Community Health Nursing: Shaping World Health Delivery

Global Health concerns us all, and Community Health Nursing has risen from humble beginnings to the forefront of shaping worldwide health policy and administration. Community Health has been practiced in one form or another throughout the ages in various manners ranging from the edicts of a village shaman to "wise women" and midwives who would instruct the community in health matters and tend the sick. The roots of Public Health Nursing in the United States go back to the late 1800's when wealthy women in several states hired trained nurses to tend the poor in their homes. These "visiting nurses" specialized in preventative care and health promotion receiving fees for their services based on the patient's ability to pay.

A Visiting Nurse Service was started in 1893 by New York nurses Lillian Wald and Mary Brewster, and in that same year Lillian Wald coined the term "public health nurse" to describe nurses who worked outside hospitals in poor and middle-class communities. In 1898, Los Angeles became the first city to officially employ a nurse to care for the sick in their homes, and by the early 1900's State Boards of Health regularly employed Public Health Nurses.

Today's Community Health Nurses need to be prepared at the BSN level or higher, preferably with a B.S. in Nursing and a Master's degree in Public Health. They work in a wide variety of settings which include Public Health Departments, nationally recognized voluntary agencies such as the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and other organizations, at the local, national, or international level of governments, in the CDC or at the World Health Organization, for private corporations, and as well paid consultants.

Community Health Nurses administer vaccination programs, conduct cancer screening, perform well-child examinations and healthy kid screenings, provide sexually transmitted disease education and counseling, HIV/AIDS counseling, education and testing, provide Tuberculosis screening and education, conduct communicable disease investigations, conduct school health promotion, community health fairs and education programs, respond to natural and man made disasters, as well as a growing list of additional duties. Public health nurses act as advocates for the welfare of the community as a whole, realizing that certain individual rights may have to be forfeited for the protection of the community.

Community Health Nursing Emphasizes:

• Prevention the spread of disease
• Health education and promotion directly to populations
• Safety education and injury Prevention
• Disaster planning and response
• Increase access to health care

Advanced Practice Community Health Nurses function at the local, state, national or international levels in establishing community health policies, developing and administering public health programs, as well as in direct management and administrative roles for governments and private sector concerns. While most nurses impact the health of individuals one at a time, Community Health Nurses impact the health of entire populations and play a leading role in shaping world wide health policies and delivery.

Employment Opportunities in Community Health Nursing

Public Health Departments have a great demand for BSN or high degreed registered nurses and offer diverse practice opportunities as well as good job benefits, but with today's emphasis on preventative health care Community Health Nurses have a wide range of career opportunities to choose from which include occupational health nursing, health education, health advisory leadership roles in governments or at world health organizations, occupational health experts for individual corporations, advisers, policy makers, and consultants about food safety, environmental safety, disease control, disaster management, or bio-terrorism. Community Health Nursing public education programs, policies, and interventions help prevent the suffering of millions of people around the world from diseases.

Educational Options:

Please explore the many accredited online and campus based schools of nursing that offer RN to BSN programs, Advanced Nurse Practitioner programs, and Masters in Nursing Science degrees and request free information from as many as you are interested in: Accredited Nursing Schools

Nurses and others interested in taking a leading role in Public Health might also wish to explore schools that offer accredited online Master's in Public Health or PhD in Public Health degrees as well: Public Health Degree Programs