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Public Health Nursing (public + health_nursing)

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Terms modified by Public Health Nursing

public health nursing practice

Selected Abstracts

Public Health Nurses and the delivery of quality nursing care in the community

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 10 2008
DipHE, Trish Markham MSc (Hons)
Aim., The aim of the study was to explore factors which impact on quality nursing care in the community from the Public Health Nurse's (PHN) perspective. Background., Public Health Nursing has significantly evolved over the past few years with the delivery of quality nursing being a focus point. This study explores factors that impact upon the delivery of quality care in Public Health Nursing in Ireland. The findings provide an opportunity for an additional perspective to be included in the existing international findings and act as a starting point from which further research can be built. Method., A qualitative method using semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interviews were taped and content analysed. Findings., Four main categories emefrged from the data, namely role change, components of quality nursing care, barriers to quality nursing care and the factors that facilitate the delivery of quality nursing care in the community. PHNs strive for evidence-based practice; they acknowledged their inability to achieve this and referred to factors that inhibited them from reaching their goal. Conclusion., Enhanced education for PHNs will equip them in the delivery of a quality service and have a positive impact on patient care. Better communication is required between PHNs, line managers and the multidisciplinary team. The delivery of community services need to be reviewed and developed further in accordance with the health strategy policy. Relevance to clinical practice., This study has identified the evolution in clinical practice associated with the changing role and scope of Public Health Nursing. Clinical practice has evolved over time to incorporate societal change, technological advances and the delivery of an evidence-based service responsive to identified need. This study identified the presence of an increase in the specialist clinical work being undertaken as a result of new technological advances entering the community working environment. [source]

The Public Health Nurse and the Emotions of Pregnancy

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2010
Kent A. Zimmerman
ABSTRACT The excerpts taken from this historical article by Kent Zimmerman, M.D., a mental health consultant to the California State Department of Health, provide insight about the role of public health nurses in working with pregnant women. Dr. Zimmerman, an expert in the field of the psychological problems of pregnancy and early childhood, was a part of an international group of psychiatric dignitaries who met in 1952 in France at a conference examining the state of psychological knowledge and care of children (Soddy, 1999). In this paper, the psychiatrist addresses the need for education and support in providing mental health services to clients in public health venues, a theme he reiterated in 1952. In this piece, he argued that staff nurses in public health agencies be trained in basics of psychiatry and that specialists be hired to serve as permanent consultants to public health workers to help with the most challenging nurse-client interactions, and with the emotions that accompany difficult interpersonal work. While knowledge has developed a great deal since the publication of this article in February 1947 in Public Health Nursing, readers may be surprised to see that interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork were ideals more than 50 years ago. [source]

Friday at Frontier Nursing Service

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 2 2009
Anna May January
ABSTRACT The Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) was founded in 1925 in eastern Kentucky by Mary Breckinridge, a nurse whose interest in improving rural health and midwifery changed the course of rural public health nursing and improved health outcomes for some of the most isolated and poorest people in 20th century America. The visual image of Breckinridge on horseback visiting her scattered rural patients is imprinted on the minds of most public health nurses in the United States and has, perhaps, been the wellspring of many nursing career aspirations. The daily life of FNS nurses was one of hardship, uncertainty and variey, as is evidenced in this tale of one day; nonetheless, the experiment of a rural nursing service combining midwifery and generalized nursing was ultimately a tremendous success. The following historical reprint recounts a singular day in the life of Anna January, a nurse midwife at the FNS in Confluence, Kentucky. She captures the dialect and earthiness of the region and the period in her story, but the events she relates also illustrate how interconnected life events can be in rural communities. The original article appeared in the December 1948 issue of Public Health Nursing [Volume 40 (12), 601,602]. [source]

