The Role of a Nurse as a Health Educator - Essay Example

Running Head: Role of a Nurse as a Health Educator Role of a Nurse as a Health Educator [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institution] Role of a Nurse as a Health Educator It is complicated to define the precise role of a nurse as a health educator. There is no fine line presents that determines exactly where the professional role of a nurse crosses over to the personal lives of the patients. Tones (1997) defined the role of a nurse as, “…to prevent disease and safe guard the public health, while on the other hand, respect individual freedom of choice…including the freedom to adopt an unhealthy life-style.” However, research done by Cantrell (1997) has shown that most nurses perceive health promotion and education as a part of their job description. Norton (1998) stated that though the instruction given by a nurse provides the patients with an awareness of what is wrong or right, it does not necessarily imply that people will change their life-style, however unhealthy it might be. The coaching can simply give the public an unbiased view and help them to ultimately make their individual choice. However, if an educated human adult knowingly makes a decision that ultimately harms his or her body (such as eating unhealthy foods) then nurses need to realize that the client has a “freedom of choice” to make that particular decision. On the other hand, interest in health education is steadily on the rise. The reason being that many health problems (e.g. obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes etc.) are dependent upon the type of life-style that a person leads. In addition, Norton has stated that there are a number of other factors that are mandatory to effectively analyze the effect of health education on a person namely; biological, environmental social and economic factors etc. In his paper Norton has stated that though health is the responsibility of the individual, nurses should not eliminate the influence of various external forces that influence the person. An example is the need to reduce the number of children in road accidents in a particular neighbourhood is given. Though it is mandatory to educate the children about road signs and to develop their cycling skills, it is also obligatory for the government (i.e. the external force) to provide separate pathways for children to cycle on, so that the chance of an accident may be completely eliminated. Norton has called this a “multifaceted approach” and just such an approach is required to educate the pubic about health related issues. This leads us to one of the most important theoretical concepts in health education known as the social cognitive theory. The essence of this theory is that a patient will modify his/her behaviour only if there is an underlying motivation, drive, impulse or any other factor for an alteration. Similarly, this theory also studies the factors as to why a patient adopts certain behavioural characteristics and not others (Whitehead 2001). Therefore, this theory assists nurses to determine the underlying factors behind a patient’s behaviour and thus, subsequently helps to rectify the patient’s behavioural patterns. Similarly, Cantrell (1997) has stated that nurses often promote health in the same manner as marketers promote goods or services. The same underlying behaviour patterns such as those used for consumers are used. However, the role of a nurse may differ immensely depending upon the circumstance and the establishment; he/she is working for. For example, a nurse who works in a school will require different skills than one who works with the elderly. At a school, not only does a nurse have to work with physicians, public health and social service agencies but she also has to act as a psychologist of a sort to the students. The reason being she has to deal with a wide range of issues such as immigration, substance abuse, and divorce etcetera. Similarly, specialized training will be required for her to take care of children with disabilities (Norton 1998) or even to handle a problem as commonplace head lice (Arkansas State Board of Nursing 2000). One of the main elements of nursing is community health. Community care of patients originally meant the “institutionalization” (Savage 1998) of the patients. However, in 1981, a white paper by the name of “Growing Order” determined that community care should be voluntary and should be done in a professional and an informal setting. Another role of a nurse is to teach preventive methods to patients. Be it classes on safe sex to teenagers, targeted short-term mental therapy, pre-surgical intervention to council patients or brief advice to reduce alcohol use, all of these are included in preventive methods. The World Health Organization’s Adelaide Recommendations on Healthy Public Policy (1998) states that, “Healthy public policy is characterized by an explicit concern for health and equity in all areas of policy and by accountability for health impact. The main aim of health public policy is to create a supportive environment to enable people to lead healthy lives. Such a policy makes health choices possible or easier for citizens. It makes social and physical environments health enhancing. In the pursuit of healthy public policy, government sectors concerned with agriculture, trade, education, industry and communications need to take into account health as an essential factor when formulating policy. These sectors should be accountable for the health consequences of their policy decisions. They should pay as much attention to health as to economic considerations.” Thus, health is not only a right of the rich or the powerful, but, according to the healthy public policy, it is the right of each and every individual. Governments all over the world need to invest in the health policies of their country. And the well-to-do countries of the world should provide for those countries that do not have enough monetary funds to sustain their populace. Every human being ought to have the basic necessities of life. The reason that many people in the world today do not have the basic necessities of life is due to the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor of the world. A policy that would close the societal gaps that exist among the peoples of the world is urgently required. The world is changing at a very fast pace and if issues such as health, are not catered to in a timely manner, the inequalities will only increase. Governments, corporate businesses and the citizens of the various nations need to promote issues pertaining to health and healthy living. Bibliography Arkansas State Board of Nursing. (2000). School nurse roles & responsibilitiespractice guidelines. Retrieved June 10, 2003 from http://www.arsbn.org/position_statement.html/ Cantrell J. (1997) ‘Health Education and Patient Education: Literature Review and Management Issues’ Managing Clinical Nursing vol.1 pp. 11-14 Norton, L. (1998) ‘Health Promotion and Health Education: What Role Should The Nurse Adopt In Practice?’ Journal of Advanced Nursing vol. 28, no. 6 pp.1-7 Savage, P. (1998) ‘Care in the Community’ Journal of Community Nursing vol. 12, no. 01. Tones, K. (1997) ‘Health Education As Empowerment. In Debates and Dilemmas in Promotion Health’ A Reader (Sidell M., Jones L., Katz J. & Peberdy A. eds), Macmillan/The Open University, Buckingham, p.p. 33-42 World Health Organization (WHO)1998, Adelaide Recommendations on Healthy Public Policy, Second International Conference on Health Promotion, Adelaide, South Africa Whitehead D. (2001) ‘A Cognitive Model For Health Education/Health Promotion Practice’ Journal of Advanced Nursing vol. 36 pp. 417 Read More