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Hello all, I grew up in another country where nursing is not as diversed so
I have a stupid question but I just need to get it straight. Okay, can someone please tell me what is the difference between home health nursing and public health nursing? As in what do they do and where do they work. And I assume visiting nurses are in the home health nursing catagory right?
And how does family nurse practitioner differ from community nurse practitioner?

So if I tell you that in the future I would like to work in international settings and probably in less advanced countries, which experience would benifit me the most?

I know these are really simple and easy questions. It's just that I usually work in a med/surg setting so I never really get to know about the community field. Thank you all for your endurance. you've all been a great help!

[cinnyluvscats]

My understanding of these 2 types of nursing may be limited, but I'll tell you what I do know. Home health nurses visit patients in their home. I did this for about 3 months and it was hard work! You have to be a creative problem-solver and a good listener so you can adapt your care to the patient's needs and wishes. Lots of miles get put on your vehicle. Many times, being on-call is required as well as week-end and holiday working time. The pay can be decent if you're with a hospital-affiliated agency, but reimbursement for driving may not be so great.

Public health nursing is having an entire community or segment of it as your patients. A example would be working at a health department. Home visits are part of the job, but so are clinics and education. Disease prevention, vaccines, STD and infectious disease follow-up can be challenging. The pay is less than hospital nursing, but the hours are much better - primarily weekday hours, with occasional evening meetings or week-end events. I'm starting my 2nd year as an immunization nurse for a local health dept. and I really like my job there.

Hope this helps you!
Cindy

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Gee Thanks Cindy!! Your reply is extremely helpful! Thank you for you time! I really appreciate it!

[lauren728]

I work as a public health nurse, and usually just deal with moms and babies, but doing all home visits. There are other public health nurses in my department who also see older adults, help organize their meds, help with resources, etc. They also visit daycares and do education there, and lice checks, handwashing, flu shot clinics... very broad- but I find public health nsg to be more education, prevention, social workish...

Home health is more technical.. giving meds, dealing with lines, wounds, etc.... helping with more intensive 'sick' care, and not so much focused on prevention... at least that's how it is where I live.