Public Health Nurse

Public Health Nurse – Doing this bit for the society as a large

Overview

The job of a public health nurse is to ensure that the public health is taken care of. It deals with the public and the community at large. Their focus is not only one particular individual or family member, but every person of the community. Hence, this form of nursing is also referred to as community public health nursing. The job of the public health nurse is to ensure that the health of every citizen is good and they also deal with epidemics and communicable diseases. They are educated, trained and possess the requisite qualifications and experience to undertake these activities. Public health nurse undergo training in nursing schools and colleges.

Academic Requirements

The Individual can qualify for the job provided they complete their Bachelor’s Degree in nursing that trains them on aspects related to physiology, environmental health and epidemiology. Their job is also to create awareness amongst the public to ensure that they take care of their health. There are a number of nursing schools and colleges that impart training and education on public health nursing and you can browse the internet to get more details about the same. Once they have the requisite academic qualifications, they can always take up advanced courses in community health and public health and also take up good jobs in these fields.

Years in school

Public health nurses have to complete their high school graduation and also should hold valid and registered certificates to work in nursing schools and colleges. They may also possess associate degrees that would help them in their career. They can always do their Masters in Nursing and take up a teaching profession to teach nurses in nursing schools and colleges.

Job outlook

Their main job is primary prevention of diseases. The job also includes prevention of disabilities, injuries, premature death and various other health ailments. The public health nurse coordinates with the senior doctors and medical advisers and specialists and helps in community health and healthy living. They may also be a part of the tem comprising of physicians, nutritionists, public health personnel and so on. Their job includes advising and guiding families to take care of their health and their family’s health as well. Only if every home is healthy, the State and the country would be healthy and happy. They guide and advise people on various healthy measures that need to be incorporated in everyday life that include proper diet, physical exercises, walking, refraining from unsafe sex and so on.
Their job also includes helping people make healthy and the right choices when it comes to eating and working. The community issues are addressed by them and these could be of great help to the country. People get more aware of the issues surrounding them and take the right steps and prevent the disease instead of curing them. Prevention is better than cure – This proverb helps us in every walk of life, especially when it comes to our health.
Those of you who would like to help people and address their health concerns may want to take up the job as a public health nurse. These professionals are into specialisation and treating health ailments. They are generally associated with community health and local clinics and take up jobs in these health care establishments. Their job also requires them to travel to places to educate individuals and community training to a group of people. There is a lot of responsibility associated with the role and the public health nurse does full justice to the role.

Salary

The job of public health nurse calls for a lot of commitment and dedication. The salary of public health nurse is around eight thousand US dollars annually and this is yet another reason for people to opt for this career. The job of a public health nurse is more like that of community nurses. It is a specialty profession and hence they are paid really well. Last but not the least; the salary is in accordance with the educational requirements and the experience of the professional.

Working conditions

Public health nurse work in schools, hospitals, medical centres and so on. There are nurses who are on the site of the job and they are referred to as occupational health public nurses. They also get jobs in health departments run by Government and also serve in other governmental medical care units and hospitals .Their job deals with a lot of patients and they are in touch with human beings day in and day out. One needs to exercise patience, care and perseverance if they have to take up the job as a public health nurse. Their job role also involves working as a case manager and they handle patients and also provide education to the families of the patients. They basically help in good community living.
Some of them may take up specialized services like paediatric community nursing wherein they deal with a lot of teenagers and kids. People are now beginning to understand the important of these community nurses or public health nurses and their services are required for a patient even when they are at home. The public health nurse would have to use different skills to be a perfectionist in the job.
A public health nurse may also treat ailments but their main duty is to educate people on various diseases, their prevention and to ensure that there are minimal complications. They are also into educating people about sexually transmitted diseases and guide people and reach out to people about variety of health programs. They are also members of various community programs and guide people about the positives of good health, community living and so on. They assist the nurses and other medical professionals and their work involves being associated with community centres, clinics and nursing schools. They may also want to work as freelancers or part time nursing professionals. The pay scales of these nurses are slightly lower as compared to nurses who work in conventional nursing environment or clinical settings.