What are at least six roles of public health nurses?

In the past, caregivers journeyed on horseback to the homes of their neighbors to provide medical services. These caregivers were crucial to reducing the mortality rates in their communities. After the civil war, hospitals were built. This began the implementation of organized healthcare. Today, nurses practice in a variety of settings and community health is again re-emerging as an integral part of providing care to everyone.

What Is Community Health Nursing?

Community health nursing is a discipline that incorporates evidenced-based research along with advances in science and new approaches for improving the health The practice takes into consideration the cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds of the people in the community to ensure appropriate interaction and sensitivity when working with them.

A community is a group of people in a specific location, which includes places where people live, work and go to school. Most people belong to multiple types of communities. Community health nursing is commonly practiced in geographic locations like cities and rural areas.

What Is the Goal of Community Health Nursing?

The goal of community health nursing is to promote, protect and preserve the health of the public. Community health nursing involves these basic concepts:

• Promote healthy lifestyle
• Prevent disease and health problems
• Provide direct care
• Educate community about managing chronic conditions and making healthy choices
• Evaluate a community’s delivery of patient care and wellness projects
• Institute health and wellness programs
• Conduct research to improve healthcare

What Is the Role of a Community Health Nurse?

The primary role of community health nurses is to provide treatment to patients. Additionally, community health nurses offer education to community members about maintaining their health so that they can decrease the occurrence of diseases and deaths. They plan educational assemblies, hand -out fliers, conduct health screenings, dispense medications and administer immunizations.

Nurses also may distribute health-related items like condoms and pregnancy tests. Examples of some health issues that community health nurses try to control or eliminate are:

• Infectious and sexually transmitted diseases
• Obesity
• Poor nutrition
• Substance abuse
• Smoking
• Teen pregnancy

Where Do Community Health Nurses Work?

Community health nurses work in hospitals, community centers, clinics, schools and government health agencies. Community health nurses are important to regions where healthcare is not easily accessible, so they can travel to remote places and isolated areas of a city.

How Do You Become a Community Health Nurse?

To become a community health nurse you must first work as a registered nurse. If you only have an associate degree you might want to consider completing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program. Many schools like Northeastern State University (NSU) offer RN to BSN programs.

NSU has an online RN to BSN program that includes the course Community Health Nursing. This course examines the theory and research used in nursing and the public health practice, which promotes and preserves the health of communities. Students are given the opportunity to apply their current knowledge and what they learn in the course. They are paired with a community and other healthcare professionals to experience community health nursing.

Nursing care should be available to every American. Throughout the country, there are entire communities of people prone to chronic illnesses, infectious diseases and economic hardships. Community health nurses have the ability to improve the welfare of individuals and their communities. They are at the forefront of bringing quality patient care to the most vulnerable and underserved members of society.

Learn more about Northeastern State University’s online RN to BSN program.

Sources:

EveryNurse.org: Becoming a Community Health Nurse

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Benefits of Community Health

Government of the Northwest Territories: Community Health Nurses

ScienceDirect: What Is “Community Health”? Examining the Meaning of an Evolving Field in Public Health

Houston Chronicle: What Are the Primary Roles of the Community Nurse?

National Women’s History Museum: The Evolution of Nursing

Blog Summary

The onset of new healthcare challenges increases the demand for qualified professionals. Significant functions of healthcare professionals are creating awareness, monitoring community health, identifying health threats, promoting and conducting wellness drives, streamlining services, developing policies and counseling. An MPH degree will enhance your skillsets, better opportunities and make a positive impact on society. TAU offers the best online MPH program, which facilitates you to study without leaving your current jobs. The online programs are affordable with qualified faculty, extensive online resources, easily accessible LMS and a dedicated support team. It enables you to explore lucrative career options.

The importance of public health workers has largely been understood during this COVID-19 pandemic. The emergence of new health challenges increases the demand for qualified professionals. People in Botswana face various health-related challenges. However, the region lacks quality healthcare services, has a shortage of resources, and follows a poorly structured health delivery system. These issues must be addressed with immediate effect to improve the health of the community.

The health of underprivileged people solely relies on government initiatives. Public health professionals are the ones to take such initiatives to the people and protect them through various programs. Understanding the critical functions of public health professionals will help us know why they must be equipped with proper educational qualifications. Listed here a few key responsibilities of public health professionals:

Top 10 Essential Functions of Public Health Professionals

1. Creating Awareness

Lack of awareness would be the major reason for the spread of various deadly diseases. Public health professionals’ major role is to create awareness among the common public. They make people understand the severity of the diseases and the best practices to curb the spread of the diseases or protect themselves from the same.

Upon understanding the importance of this very function, various African countries have taken the initiative to strengthen their healthcare workforce, including public health professionals.