Future Families and Nurses of the Future as Seen in 1948

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 6 2008
Sarah E. Abrams
ABSTRACT On the occasion of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Community Service Society (CSS) of New York, Ruth Weaver Hubbard, president of the National Organization for Public Health Nursing, addressed the audience with a talk about "Nursing for Health in Tomorrow's Family." The full text of her speech was printed in the original Public Health Nursing in June 1948. This article presents excerpts of her forecast of the future of the American family and the role of the nurse in helping to achieve health. Predictions from the past provide an unusual historical perspective, one of peering into a future now some 50 years past. The fabric of life in the United States has changed dramatically since 1948, but Hubbard's opinion that nursing is integral to a team approach to helping individuals and communities address their own needs was articulated with profound conviction. [source]

The Best of Public Health Nursing, Circa 1941

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2008
Sarah E. Abrams
ABSTRACT Public health nursing was the term Lillian Wald used to describe the work of nurses whose role it was to address both the immediate impact of sickness and the underlying relationship between poverty, social disadvantage, environmental hazards, and disease. The nature and content of American public health nursing of the 1930s are reflected in exemplars from Marguerite Wales's 1941 book, The Public Health Nurse in Action. Nurses' roles as educators, caregivers, and case managers overcoming barriers emerge from the tales. These vignettes illustrate the organic relationships that existed between nurses and communities. Nurses' understanding of the nature and influence of environmental, psychological and social factors on health behavior was essential to effective public health work. Their stories help us interpret the meaning of nursing at a moment in time. They also reflect the values of the founders of Henry Street Nursing Service and supervisors of public and voluntary agencies throughout the U.S. and Canada who selected and edited them for instructive purposes. Reading collections of such narratives also helps us to appreciate the difficulty of negotiating complex needs, and may provide greater appreciation for the work of our predecessors as well as our own. [source]

Edna Dell Weinel, Champion of Public Health Nursing, Excerpts from an Oral History

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 2 2008
Irene Kalnins
ABSTRACT Edna Dell Weinel is a former executive director (1980,1991) of the Family Care Center, a federally funded neighborhood health center in St. Louis, Missouri; this position capped her career as a county public health nurse, state maternal-child nursing consultant, and educator. In all her positions, Weinel lived her values: working at one's highest level of skill, social justice, and teamwork, and used political skills to build alliances for the improvement of community health. Her many contributions to public health and public health nursing were recognized by the Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association in 1993 with the Ruth B. Freeman Distinguished Career award. In interviews conducted early in 2007, Weinel spoke of her pride in being a public health nurse, her unchanging belief that health care can best be delivered by teams, and that public health nurses are an essential part of any effective team. [source]

Nursing the Community, a Look Back at the 1984 Dialogue Between Virginia A. Henderson and Sherry L. Shamansky

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2007
Sarah E. Abrams
ABSTRACT Dr. Sherry L. Shamansky, one of the founding editors of Public Health Nursing, interviewed renowned 20th-century leader, Virginia Avenal Henderson (1897,1996), then research associate emeritus at Yale University School of Nursing, about the nursing of "aggregates." Their discussion, originally published in Public Health Nursing, in 1984 (Vol. 1, No. 4), highlights Henderson's views about the scope of nursing, health care organization and funding, and perceived tension between direct care of the sick in the community and preventive activities directed toward communities or populations at risk. Readers familiar with Henderson's influential definition of nursing may find her responses to interview questions helpful in understanding her view of the opportunities and challenges faced by public or community health nurses of the time. [source]

Learning to Live with Our Children

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 6 2006
Henrietta Fleck
ABSTRACT As the title suggests, being perplexed by one's children is not unique to the 21st century. In her paper, published in the original Public Health Nursing, Henrietta Fleck (1949), chair of Home Economics at New York University, addressed this persistent problem by providing advice on parent education methods for public health nurses. The materials,films, newspapers, cartoons, posters,are all within the nurse's arsenal today, supplemented by television, and the Internet. More interesting was Fleck's philosophy about parenting and family life. The excerpt omits the dated description of resources, focusing instead on her point of view. It reflects post-World War II optimism about the meaning and power of democracy in shaping familial behavior. The United States was readjusting to civilian life following World War II, fathers were returning home from military fields of action overseas, women were gradually being displaced from the industrial workplace,the country was expanding into suburbia and baby boomers were making their first appearances in the world. Fleck's assumptions include belief in the value of individualism, the importance of sharing both privilege and obligation, and the nature of maturity evidenced in an ability to make reasoned and reasonable choices and to hold oneself accountable for them. The limitations of her view are left to us to ponder. [source]

