Chapter 3-page 1

Chapter 3 Answers to Critical Thinking Activities

  1. Many health consumers consider public health nurses as nurses hired by official agencies such as local or state health departments. Form a statementthat someone with an eighth grade education could easily understand that articulates the various practice settings in which public health nurses practice.

Statement will mention that public health nursing can take place in any setting. Literacy for eighth grade education or less can be checked by using the SMOG Readability Formula that can be found at: (Retrieved November 30, 2005). An example statement is: “Public health nurses provide nursing and public health services in all kinds of settings such as hospitals, schools, worksites, rural health clinics, and many different kinds of community settings. The public health nurse’s practice setting is basically any location where the nurse works to improve the health of groups, communities, and populations.”

  1. Public health nursing is a highly rewarding career yet one that has challenges. Identify some of the most pressing challenges for nurses in public health settings and identify some strategies to resolve them.

Pressing challenges include recruitment and retention of public health nurses, educational preparation, and working with insufficient resources. Strategies include advocating for higher pay of public health nurses, advertising the benefits of public health nursing positions (e.g., autonomy, high job satisfaction, creativity, independent practice). Strategies to deal with the challenge of educational preparation include articulating the importance of a four-year BSN degree in the role of a PHN, advocating for salary differentiation between associate degree, baccalaureate, and advanced practice nurses. Strategies to deal with insufficient resources include developing rapport and professional relationships with national, state, and local policy makers so that public health nurses can communicate frequently about the importance of a strong public health infrastructure. Other strategies include working with community partners, policy makers, and health professionals to prioritize public health nursing interventions based on existing resources, and advocating for additional resources by providing sound, articulate arguments based on evidence and needs of community members.

  1. Public health nurses typically practice in a wide variety of settings such as health departments, schools, occupational settings, homes, and hospitals. The setting may focus on acute care or have a broader community mission. How are the activities of public health nurses similar when settings have these missions? How are they different?

Public health nurses typically practice in a wide variety of settings such as health departments, schools, occupational settings, homes, and hospitals. These settings share commonalities in terms of providing places where PHNs can provide health promotion and disease prevention interventions and offer services to assess and intervene for improved health of groups of people with special risks and for the larger populations. The settings are different as some are places where people spend a lot of time on a regular basis (schools, and occupational settings) and other settings are ones where people go to seek health care services (health department clinics and hospitals).

  1. Obesity in children is a prevalent health issue that poses numerous challenges, but dealing with it is essential because of the healthful benefits that controlling obesity will bring. What interventions can a school nurse make at the systems level that would help decrease the prevalence of school-age children who are obese or at risk of becoming obese? What interventions could a school nurse conduct that would be focused at a community level?

Systems level interventions that a school nurse can make to help decrease the prevalence of school-age children who are obese or at risk of becoming obese include advocating for policies that enable every student to have physical exercise and/or physical activities on a daily basis for at least 30 minutes; substituting unhealthy foods and beverages in vending machines for healthier ones; and, collaborating with teachers, staff, cafeteria workers, parents, and students to evaluate cafeteria food choices and provide healthy nutritious choices. A school nurse could work to help change community norms and attitudes about nutrition and physical activity by submitting regular editorials about healthy food choices and/or media coverage on the benefits of improved nutrition and physical activity. Other strategies include conducting wellness programs or classes with school personnel, parents, and community members.