2. Monitoring Community Health

Public health professionals focus more on collecting data related to community health. This data allows the government to keep track of the spread of the diseases. Thereby, they can take the required steps to stop the spread without further delays.

3. Identifying the Prevailing Health Issues in the Community

Public health workers will also be involved in identifying any health hazards, infectious diseases, evolving health issues, chronic disease patterns, and potential disease outbreaks in the community and report the same to the healthcare department to take necessary actions.

4. Initiating Educational Programs

Public health professionals must initiate periodical education slots to educate people in rural a reason personal hygiene, cleanliness, healthy diet and practices, immunization schedules, first aid for emergencies, and so on. Such information will protect people from various health problems and help them lead a disease-free life.

5. Designing Health Service Delivery System

Most people in the rural areas suffer from chronic illnesses due to poor access to healthcare services. Streamlining healthcare services and making them available for everyone in the community are vital roles of the public health professionals. They must partner with local healthcare providers, NGOs, or other public and private health service centers and promote even health service delivery.

Designing a proper healthcare infrastructure is required for a community to be prepared to face disease outbreaks and prevent diseases from spreading.

6. Making Policies and Regulatory Initiatives

Another important role of a public health professional is to develop plans, policies, and regulations that can improve community health. Every country, state, or local body will have already-designed policies. If that fails to meet the demand of the community health needs, it would be the public health professionals’ duty to take necessary actions to make policies that save humanity.

However, making policies requires an advanced level of education and experience.

7. Conducting Community Wellness Programs

It would also be the responsibility of the public health workers to conduct community wellness programs to

• Provide vaccination,
• Conduct health surveys among public
• distribute medical supplies to masses

And the list goes on.

8. Conducting Researches to Find Solution for Serious Illness

Public health specialists with advanced research degrees will have to conduct extensive research to find solutions for serious illness in the community. However, professionals with minimal educational qualifications can also participate if they have experience in certain public health specialization.

9. Identifying Potential Threats to the Community Health

It is a part of the public health workers’ role to identify potential threats to the community like obesity, childhood lead poisoning, infectious diseases, air pollution, pandemics, new pathogens that can cause serious illnesses, and much more. Timely identification is crucial to find solutions for such threats and safeguard the community and their health.

10. Providing Counseling to the Needy

Public health professionals with required educational qualifications and licenses can take up roles as community counselors where they may have to ensure the mental health of the population.

Why Do Public Health Professionals Need a Master of Public Health Degree?

Above listed functions of public health professionals demand a high level of professionalism. A mere experience does not enough to deliver the proper healthcare support to the community. Thus, public health professionals must take up advanced degrees in public health to protect community health. Especially, a master’s degree in public health will help you do the services with a proper understanding of the situation.

Benefits of Pursuing a Master of Public Health Course

Completing a master of public health course helps you understand various aspects of public health, access advanced career opportunities, and gain a better salary hike. Here are a few key benefits you will acquire from pursuing a master’s degree in public health:

1.  Improved Skills

The corona virus pandemic has taught us to stay aware. One thing that matters the most in public health is understanding the issue and creating guidelines to contain it. Pursuing a master of public health degree enables you to learn and gain experience to extract necessary factors and utilize tools to improve community health. At the time of such emergencies, public health professionals are better equipped to understand emergencies (its epidemiology and biostatistics) and act upon them.

2. Better Opportunities

The knowledge acquired during the Master of Public Health online degree will open up better career opportunities. You can earn a position as a biostatistician, public health director, disaster and emergency specialist, or epidemiologist. Most of these positions are accompanied by better pay.

3. High Impact on Groups

The most significant benefit of completing a master of public health degree online is the opportunity to impact public health positively. As professionals with a master of public health degree, you gain the ability to influence and help communities, disadvantaged groups, and populations.

Best Way to Pursue a Master of Public Health

Texila American University (TAU) offers an online Master of Public Health degree program. The program has been designed to provide you with the knowledge and skills to create a healthier future. This program is exclusively for working people who wish to upgrade their educational qualifications without leaving their job.

Master of Public Health Requirements

You are eligible to take up this online Master of Public Health degree if you have a bachelor’s degree in public health or related disciplines.

Upon choosing the online Master of Public Health degree at TAU, you will get access to:

• an advanced degree in public health at an affordable cost;
• highly qualified faculty;
• pool on online resources;
• easy-to-access learning management system; and
• Individualized support with dedicated coordinators.

After completing your bachelor’s in public health or any other related field, you can enroll in the Master of Public Health course from Texila American University. With our guided approach and affordable fee structure, you can easily complete your education online without leaving your job. This step would help you move towards a better-paying career.

Pursue your masters education

Start your masters education online without leaving your job to move towards a better-paying career. Enroll to the global standard masters in publich health program.

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