Public Health Nursing in Latin America

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2006
Hazel O'Hara
ABSTRACT This reprint of excerpts from an article printed in Public Health Nursing in February 1950 by Hazel O'Hara, a staff writer for the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, describes the state of public health nursing in clinics operated under the cooperative health programs of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, in conjunction with governmental entities in Latin American countries and the United States federal government in the mid-20th century. The Institute of Inter-American Affairs was an important element of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor" policy toward Latin America. Conceived by Nelson Rockefeller, Assistant Secretary of State in the Roosevelt administration, the program was delayed by the outbreak of World War II (NLM, 2005, June 22). O'Hara's colorful descriptions of jungle residents and poor residents of urban slums have been omitted because they reflect a past time and sensibility. The remaining information, however, is significant in understanding the development of public health nursing in countries where it had not previously existed, the expansion of the nursing workforce, and the creation of health centers that served communities to improve social conditions as well as health status. [source]

Changing Times, Changing Needs, Changing Programs

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2005
Article first published online: 24 JUN 200
EDITOR's NOTE, The following reprint of the unsigned editorial for the April 1952 issue of Public Health Nursing describes the historical needs and the continuing development of school health nursing from the early to mid-20th century. Twenty-first century schools continue to deal with some of the same issues such as hunger, poor nutrition, and the adverse effects of overly burdensome work schedules on adolescent health and mental well-being. The goal, so optimistically anticipated by the editors of Public Health Nursing in 1952, of continuous, well-coordinated health supervision from birth to maturity continues to elude us. Of course, school nurses and other health personnel address problems not openly discussed in the 1950s,substance abuse, violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and teen pregnancy. The theme of this historical editorial is the power of advocacy,and the responsibility public health nurses have to use our talents to improve child health. [source]

From Miasma to Fractals: The Epidemiology Revolution and Public Health Nursing

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2004
Marjorie A. MacDonald Ph.D.
Abstract If public health nursing is truly a synthesis of public health science and nursing science, then nurses must keep track of current developments in public health science. Unfortunately, the public health nursing literature has not kept pace with revolutionary developments in epidemiology, one of the sciences that informs population-focused nursing practice. Most epidemiology chapters in community health nursing texts do not reflect the intellectual development that has taken place in epidemiology over the past two decades. The purpose of this article therefore is to facilitate an updated synthesis by (a) reviewing the development of epidemiology and the focus of public health nursing practice through three historical eras, (b) discussing current controversies and tensions within epidemiology, (c) introducing an emerging paradigm in epidemiology based on an ecosocial perspective, and (d) discussing the congruence of this perspective with the evolving theory and practice of public health nursing. [source]

Integrating Research into Teaching Public Health Nursing

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 2 2004
F.A.A.N., Naomi E. Ervin Ph.D.
Abstract Integration of research into teaching provides an environment for students to not only learn how research is conducted but also experience how research contributes to improving practice and client outcomes. Integrating research into teaching is important because of the need to build evidence for public health nursing practice. This article describes an innovative approach by faculty to integrate research into teaching undergraduate and graduate public health nursing courses. This approach was developed using the Mexican-American Problem Solving research study. The purpose of the Mexican-American Problem Solving study was to develop, test, and refine a home- and school-based nursing intervention to improve family functioning, children's health conceptions, self-esteem, and mental health. Students were involved in all aspects of the study, including focus group sessions, instrument translation, data collection, intervention implementation, and dissemination of the results. The authors describe these activities and provide recommendations for successfully involving students in faculty research. [source]

