Question

Many of the epidemics of the future will be defined by social problems such as substance abuse. Public health nurses can address societal issues by evaluating the problems and then determining what can be changed in the system to decrease the problem. You are a public health nurse at a health department. You would like to reduce substance abuse in your community. You investigate how substance abuse is being prevented and treated in your town. On the local level, you find that substance use prevention classes are taught at all the middle and high schools, and several substance abuse recovery centers are available. One of the substance abuse recovery centers is nationally recognized for outstanding care. On the state level, you find that several laws exist that punish those who engage in illegal drug use and selling. Punishments are especially strict for repeat offenders and for healthy persons who sell drugs to minors. On the national level, you identify several associations that research treatments for substance abuse and several Healthy People objectives that prioritize the need to reduce substance abuse for many populations. Throughout your assessment, you note a lack of health services for the children of parents who abuse drugs. Most of the services in your area are directed towards adults in recovery; however, the children of these adults are also affected by the addiction cycle. You decide to develop a counseling service for these children. You plan to offer a hotline for children to call, a support group network for these children, and education on how children should refrain from drug use. Use the above case study to answer the following questions: 1) What competencies does a nurse need to acquire in preparation for public health nursing service? 2) How do collaborative partnerships help public health nurses? With whom could you collaborate to address the needs of the children of parents who abuse drugs? 3) What criteria are necessary if an intervention is to be population based?

Answer 1

1. The competencies a nurse needs to acquire in preparation for public health service :

- you should be knowledgeable about all the problems that a community can face

- you should be very good at building interpersonal skills and good communication skills

- you should not be biased among the people of community

- you should be able to convince the people especially teenage people to be open towards you

- you should be ready to educate as well as counsel the people at anytime especially parents and abused of drugs

2. Collaborative partnership helps the public health nurses in a various different ways like:

- early detection of diseases

- early treatment

- primary, secondary, and tertiary treatments and care

- provide proper education and awareness to the teenage population of the society

The collaboration can be done with the children homes of abusers where they all can be taken care untill their parents are in the rehabilitation center. As well as the collaboration with the foster care services to take care of the children untill their parents arrive and are completely able to take care of their children.

3. The criterias required to formulate and intervention to be population based are:

- the topic should be related to the problems being faced by the people of community

- the topic should be chosen as such that the population are all benefitted at once

- it should not be related to any group or culture related

- the topic should not be discouraging