Public Health Nurses

Chances are, if you have children, or even close family members, you are very focused
on their overall health and well being, as well you should be. Public health nurses take
this to another extreme, not only are they concerned with the well being of their loved
ones, but also of the entire community as well. Everyday public health nurses treat and
teach people in the community how to care for themselves and their families, how to
prevent illness and disease, and how to prevent illness from spreading from family
member to family member. These nurses make a major impact on everyone in the
community they come into contact with.

If you are thinking about becoming a nurse, you should really consider becoming a public
health nurse. Public health nurses rely on knowledge from many different places, their
nursing education, their life, and social aspects of the community to teach and treat
patients in their own hometown. You are treating patients, but you are also educating
them at the same time.

Public health nursing is not a cut and dry job. You have to adapt based on the needs of
the community that you are serving. There are many factors that will contribute to your
success or failure in public health nursing, including the local culture, economic status,
and social aspects of the community that you are serving. You, as a public health nurse,
play a major role in the community, treating patients, teaching them how to stay healthy,
and prevent disease.

As a public health nurse, your job is to integrate your knowledge and involvement with
community health with your own drive to help the people of the community. You also
stand up for the people of the community and their healthcare needs to community
officials, so that policies are passed with these people in mind. You, one person, help get
the voices of the people of the community across to those officials who make decisions
for the community.

Depending on the size of the community, you may be the only public health nurse, or
may work side by side with other public health nurses, all trying to achieve the same
overall goal, better health for the people of the community. You will all work together to
educate the people on heath related issues, such as disease prevention and the importance
if immunizations, you will treat patients as needed, as well as speak for the needs of the
people in the community.

You can make the community that you live in a much better place with your efforts as a
public health nurse. Teaching parents and family members how to properly care for each
other is the best place to start. The more knowledge the people of the community have,
and the more interest in healthcare that you can promote, the better off everyone will be.
So, yes, you have a big responsibility as a public health nurse, but with it also comes
great reward in the knowledge that you are making a difference in the community that
you live in.