Getting Your Feet Wet: Becoming a Public Health Nurse, Part 1

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2004
D.N.Sc., Lee SmithBattle R.N.
Abstract While the competencies and theory relevant to public health nursing (PHN) practice continue to be described, much less attention has been given to the knowledge derived from practice (clinical know-how) and the development of PHN expertise. A study was designed to address this gap by recruiting nurses with varied levels of experience and from various practice sites. A convenience sample of 28 public health nurses and seven administrators/supervisors were interviewed. A subsample, comprised of less-experienced public health nurses, were followed longitudinally over an 18-month period. Data included more than 130 clinical episodes and approximately 900 pages of transcripts and field notes. A series of interpretive sessions focused on identifying salient aspects of the text and comparing and contrasting what showed up as compelling, puzzling, and meaningful in public health nurses' descriptions. This interpretive analysis revealed changes in understanding of practice and captured the development of clinical know-how. In Part 1, we describe the sample, study design, and two aspects of clinical knowledge development,grappling with the unfamiliar and learning relational skills,that surfaced in nurses' descriptions of early clinical practice. In Part 2, which is to be published in the next issue of Public Health Nursing (SmithBattle, Diekemper, & Leander, 2004), we explore gradual shifts in public health nurses' understanding of practice that led to their engagement in upstream, population-focused activities. Implications of these findings for supporting the clinical learning of public health nurses and the development of expertise are described. [source]

Twenty Years of Public Health Nursing: Part 2.

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 6 2003
Looking Ahead
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

,Faced' with responsibility: Levinasian ethics and the challenges of responsibility in Norwegian public health nursing

NURSING PHILOSOPHY, Issue 3 2007
Anne Clancy PHN (Candidate)
Abstract, This paper is concerned with aspects of responsibility in Norwegian public health nursing. Public health nursing is an expansive profession with diffuse boundaries. The Norwegian public health nurse does not perform ,hands on' nursing, but focuses on the prevention of illness, injury, or disability, and the promotion of health. What is the essence of ethical responsibility in public health nursing? The aim of this article is to explore the phenomenon based on the ethics of responsibility as reflected upon by the philosopher Emanuel Levinas (1906,1995). From an ethical point of view, responsibility is about our duty towards the Other, a duty we have not always chosen, are prepared for, or can fully explain; but it is nevertheless a demand we have to live with. Interviews with five experienced Norwegian nurses provide the empirical base for reflection and interpretation. The nurses share stories from their practice. In interpreting the nurses' stories, the following themes emerge: personal responsibility; boundaries; temporality; worry, fear, and uncertainty; and a sense of satisfaction. As the themes are developed further, it becomes apparent that, despite their diversity, they are all interrelated aspects of ethical responsibility. Responsibility for the Other cannot be avoided, ignored, or transferred. The nurses' responsibility is personal and infinite. Levinasian ethics can help nurses understand the importance of accepting that being a responsive carer can involve not only contentment in the predictable, but also the fear, worry, and uncertainty of the unpredictable. [source]

The Best of Public Health Nursing, Circa 1941

The Public Health Nursing Practice Manual: A Tool for Public Health Nurses

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 2 2004
M.S.N./ M.P.H., Sharon D. Sakamoto R.N.
Abstract Public health nursing is recognized as an important and critical component of the public health workforce, and today, it makes up the largest single category of public health professionals, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preparation of generalist public health nurses with the knowledge base, skills, and training to effectively respond to public health challenges is essential. The County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services, Public Health Nursing Section, in response to this need, implemented the Public Health Nursing Practice Manual to provide public health nurses with interventions and guidelines to articulate their role and practice as outlined by the framework of the Public Health Nursing Practice Model developed by Los Angeles County. Identification and development of new methods to support the practice of nursing is imperative in facilitating a more sophisticated and expanded level of practice, as well as providing a means of improving, protecting, and enhancing the quality of health for all people. The Public Health Nursing Practice Manual is an effective tool to monitor performance improvement and provide standardization of the generalist public health nurse practicing in Los Angeles County. [source]

