Public health nursing is the practice of promoting and protecting the health of populations using knowledge of nursing, social and public health sciences

8. Public Health & Community Health “Health care is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to all of us all of the time.”— C. Everett Koop

9. Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century • Immunizations • Improvements in motor vehicle safety • Workplace safety • Control of infectious diseases • Decline in deaths from heart disease and stroke • Safer and healthier foods • Healthier mothers and babies • Family planning • Fluoridation of drinking water • Recognition of tobacco as a health hazard

10. The Eight Tenets of Public Health (Community Health) Nursing • Population-based assessment, policy development, and assurance processes are systematic and comprehensive. • All processes must include partnering with representatives of the people. • Primary prevention is given priority. • Intervention strategies are selected to create healthy environmental, social, and economic conditions in which people can thrive. • Public health nursing practice includes an obligation to actively reach out to all who might benefit from an intervention or service. • The dominant concern and obligation is for the greater good of all of the people or the population as a whole. • Stewardship and allocation of available resources supports the maximum population healthbenefit gain. • The health of the people is most effectively promoted and protected through collaboration with members of other professions and organizations.

11. Factors Shaping 21st Century Health • Health care delivery system • Demographics • Globalization • Poverty and growing disparities • Primary health care • Violence, injuries, and social disintegration • Bioterrorism

12. In the globalized 21st century, community health nurses committed to primary health care need to focus on: • Education for the identification and prevention/control of prevailing health problems • Proper food supplies and nutrition • Adequate supply of safe water and basic sanitation • Maternal and child care, including family planning • Immunization against the major infectious diseases, prevention and control of locally endemic diseases • Appropriate treatment of common diseases using appropriate technology • Promotion of mental health • Provision of essential drugs

13. Brief History of Public Health • 1849 – John Snow • 1860’s-70’s – Germ Theory • 1872 – APHA Founded • 1887 – Hygienic Lab (NIH) • 1893 – Lillian Wald – Nurse’s Settlement • 1906 – Pure Food and Drug Act • 1925 - TB Vaccinations • 1929 - Penicillin Discovered • 1932 – Tuskegee Study • 1940’s – Penicillin used to combat disease • 1950’s – Plethora of new medications • 1854 – Florence Nightingale • 1955 – Polio Vaccine Released • 1964 – SG Report on Smoking • 1965 – Medicare/ Medicaid • 1970’s – WHO declares Smallpox eradicated • 1975 – Nurse Training Act • 1990’s – HIV/AIDs Health Care Timeline: http://www.fin343.org/Student%20Presentations/2001/gotimeline.htm Center for Disease Control

14. Key elements of the role and function of the public health nurse (PHN) within theregional health structure:

15. Core PHN services are delivered within a community-based framework. • Community-based services are driven by the needs and resources of thecommunity and its neighbourhoods. PHNs assess communities on a daily basiswhile working with individuals, families and groups in the neighbourhood,schools, workplaces and homes.

17. PHNs are community leaders. • PHNs work with community groups, negotiate partnerships and buildcollaborative initiatives. They are well positioned to manage the delivery of awide variety of services within a restructured system.

18. PHNs are effective members and often leaders of interdisciplinary andintersectoral teams. • • Through recognition of the importance of the determinants of health, PHNsdevelop integrated approaches to address health issues. It is throughinterdisciplinary and intersectoral linkages within communities that PHNsaffect the determinants of health. • • PHNs are community and public health experts. PHNs can readily provideleadership to a team of community practitioners (e.g., audiologists, healtheducators, physicians, health inspectors).

20. PHNs can be integral members of neighbourhood resource networks andcommunity nurse resource centres. • Community nurse resource centres (CNRCs) and PHN services arecomplementary. PHN services share four central components of CNRCs : • primary health care, • community development, • education and outreach, • andresearch. Both PHN and CNRC services are based on community assessment ofneeds and assets, and include evaluation components. • PHN services differ in that they include those services mandated under thePublic Health Act (i.e., communicable disease prevention and control).

21. PHNs must continue to have provincial, national and international linkages. • These linkages allow PHNs across the country to learn from, and providedirection regarding the broader implications of policy and to develop commonstrategies. These linkages reduce duplication in effort, human and fiscalresources (e.g., trends in emerging communicable diseases, otherepidemiological issues, community development, school health and healthychild development).

23. Public health nursing services are directed to the general population withpriority given to high-risk populations. • For maximum effectiveness, illness prevention efforts are targeted to identifyand intervene with those who are at high-risk of injury or illness. • While health promotion is relevant to everyone and to all communitiesregardless of risk status, it may be most effective to target health promotionresources to those populations which have the poorest health status. • Some health protection services apply to high-risk groups while others apply tothe general population.

24. Public health nursing services should be provided by designated PHN positionsseparate from other nurses based in the community. • A health promotion and illness prevention focus is very different from anillness treatment and care model such as home care and palliative care. Somepersons currently classified as public health nurses in collective agreementsmay have functions different or in addition to those identified in thisdocument (e.g., long-term care, home care). • An illness prevention, health protection and health promotion focus needs tobe kept as a priority for all communities. As we shift into an integrated healthcare model we need to ensure that illness care and treatment demands do notrob the community of its ability to address long-term investments in health. • Research demonstrates that long-term investments in health provide financialsavings and personal and community health gains.

