ABOUT NC PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING

What is Public Health Nursing?

Public health nursing is the practice of promoting and protecting the health of populations using knowledge from nursing, social and public health sciences.

Source: APHA, Public Health Nursing Section. (2013). The Definition and Practice of Public Health Nursing.

Ten Ways Public Health Nurses Improve Health

Prevent

PHNs work inside and outside clinic walls to prevent conditions such as obesity, diabetes, injuries, school absenteeism, infant mortality, and spread of communicable diseases.

Educate

PHNs educate individuals, families, communities and stakeholders about healthy behaviors, environments, and policies that make the healthy choice the easy choice.

Coordinate

PHNs coordinate and integrate care and services across the lifespan to improve individual and population health outcomes, improve health equity and reduce cost.

Protect

PHNs protect people by educating about environmental hazards, preparing for emergencies and mobilizing during disasters.  

Lead

PHNs lead evidence-based quality practice and policy changes. They lead cross-sector and transdisciplinary collaborations that impact communities. 

Promote

PHNs promote health equity and health as a shared value through individual and community engagement and inclusion. 

Advocate

PHNs advocate for community assets that lead to healthier people such as safe and affordable housing, healthy school meals, tobacco prevention, safe places to walk/bike, appropriate behavioral health treatments, and trauma-informed care.

Care

PHNs care for people, families, and communities. They understand the importance of culture, language, literacy, and how these shape health, well-being, and equity. 

Integrate

PHNs recognize that health is a function of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. They assist individuals and communities in integrating a variety of needed services through collaborating, mobilizing and leading interdisciplinary teams, partners and consumers.

Research

PHNs use research to inform their practice and do research to improve health of the individual, family and community.

Download the "Ten Ways" Print-out

Source: https://www.mahoninghealth.org/ten-ways-public-health-nurses-improve-health/

Principles of Public Health Nursing:

Public health nursing is unique within the discipline of nursing because of its adherence to all the following principles:

1. The primary focus of public health nursing practice is on systematic and comprehensive population-focused assessment, policy development, and assurance.
2. Equity is both a core public health value and a goal.
3. Primary prevention is the priority in selecting appropriate activities.
4. Public health nursing focuses on strategies that create healthy social, environmental, and economic conditions in which populations may thrive.
5. Public health nurses collaborate with communities and populations as equal partners. .
6. Collaboration with members of other professions, organizations, and stakeholder groups as well as the population is the most effective way to promote and protect the health and well-being of the community.
7. Public health nurses are obligated to actively identify and reach out to all who might benefit from a specific activity or service.
8. Optimal use of available resources and creation of new evidence-based public health strategies are necessary to enhance the health of the population.

Source: American Nurses Association. (2022). Scope and Standards of Practice: Public Health Nursing, 3rd ed.

Interested in learning more about the Nursing Model?  Susan Little explains this 3-minute informational video, “The synergistic relationship of the Medical Model and Nursing Model in NC Public Health.”

North’s Carolina’s local health department nurse-driven
model of providing public health services.

In North Carolina, PHNs have been at the core of public health providing care for individuals, families, and communities prior to the evolution of clinical services that we now embrace as standard in North Carolina public health departments. PHNs then and now provide screenings for chronic disease, cancer, sexually transmitted disease, wellness assessments for children, prenatal, post-partum and newborn home visits, case management, nutrition education, and an array of other educational and prevention services all on our license as a registered nurse. Some of the services PHNs provide require standing medical orders, but most do not.  

North Carolina Public Health has always operated on a nurse-driven model (practice models/theories that emphasize the more holistic approach to disease) vs. the medical model (focused on the physical and biologic aspects of specific diseases and conditions) and continue to operate this way today despite the addition of comprehensive primary care and other specialty medical services in many of our health departments.

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