Use of Nursing Diagnoses and Interventions in Public Health Nursing Practice

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING TERMINOLOGIES AND CLASSIFICATION, Issue 1 2002
Jennifer C. Rivera MSN
PURPOSE. To determine the frequency of use of NANDA diagnoses and the Nursing Interventions Classification in care plans written by public health nurses (PHNs) in Orange County, CA. METHODS.Retrospective chart review. FINDINGS. The frequency pattern of nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions used in care plans is consistent with the scope of practice of the PHN, whose emphasis is on health promotion and disease prevention. CONCLUSIONS. The most commonly used diagnoses and interventions provide evidence of a core set of interventions useful for PHN practice. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE.Linking diagnoses and interventions allow PHNs to build a body of knowledge based on patient care and improve clinical decision-making process. Search terms:Interventions, nursing diagnosis, public health nursing Utilisation des diagnostics infirmiers et interventions en santé publique BUT.Déterminer la fréquence des diagnostics infirmiers (ANADI) et des interventions (NIC) dans les plans de soins rédigés par les infirmières de santé publique dans le Comté d'Orange, CA. METHODE.Étude rétrospective des dossiers. RÉSULTATS.La répartition des diagnostics infirmiers et des interventions utilisés dans les plans de soin est cohérente avec la pratique des infirmières en santé publique, c'est-à-dire qu'elle souligne l'importance de la promotion de la santé et la prévention de la maladie. CONCLUSIONS.Les diagnostics et interventions les plus fréquemment utilisés permettent d'identifier le groupe d'interventions au centre de la pratique des soins en santé publique. IMPLICATIONS POUR LA PRATIQUE.L'articulation des diagnostics et interventions de soins permet de construire un corpus de connaissances en santé publique basée sur le soin des patients et d'améliorer le processus de décision clinique. Mots-clés:Diagnostics infirmiers, interventions, soins infirmiers en santé publique Utilización de los diagnósticos e intervenciones de enfermería en la práctica de enfermería de salud pública PROPÓSITO.Determinar la frecuencia del uso de los diagnósticos de la NANDA y de la clasificación de las intervenciones enfermeras (NIC), en planes del cuidados escritos por enfermeras de salud pública en el Condado de Orange, California. MÉTODOS.Revisión retrospectiva de gráficos. RESULTADOS. El patrón de frecuencia de diagnósticos de enfermería y de intervenciones enfermeras utilizados en los planes del cuidados, es consistente con el ámbito asistencial de las enfermeras de salud pública, cuyo énfasis está en la promoción de salud y la prevención de la enfermedad. CONCLUSIÓN.Los diagnósticos e intervenciones más comúnmente utilizados, proporcionan evidencia de un grupo nuclear de intervenciones útiles a la práctica de enfermería de salud pública. IMPLICACIONES PARA LA PRÁCTICA.Conectar los diagnósticos y las intervenciones permite a las Enfermeras de Salud Pública construir un cuerpo de conocimientos basado en el cuidado de los pacientes y mejorar el proceso de toma de decisiones en la práctica clínica. Términos de búsqueda:Diagnóstico enfermero, enfermería de salud pública, intervenciones Uso de diagnósticos e intervenções de enfermagem na prótica de enfermagem em Saúde Pública OBJETIVO.Determinar a freqüência de uso dos diagnósticos da NANDA e da Classificação de Intervenções de Enfermagem (NIC) em planos de cuidados escritos por enfermeiras da área de Saúde Pública no Condado de Orange, Califórnia. MÉTODO.Revisão retrospectiva de fichas. ACHADOS.O padrão de freqüência de diagnósticos de enfermagem e intervenções de enfermagem utilizados em planos de cuidados é compatível com o escopo da prática das enfermeiras da área de Saúde Pública, cuja ênfase está na promoção da saúde e prevenção de doenças. CONCLUSãO.Os diagnósticos e intervenções mais comumente utilizados evidenciam a existência de um conjunto de intervenções principais, que éútil para a prática destas enfermeiras. IMPLICAÇõES PARA A PRÁTICA. A ligação entre diagnósticos e intervenções permite às enfermeiras da área de saúde pública construírem um corpo de conhecimentos baseado no cuidado do paciente e melhora o processo de tomada de decisão. Palavras para busca:Diagnóstico de enfermagem, enfermagem em saúde publica, intervenções [source]