26. Public health nursing focuses on the health of entire populations or communities.PHN services are provided to individuals and families within the context of thehealth of the larger community. • PHN expertise is in the promotion and protection ofhealth and the prevention of disease.

27. Health Promotion • PHNs provide the leadership in health promotion. Health promotion is the processof enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health.

28. Healthpromotion: • involves the population as a whole in the context of everyday life, rather thanfocusing only on at-risk people; • is directed toward action on the determinants or causes of health (e.g., foodsecurity, parenting skills, self-care skills, social support); • combines diverse, but complementary, methods or approaches includingcommunication, education, legislation, fiscal measures, organizationalchange, community development and spontaneous local activities againsthealth hazards; • aims particularly at effective and concrete public participation; • is basically an activity in the health and social services fields, and not a medicalservice. Health professionals, particularly in primary health care, have animportant role in nurturing, enabling and practicing in health promotion.

29. Health promotion action implies acting on thedeterminants of health by: 1. Building healthy public policy 2. Creating supportive environments 3. Strengthening community action 4. Developing personal skills 5. Reorienting health services

30. PREVENTION • Reproductive & Family Health • Sexual Health • Prevention of Chronic Illness • Nutrition/Food Security • Mental Health

31. HEALTH PROTECTION

32. HEALTH PROTECTION • Communicable Diseases • Protection from Injury • Environmental Health • Emergency Health

33. Communicable Disease Prevention Goal Communicable disease is prevented, reduced or eliminated(e.g., sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, rabies, foodborneillness, infectious hepatitis). Services • Manage, control and prevent communicable disease andoutbreaks. • Plan, co-ordinate, deliver, monitor and evaluate immunizationprograms. • Provide education and resources to prevent, detect and treatcommunicable diseases. • Work with appropriate services. • Develop resources. • Research and surveillance about communicable disease. • Plan, monitor and evaluate regional programs. An Example of Service PHNs provide a public health response to a meningitis outbreak. Outcome: No new meningitis cases related to the index case.

34. Community Health NursingLevels of Priority Communicable Diseases ~ Casual Transmission Least Frequency of Services Communicable Diseases ~ Non-Casual (Intimate) Transmission Communicable Infection & Disease Prevention Greatest Other Prevention Activities and Primary Care

35. Public Health Process Patient Disease Investigation Office of Epidemiology Disease Investigator Treatment Diagnosis Community Health Nurse Community Health Nurse Follow-up Private Provider Private Provider Office of Epidemiology Disease Investigator Emergency Room or Other

36. Protection from Injury Goal Injuries are reduced or eliminated. Services • Advocate for program and policy development for saferenvironments. • Injury investigation and follow-up. • Participate in the identification and removal/remediation ofinjury risks. • Participate in research regarding injury protection/prevention. • Participate in injury investigation and follow-up. • Develop resources. • Research and surveillance about injuries. • Plan, monitor and evaluate regional program An Example of Service PHNs facilitate community planning and strategies to reduceinjuries among children and adolescents. Outcome: Removal and replacement of unsafe playgroundequipment.

37. Environmental Health Goal People are safe from biological, chemical, environmental andsocial hazards. Services • Facilitate community participation to advocate for safe andhealthy environments. • Provide education regarding environmental issues and hazards. • Participate in the monitoring and investigation of chemical,biological and social hazards. • Develop resources. • Research and surveillance regarding environmental healthissues. • Plan, monitor and evaluate regional programs. An Example of Service PHNs promote the use of sun screen and hats to decreasesunburn. Outcome: Decreased number of emergency room visits forsunburns and heat strokes.

38. Emergency Health Goal Minimize community morbidity and mortality related to disastersand emergencies. Services • Participate in the development and implementation of theemergency response plan. • Facilitate provision of services for identified health and socialissues. • Prevent, monitor potential for, and control the spread ofcommunicable disease. • Provide crisis intervention and trauma postvention services. • Provide immediate and post-disaster emotional support forindividual, families andcommunities. • Provide timely communication to the public (e.g., healthinformation lines). • Recruit and mobilize community members to provide mutualsupport. • Develop resources. • Related research. • Plan, monitor and evaluate regional programs. An Example of Service Public health nursing response to massive flooding. Outcome: No major outbreaks of communicable diseases.Community members are aware of the potential injury risks.

39. PHNoutcomes can be measured by using: • Traditional Health Status Indicators • Quality of Life Indicators • Determinants of Health Indicators

40. Traditional Health Status Indicators • natality (number of births) • mortality (number of deaths) • morbidity (disease and disabilities)

41. Quality of Life Indicators • feelings (subjective sense of well-being) • functions (ability to function) • futures (prognosis for future “feelings” and “functions”)

42. Determinants of Health Indicators • social, economic and cultural environment • behavioural and lifestyle • ecological and physical environment

43. The end