The Role of Public Health
The Role of Public Health Essay
The Role of Public Health Essay

Our “world” starts with our own community, county, and state, then moves out in concentric rings from that point to include our country and eventually the world. Disease is transmitted from person to person through direct contact, or from a source such as a vector or contaminated water through a variety of means, such as flood waters or even terrorist actions. Individuals with limited or no knowledge of safe sex methods may have unprotected sexual relations and knowingly or unknowingly transmit disease to their partners, then to their partners’ partners, and on and on. Often it is the role of the public health nurse to investigate a disease outbreak, contain it, and then educate others so that the same situation doesn’t happen again. The Role of Public Health Essay

In this Discussion, you will visit a site and interview people who work there about risks for disease transmission, then report on your findings.

To prepare, select which site you will visit from the following options:

High school nurse’s office
Water treatment plant
Public health department
Pediatrician’s office
Create a brief description of your setting, providing some context; for example, how many patients are seen, size or capacity of the facility as applicable, and/or the location of the office or organization.

Take pictures of the building and surrounding area/neighborhood to provide context. You do not have to include the interior/s of the building/s or people/clients who may be there.

Then, during your site visit, pose the questions listed in the following chart: The Role of Public Health Essay

High school nurse • What is the school’s policy on giving students advice about birth control?

How often do you get requests for information about birth control or how to protect oneself from an STD?
How do you track vaccination compliance, and what happens to students who fall out of compliance?
Local water treatment plant • Where does your community’s water come from?

Where is it stored?
How often is it tested for purity?
What safeguards are in place to prevent tampering with the water supply?
Local public health department • Does this department have an STD clinic?

In addition to testing, does the department offer treatment of one party or both parties?
What is the most frequently diagnosed STD?
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A pediatrician’s office • What is your policy on accepting patients who refuse vaccinations?

What are the most common reasons parents decline vaccinations for their children in this particular office?
What is the policy at this office for giving antibiotics to treat viral syndromes? The Role of Public Health Essay
Now, look at the site you visited through the eyes of the public health nurse (PHN). Imagine you are the PHN and have been asked to investigate an outbreak at this facility.

What questions would you ask?
What suggestions could you make to avoid a disease outbreak at the facility?
What would your role as a change agent be for any deficiencies you find in your on-site inspection?
Post your brief description and pictures of the site you visited. Share the answers you were given to the questions you posed. Then, respond to the above prompts through the eyes of a PHN asked to investigate an outbreak at this facility.

Support your response with references from the professional nursing literature.

Note Initial Post: A 3-paragraph (at least 350 words) response. Be sure to use evidence from the readings and include in-text citations. Utilize essay-level writing practice and skills, including the use of transitional material and organizational frames. Avoid quotes; paraphrase to incorporate evidence into your own writing. A reference list is required. Use the most current evidence (usually ≤ 5 years old).

The Role of Public Health, the Silent Sentinel

Public Health Department

This week’s discussion I decided to visit the local public health department, at the headquarter located in Marietta, Georgia. The purpose of the department is to promote health while safeguarding the health and safety of residents of Cobb County while collaborating with other different organizations. The department’s aim is to work towards achieving healthy people and healthy communities through the prevention of injuries, epidemics, and the spread of diseases while promoting health behaviors. The Role of Public Health Essay

According to my observations, the facility serves diverse age groups as indicated by children and the elderly population visiting the facility. It was also notable that there were different ethnicities where the blacks were the majority, followed by whites and Hispanic people. The facility was very well organized and clean, with two security guards at the main entrance. The facility is very large with many seats set for waiting clients/patients.

The department has an STD clinic where people from all age-groups attend undergo testing for different kinds of STDs. Before any STD test, an individual undergoes counseling especially if it is an HIV test. After testing positive for any STD, the facility promotes and encourages the treatment of both parties. According to the facility’s statistics, the most frequently diagnosed STD is human papillomavirus (HPV), followed by chlamydia and gonorrhea. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most common STDs in the US include syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia (Shannon & Klausner, 2018). The Role of Public Health Essay

If there was an outbreak in the facility, I would use interviews, observations, and case reviews to collect information about the outbreak. The questions I can ask would cover the time when the outbreak started; the number of cases; key symptoms of illness, whether food is implicated; any possible exposures allied to illness; and if laboratory tests and findings have been performed (Mark, 2018: Humphries et al., 2018). As a change agent, I would educate the healthcare providers in the facility about the required outbreak preventative practices such as observing hand hygiene, maintaining a clean environment, and the food preparation in the facility is hygienic (Isere et al., 2015). The Role of Public Health Essay

References

Humphries C, Jaganathan S, Panniyammakal J, Singh S, Goenka S, Dorairaj P, et al. (2018). Investigating clinical handover and healthcare communication for outpatients with chronic disease in India: A mixed-methods study. PLoS ONE, 13(12), e0207511.

Isere E, Fatiregun A, Ilesanmi O, Ijarotimi I, Egube B, Adejugbagbe A &Famokun GA. (2015). Lessons Learnt from Epidemiological Investigation of Lassa Fever Outbreak in the Southwest State of Nigeria December 2015 to April 2016. PLOS Currents Outbreaks. 29(1).

Mark O. (2018). Investigation of laboratory-confirmed Dengue outbreak in North-eastern Kenya, 2011. PLoS One, 13(6), e0198556.

Shannon C & Klausner J. (2018). The Growing Epidemic of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Adolescents: A Neglected Population. CurrOpinPediatr, 30(1), 137–143. The Role of Public Health Essay