The art of public health nursing: using confession technè in the sexual health domain

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 4 2006
Dave Holmes PhD RN
Aim., This paper explores the sexual health interview from a critical perspective, and to demonstrate how the confession ritual involved in this interview is implicated in the construction of subjectivities (meaning identities) as well as in fostering self-surveillance (self-regulation). Background., The concept of public health depends primarily on several surveillance tools that monitor both the incidence and prevalence rates of certain diseases. Within the subgroup of infectious diseases, sexually transmitted infections comprise a group that is closely monitored. As a result, surveillance techniques, including policing sexual practices, are part of the public health worker's mandate. Method., Using a Foucauldian perspective, we demonstrate that confession is a political technology in the sexual health domain. Findings., As one group of frontline workers in the field of sexual health, nurses are responsible for data collection through methods such as interviewing clients. Nurses play an integral role in the sexual health experience of clients as well as in the construction of the client's subjectivity. We strongly believe that a Foucauldian perspective could be useful in explaining certain current client behavioural trends (for example, an avoidance by at-risk groups of interactions with nurses in sexual health clinics) being observed in sexual health clinics across the Western hemisphere. Conclusion., Clinicians need to be aware of the confessional nature of their questions and provide requested services rather than impose services that they determine to be important and relevant. By appreciating that the sexual health interview is an invasive and embarrassing sexual confession, healthcare providers and policy-makers may be better able to design and implement more user-oriented, population-sensitive sexual health services. [source]

Reliability and validity of the CCNCS: a dependency workload measurement system

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 10 2008
Anne-Marie Brady BSN, PG Dip in Health Sciences Ed
Aim., To refine, test and evaluate the Community Client Need Classification System (CCNCS). Background., Workload assessment in community nursing is complicated by the range of services that may be delivered in one patient interaction. The CCNCS is a workload measurement system designed to capture the direct and indirect elements of community nursing work and is suitable for use with all care groups in the community. Design., Survey. Method., Forty-four community nurses implemented the CCNCS with all clients in their caseload for four weeks. Community nursing in the Irish Republic is known as public health nursing. The Public Health Nurses (PHNs) recorded the total time in minutes that was spent on each client each week. The satisfaction with and experiences of PHNs using the CCNCS during the study period was also recorded. Results., Participants endorsed the utility of the CCNCS for use in community nursing. Inter-rater and intra-rater reliability results were positive with high level of agreement between raters in relation to scoring community clients. The amount of time the PHNs spent with clients correlated with ascending level of client need. Conclusions., The CCNCS affords insight into the complex nature of community nursing. It discriminates between levels of need and has potential to provide a standardised assessment of need in all community-nursing clients. Adequate resources are required to conduct further testing of the reliability and predictive validity of this system. Relevance to clinical practice., The CCNCS can provide objective evidence of community nursing workload and thus facilitate workforce planning. [source]

,Faced' with responsibility: Levinasian ethics and the challenges of responsibility in Norwegian public health nursing

