Introduction
Health promotion is defined as the process of assisting or enabling people to enhance control over, as well as to better, their general health (Turunen, Tossavainen, & Kemppainen, 2012). Health promotion goes beyond the emphasis on individual behavior to an array of interventions that are environmental and social in nature. Health promotion also has other varied definitions. It is understood as a practice that draws from the environmental, biological, medical, and even physical disciplines to not just promote health, but also prevent illness through informed behavior change activities (Dodani, 2011).
Health promotion
Health promotion is premeditated to constructively have an impact on the health behavior of communities and individuals as well as the working and living conditions that affect their health (Kulbok, Thatcher, Park, & Meszaros, 2012). Today, unlike in the past, nurses in their field of practice and even research settings can take part in the promotion of health. Right to this moment, nurse educators have been advising and teaching sick persons the best ways of managing their condition. It has been established that in the near future, that is likely to change as the emphasis will be encouraged through best practices on how people remain or maintain they’re healthy.
Therefore, the purpose of health promotion in nursing practice serves to help nurses to have an understanding that is based on evidence of the impact that can be made via different interventions and also to make the message available to the general public. The bottom line is that as more people become aware of the processes and activities that result in sound health and also become familiar with their status in terms of health, the health of the general public will improve.
How the nursing role and responsibilities are evolving health promotion
As it has been established under health promotion in nursing practice, public health nursing essentially involves the participation of the affected communities and medical practitioners to successfully manage to promote health and adopt primary prevention. According to Dodani (2011), these as well as other unique aspects of nursing in public health evolved mainly in the framework of philosophical and historical outlook on individual and general health, the nursing profession, and health care prevention. All these roles and responsibilities involve not just collaboration, but also partnerships with the general public to address social and health concerns.
Nursing in public health specifically developed as a distinct field of nursing at a point when public concern to filthy living conditions in urban areas and the general expansion of scientific knowledge was giving rise or leading to the emergence of preventive health care that was oriented towards the general population (Kulbok, Thatcher, Park, & Meszaros, 2012). With these, nurses in public health were viewed as having an important responsibility to attain developments in not just the health, but also the social situations and conditions of the population that is highly predisposed. This led to an earlier perception that nurses in public health were advocates.
In the early 2000s, nursing practice in public health was expanded to include very many responsibilities such as community nursing and home health. During this time, populations that were considered predisposed or at risk were the ones who were the most targeted (Turunen, Tossavainen, & Kemppainen, 2012). This population included the aged and young persons, individuals who are homeless, as well as those who are likely to contract certain diseases. The present-day public health nursing practice is often offered in partnership with many organizations and the focus is usually on the characteristics of the general population particularly those that are shared or promoted by different organizations. The contemporary role of nursing essentially emphasizes partnerships and collaboration with both communities and vulnerable populations.
Implementation methods in health promotion
Nursing practice is made up of different categories and some of them are Nurse Practitioners who are responsible for taking health histories and carrying out complete physical exams. They also provide supportive counseling and health teaching. Clinical nurse specialists usually offer advanced nursing care particularly in health care centers as well as other clinical sites (Dodani, 2011). They also serve as teachers, mentors, consultants, and researchers in the field of care. Certified registered nurse anesthetists usually work or promote health in areas like surgical centers that serve outpatients, and dental clinics. Lastly, certified nurse-midwives usually offer primary care to women. They mostly operate in places such as maternity centers, and community clinics.
Based on these classes of nursing practice, there are about five methods used to promote the health of people in diverse social settings. To establish healthy public policy; develop an environment that is highly supportive; enhance community action; build up personal skills and re-orienting services in the field of health or nursing. It must be noted that methods of health promotion may vary from one place to another depending on the availability of the community, vulnerable population, availability of medical staff, and even resources (Kulbok, Thatcher, Park, & Meszaros, 2012). Generally, the point of focus when applying the mentioned methods is that they incorporate values that enhance or strengthen community development and empowerment. They also enhance the individual’s capacity for learning, as well as unavoidably renovate systems in public health. These basic values allow processes in the promotion of health to exist or adapt to the fast-changing environment in public health.
Levels of health promotion prevention
There are three levels namely primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The primary prevention level mainly is aimed at reducing the incidence or rate of occurrence of new cases of infection. Therefore, the distinctive part is that is applied to people who are already predisposed to or at risk of infection. Secondary prevention level is usually aimed at reducing the number of people who are already infected in the general population. The distinctive aspect is that is applied at the asymptomatic stage or early clinical stage of the disease (Kulbok, Thatcher, Park, & Meszaros, 2012). On the other hand, tertiary prevention is usually used to primarily limit or control disability by simply enhancing functioning upon contracting an illness and is usually undertaken through the process of rehabilitation.
References
Dodani, S. (2011). Community-Based Participatory Research Approaches for Hypertension Control and Prevention in Churches. International Journal of Hypertension, 7 (2), 1-11.
Kulbok, P., Thatcher, E., Park, E., & Meszaros, P. (2012). Evolving Public Health Nursing Roles: Focus on Community Participatory Health Promotion and Prevention. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursin , 17 (2), 1-10.
Turunen, H., Tossavainen, K., & Kemppainen, V. (2012). Nurses’ roles in health promotion practice: an integrative review. Health Promotion International, 25 (7), 336-343.