Public Health Nursing
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Public health nurses are a vital resource in mobilizing and providing primary health care at the societal level. The nurses focus beyond taking care of the sick to having more roles such as political and social reforms, community organizing, advocacy, and health education (Malcarney et al., 2107). Public health nurses collaborate with community members and various agencies to extend care to the public. Therefore, working with agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can go a long way in providing care to the masses. By looking at the FEMA website, different areas can benefit a public health nurse. They focus on preparing, protecting, responding, mitigating, and responding to various hazards in the community. An area that I consider most helpful for public health nurses on the website is the Disasters & Assistance section.
The Disasters & Assistance section is subdivided into three divisions, such as the Current Disasters area, where information on prevailing disasters such as COVID 19, Texas winter storm, and different forms of hurricanes are available an extra option to search information on disasters within your location. The second subsection provides information on historical disasters, declaring disasters, and authority, and a section for donating and volunteering. The third subsection is on areas to get help in a catastrophe ranging from individuals and families to government and NGOs. The best thing about the website is that it is considerate of users from different cultural backgrounds and can translate into multiple languages.
I consider the section most helpful to public health nurses as it offers knowledge about historical and current disasters. This is crucial in public health as the nurses can use the information to provide evidence-based interventions guided by past occurrences, including health education for the public. Nurses’ role in public health is evolving to include educators, leadership, and even researchers (Malcarney et al., 2107). Therefore, the FEMA website’s information improves a nurse’s public health knowledge, scientific developments, and occurrences and patterns of disasters essential in mitigating disasters. The current focus in public health is shifting from care provision and treatment to understanding and tackling the various factors that impact the public’s health, safety, and well-being. With an account of different public health hazards, nurses can advise accordingly and even offer evidence-based care before, during, and after a disaster. I believe information is powerful and significant in transforming the public health sector towards quality and efficiency.
References
Malcarney, M. B., Pittman, P., Quigley, L., Horton, K., & Seiler, N. (2017). The changing roles of community health workers. Health services research, 52, 360-382.
Question
After reviewing the FEMA website, select an area that you think is the most helpful for a public health nurse to use. Explain your choice.
https://www.fema.gov/