Friday at Frontier Nursing Service

Addressing Nonresponse Bias in Postal Surveys

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2009
Shannon E. MacDonald
ABSTRACT Postal surveys are sometimes thought of as a simple option for collecting data in community-based studies; however, nurse researchers must exercise care in appropriately addressing the issue of nonresponse. In particular, both the reporters and the users of such research should look beyond survey response rates when considering nonresponse bias. This article describes the benefits of using postal surveys in public health nursing research, while noting the various potential sources of survey error. Particular attention is directed to the implications of low survey response rates, including decreased power, increased standard error, and nonresponse bias. The belief that increasing response rates will necessarily reduce nonresponse bias is discussed, with an emphasis on the need to identify the reasons for nonresponse and to be judicious in the use of strategies to reduce nonresponse bias. Common response-enhancement strategies are identified, while noting the potential for these strategies to increase nonresponse bias. Assessment of the presence and magnitude of nonresponse bias is discussed, and techniques for postsurvey data adjustment are noted. The need to consider nonresponse bias in designing all phases of the study is highlighted, and is exemplified with a case study. [source]

The Public Health Nursing Bag as Tool and Symbol

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2009
Sarah E. Abrams
ABSTRACT This historical article presents information about the public health nurse's bag as used in mid-20th century America. The bag was an essential of practice, containing items necessary for providing home care to the sick, maternity nursing, health demonstrations, and other functions within the role of public health nursing agencies or private organizations in which nurses gave home care to multiple patients. Contents of the bag and specifications for their use are described. The historical use of the bag as both a repository for the instruments of skilled care and expert knowledge and of bag technique as a means of infection control may help explain the endurance of the black bag as a symbol of public health nursing. [source]

The Best of Public Health Nursing, Circa 1941

Edna Dell Weinel, Champion of Public Health Nursing, Excerpts from an Oral History

Comparison of the Dissemination and Implementation of Standardized Public Health Nursing Competencies in Academic and Practice Settings

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 2 2006
B.S.N, M.S.N., Sonda Oppewal Ph.D.
ABSTRACT Objectives: To assess the use of the "Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals" standards in practice and academic work settings by public health nurses (PHNs), and to determine differences between practitioners and faculty. Design: Nonexperimental, descriptive study using a cross-sectional survey. Sample: Three public health nursing (PHN) organizations sent invitations to all members. A total of 334 (18.7%) from an estimated 1,786 members completed the survey. Measurements: The investigators developed a 17-item web-based survey with open- and closed-ended responses, using Rogers' diffusion of innovations as a theoretical framework. Results: Respondents are equally familiar with the competencies for public health professionals disseminated by the Council on Linkages and for PHNs by the Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations (Quad Council). Two thirds of PHNs are aware of the competencies after only 2 years, primarily from professional PHN organizations. Faculty are adopting and using the competencies at a significantly faster rate than practitioners. Conclusions: Faculty and practitioners who use the competencies value them, and rarely discontinued their use after adoption. Efforts to promote diffusion among faculty and especially practitioners need to continue. Professional organizations can actively provide and share examples of useable formats and best practices associated with the competencies. [source]

Matching a Graduate Curriculum in Public/Community Health Nursing to Practice Competencies: The Rush University Experience

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 2 2006
R.N.C., Susan Swider Ph.D.
ABSTRACT An evidence-based approach to Public/Community Health Nursing (P/CHN) requires that P/CHN educators prepare practitioners with the relevant skills, attitudes, and knowledge. Such education should be competency-based and have measurable outcomes to demonstrate student preparation. In 2003, the Quad Council competencies were developed to be applied at two levels of public health nursing practice: the staff nurse/generalist role and the manager/specialist/consultant role. This paper describes a process for evaluation and revision of a graduate curriculum to prepare Advanced Practice Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) in P/CHN, to ensure that the educational program addresses and develops knowledge and proficiency in all relevant competencies. This paper documents the process of integrating the competencies throughout the P/CHN graduate curriculum at varying levels, guiding students to achieve proficiency in each competency by the end of the program. Measurement of achievement in these competencies will be discussed, and examples provided. Advanced Practice Public Health Nurses educated via this competency-based approach will be prepared to sit for national certification as a CNS in Public/Community Health, and to assume leadership roles in public health nursing. [source]