My Interview With a Public Health Nurse :: Public Health Care Essays

â€Å"A public health nurse is a nurse who works to promote and protect the health of an entire population† (Allender, Rector, & Warner, 2010, p. 839) the public health nurse I chose to interview was Barbara, she currently works for the Health department and has been there for three years. During the interview Barbara discussed the requirements for a public health nurse. The individual must have the ability to exercise independent judgment, planning and able to administer safe effective public nursing care. In addition be able to work effectively with individuals and families to assist them in the satisfactory solution of health problems, by recognizing and respecting of different cultural, ethnic and difference on health care practices. The nurse is also required to know disease prevention such as, different techniques on teaching, counseling, interviewing and resources available. Barbara stated that the most important part of being a public health nurse is being able to care . Barbara acknowledged that there are numerous individuals that she assists everyday that just want someone to exhibit that they care and understand. The education a public health nurse should obtain is a bachelor’s degree in nursing, which Barbara posses. â€Å"Public health nurses working with specific populations or in administration position should hold a master’s degree† ( Allender et al., 2010, p.839). Barbara discussed that before becoming a public health nurse she worked at St. Francis Hospital as med-surge nurse for five years, after that it was imperative that she change working environment. Barbara confirmed that working as a nurse in the hospital was extremely diverse then working as public health nurse. â€Å"Comparing public health nurse and general nurse, public health nursing is population based, focuses on the greater good, health promotion and disease prevention, and utilizes community resources. The general nursing is individual based, focus es on individual good, restoration of health and function, and manage resources at hand† (Minnesota Department of Health, 2007). In the beginning Barbara thought that public health nursing would be a difficult job to gain knowledge of however, she established that it was exceptionally effortless and gratifying career to posses. Barbara stated that she did not realize how much assistance was out there for the public until; she worked as public health nurse. Barbara spends 95% of her day going from place to place by doing home visits, investigating different cases, assisting with screening programs and enormous amount of paper work.