Overview of Community Health Nursing/Public Health Nursing
Overview of Community Health Nursing/Public Health Nursing
Overview of Community Health Nursing/Public Health Nursing
COMMUNITY HEALTH
NURSING/PUBLIC
HEALTH NURSING
Overview of Community Health Nursing
• The term "community health nursing" is
composed of three major concepts:
• Community - Client
• Health - Goal
• Nursing -The means
Two Major Fields of Nursing in the Philippines:
• 1. Hospital Nursing
• 2. Community/Public Health Nursing
Definition of CHN
Science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life,
“
promoting health and efficiency, through organized
community effort for the sanitation of the
environment, control of communicable diseases,
the education of individuals in personal hygiene,
the organization of medical and nursing services for
the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of
disease, and the development of the social
machinery to ensure everyone a standard of living
adequate for the maintenance of health, so
organizing these benefits as to enable every citizen
to realize his birthright of health and longevity”
Dr. C.E. Winslow
Art of applying science in the context of politics
so as to reduce inequalities in health while
ensuring the best health for the greatest
number
- WHO
• Special field of nursing that combines the
skills of nursing, public health and some
phases of social assistance and functions as
part of the total public health program for
the promotion of health, the improvement of
the conditions in the social and physical
environment, rehabilitation of illness and
disability
• -WHO Expert Committee of Nursing
• Community health nursing practice promotes
and preserves the health of populations by
integrating the skills and knowledge relevant
to both nursing and public health. The
practice is comprehensive and general, and is
not limited to a particular age or diagnostic
group; it is continual, and is not limited
to episodic care.
• - The American Nurses Association
ANA’s definition of community health nursing
highlights the following important points:
1. The goal of professional practice is the
promotion and preservation of the health of
populations
2. The nature of practice is comprehensive, general,
continual and not episodic
3. The knowledge base comes from nursing and
public health
4. The different levels of clientele— individuals,
families, groups/aggregates and community
5. The practitioner's recognition of the primacy of
the population as a whole.
Community health nursing is a specialized field of
nursing practice. Its basic knowledge and skills are
anchored on nursing theories and important concepts
from the science of public health such as:
1. Emphasis on the importance of the "greatest good
for the greatest number"
2. Assessing health needs, planning, implementing
and evaluating the impact of health services on
population groups
3. Priority of .health-promotive and disease-
preventive strategies over curative interventions
4. Tools for measuring and analyzing community
health problems
5. Application of principles of management
and organization in the delivery of health services to the
community.
Basic Concepts and Principles of CHN:
1. The FAMILY is the unit of care, the community is
the patient and there are four levels of clientele in CHN
2. The goal of improving community health is
realized through multidisciplinary effort
3. The community health nurse works WITH and not
FOR the individual patient, family, group or
community. The latter are active partners, not passive
recipients of care
4. The practice of CHN is affected by changes in
society in general and by developments in the health
field in particular
5. CHN is part of the community health system which
in turn is part of the larger human services system
OVERVIEW OF PUBLIC HEALTH
NURSING IN THE PHILIPPINES
The Philippine Public Healthcare Scenario
• The national budget allocation for health care
is relatively small.
• Local government units augment the national
budget to an undetermined extent.
• This scenario requires strategies that will allow
maximization of limited resources:
– Health promotion
– Disease prevention
Nurses in Public Healthcare
• Community/public health nursing is the synthesis
of nursing practice and public health practice.
major goal of CHN
-is to preserve the health of the community and
surrounding populations by focusing on health
promotion and health maintenance of individuals,
families, and groups within the community.
• The mission of public health is SOCIAL JUSTICE,
which entitles all people to basic necessities such
as adequate income and health protection and
accepts collective burdens to make this possible.
Concepts of Health
• The variety of characterizations of the
word illustrates the difficulty in
standardizing the conceptualization of
health.
• Common concepts in various definitions
include:
– Goal-directed/ purposeful actions,
processes, responses or behaviors.
– Soundness, wholeness, and/ or well-being
Concepts of Community
• Before 1996: definitions of community
focused on geographical boundaries,
combined with social attributes of people.
• Later part of the decade: geographical
location became a secondary characteristic in
the discussion of what defines a community.
1. People
2. Place
3. Interaction
4. Common characteristics, interests or
goals