Question

A. Usually, what can the community/public health nurses do to minimize the adverse effects of the environment on their clients' health? Provide some examples of the critical resources that are available to the community/public health nurse when working with clients in the home, in the occupational setting, and in the community?

B. Define disaster and list the types? What are the personal and professional responsibilities in the community of a community/public health nurse during a disaster? Discuss Canada's emergency management framework.

Answer 1

A. Five different roles/ responsibilities of a PHN:

- prenatal care

- postpartum home visiting

- routine immunization

- school healthcare

- occupational healthcare

- infectious disease control

- emergency preparation and disaster management

- healthy lifestyle promotion

- substance abuse prevention

- injury prevention

- environmental health

#. 6 essential functions of PHNs are :-

1. Health protection

2. Health surveillance

3. Population health assessment

4. Disease and injury prevention

5. Health promotion

6. Emergency preparation and response

#. Primary prevention and give 3 examples:

Prevention of initial occurrence of disease or injury

- Risk of illness, disease & injury are eliminated

- true avoidance of illness

- Ex: immunizations, nutrition counseling, prenatal classes, smoking cessation, safety education (seatbelt use), windshield survey of communities

#. Secondary prevention and give 3 examples:

Early detection of diseases and treatments with the goal of limiting severity and adverse effects

- Ex screening tools: vision, hearing, BP, mammograms, Diabetes control of outbreaks of communicable diseases

#. Tertiary prevention and give 3 examples:

Maximization of recovery after an injury or illness (rehabilitation)

- The impairment or disability from the disease process is halted

- "Limit Disability"

- Ex: Exercise rehab, speech rehabilitation, education/self-management for patients with diabetes, hepatitis, etc., treatment for HIV/AIDS

B. Disaster :-

An emergency of such severity and magnitude that the combination of death, injuries, illnesses, and property damage cannot be effectively managed with routine procedures and resources.

- Extreme Cold/Blizzard

Avalanche, erosion, snow melt (flooding), loss of plant and animal life, river ice jams (flooding)

- Hurricane

Flooding, landslide, erosion, loss of plant and animal life

- Drought

Fire, depletion of water resources, deterioration of soil, loss of plant and animal life

- Earthquake

Landslide, rock fall, avalanche

- Flood/Thunderstorm

Heavy rainfall, fire, landslide, erosion, destruction of plant life

#. Personal and professional responsibilities of a health care nurse during a disaster are :-

- Mitigation (prevention)

- Preparedness ( to save lives and plan for resucue , caring for victims , resources )

- response ( action taken to save lives )

- recovery ( action taken to return to normal post disaster )