What is a Community Health Nurse - Assignment Example

Community Health Nursing refers to providing health care to everyone living within a given community with the purpose of preserving, promoting, and maintain healthy levels of groups, families, and individuals within any given community.Trace several of the important concepts and practices that have guided Community Health practice through the yearsCommunity Health practice was emphasizing prevention as it is easier to prevent a disease rather than to deal with it or its consequences. However, due to the fact that prevention was much harder to measure than dealing with the actual illness, the focus has gradually shifted to dealing with illnesses.

As of now, preventive health practice is starting to receive much attention. Another important concept is teaching patients, educating them about proper nutrition, self-management, baby care, etc.Many of the principles, suggested by Lillian Wald, have become a foundation for the modern health care system, for example:Providing home nursing care on a fee-for-service basisEstablishing an effective cost-accounting system for visiting nursesUsing advertisements in newspapers and on the radio to recruit nursesReducing mortality from infectious diseasesHow are community health and public health defined, what makes them different and/or the same?

Community health nursing – nursing practice within a given community, the main purpose of which is maintaining, protecting, promoting, and preserving health levels of individuals, families, and groups within a community.Public health – is a scientific discipline that includes the study of epidemiology, statistics, and assessment—including attention to behavioral, cultural, and economic factors—as well as program planning and policy development.PHN or community-oriented nursing and CBN practice are not all the same.

The primary difference lies in the focus of public health nurses on populations and the health of the community versus a focus on illness care of individuals and families.Community health nursing works with families, groups, and individuals in a community. The specialized role of the community health nursing practice is maintaining, protecting, promoting, and preserving health within a community.