Public health nursing has frequently been

described as the synthesis of public health

and nursing practice. Freeman (1963, p. 34)

provideda classic definition of public health

nursing:

Public health nursing may be defined as

a field of professional practice in mursing and

in public health in which technical nursing

interpersonal, analytical, and organizational

skills are applied to problems of health as they

affect the community. These skills are applied

in concert with those of other persons engaged

in health care, through comprehensive

nursing care of jamffes and other groups and

through measures fo evaluation or control of

threats to health, for health education of the

public, and for mobilization of the public for

health action.

In the Philippines, to this day, "public health

nursing" is seen as a subspecialty nursing

practice generally delivered within "official"

or governmental agencies. Recently, the ANA

has revised the standards of practice for this

specialty area (ANA, 2007). In the updated

standards, the ANA used the detinition

presented by the American Public Health

Association's Committee on Public Health

Nursing (1996). Thus, public health nursing

is defined as "the practice of promoting

and protecting the health of populations

using knowledge from nursing social, and

public health sciences (ANA; American

Public Health Association, 1996, p. 5). The

ANA (2007) elaborated by explaining that

public health nursing practice "is population-

focused, with the goals of promoting health

and preventing disease and disability for all

people through the creation of conditions in

which people can be healthy" (p. 5).

Community and publiC health nurses

practice disease prevention and health

promotion. It 1S important to note that

community health nursing practice is

collaborative and 1s based in research and

theory. It applies the nursing process to the

are of individuals, Tamilies, aggregates, and

community. Table 1.2 presents the Standards

for Public Health Nursing as formulated by

the ANA (2007).

In 1980, the American Nurses Association

(ANA) defined community health nursing as

"the synthesis of nursing practice and public

health practice applied to promoting and

preserving the health of populations" (p. 2).

This viewpoint noted that a community health

nurse directs care to individuals, families,

or groups; this care, in turn, contributes

to the health of the total population.

Community health nursing is considered

to be a broader and more general specialty

area that encompasses subspecialties that

include public health nursing, school nursing,

occupational health nursing, and other

developing fields of practice, such as home

health, hospice care, and independent nurse

practice.

Community health nursing practice requires

the following types of data for scientific

approach and population focus: (1) the

epidemiology, or body of knowledge, of a

particular problem and its solution and (2)

infomation about the community. Each

type of knowledge and its source appear in

Table 1.3. To determine the overall patterns

of health in a population, data collection for

assessment and management decisions within

a community should be ongoing, not episodic.

ln addition to interviewing clients and

assessing individual and family health,

community health nurses must be abie

TO assess an aggregate's health needs annd

resources and identify its values. Communiy

nealth nurses must also work with the

Ounity to identify and implemen

lditt

le

th

tC

Table 1

programs that meet health needs and

evaluate the effectiveness of programs after

implementation. For example, school nurses

were once only responsible for dealing with

emergency health conditions. Now they are

actively involved in assessing the needs of

their population and defining programs to

meet those needs through activities such as

health screening and group health education

and promotion. The activities of school nurses

may be as varied as designing health curricula

with a school and community advisory group,

leading support groups for elementary school

children with chronic illness, and monitoring

the health status of vulnerable school children.

Similarly, occupational health nurses are no

longer required to simply maintain an office

or dispensary. They are involved in many

different types of activities. These activities

might include maintaining records of workers

exposed to physical or chemical risks, moni-

toring compliance with occupational health

safety standards, teaching classes on health

issues, and leading support group discussions

for workers with health-related problems.

Private associations and nongovernmental

organizations (NGOs) employ community

health nurses for organizational ability and

health-related skill.