Public Health and birth control

Nurses General Nursing

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Can you be a public health nurse and not have to give out birth control (morning after pill especially)?

Ah, I remember the OP. Comes by every so often and starts a similar topic.

Well, the OP is in Canada. Alberta, if I recall correctly. Our Public Health doesn't work like that. A nurse belongs to a specific programme within the Public Health System: Immunization, Well Baby/Mum, School Health. Sexual Health is often a separate programme. These medications are bought at pharmacies. Our provincial health service is very big on "safe" sex promotion. I recall the Syphillis campaign the other year basically told everyone to use a CONDOM!!!

As has been suggested to the OP many times, in many other posts stay away from any programme that involves dealing with women of childbearing age within the Public System. Working a Gynie unit in Acute Care will expose her to second trimester terminations to due fetal issues incompatible with life. School Programmes may have pesky teenagers asking a nurse (someone who isn't a relative or teacher) about birth control because they feel safe asking someone who isn't a part of their day to day life.

I am not starting a similar post, i was responding because 6 months later another person had posted something on here. :)

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I see from your other post that you haven't even started nursing school yet. In that light, I wouldn't worry about this issue. By the time you're ready to work, you'll be a little older and will have a lot more insight into other people's experiences. And you may very well have a different take on this (I'm speaking from my own experience... I was adamantly anti-abortion at your age, and am now equally adamantly pro-choice).

Of course, if you're still anti-abortion after getting some life experience - and many people are - then all you have to do is pick a line of work where it will never be an issue. Quite simple, really. Geriatrics or a Catholic institution may be your best bet.

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Do patients discuss things like abortion with you? Can you opt out of having those discussions?

so far we know that you don't want to dispense plan b to prevent an unwanted pregnancy:

and you would prefer not to discuss/educate women about abortion.

so let me ask...what is it about public health that appeals to you?

let me tell you, the public health community is mostly comprised of the poor working and non-working population, as well as prostitution, indigents, junkies, and all-around street people.

from what you have posted, i would strongly discourage you from pursuing public health.

seriously.

there are so many areas of nsg...why not forget about this particular specialty, yes?

leslie

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Yeah, but if somebody claims that they "need" an abortion, (and nobody needs this) doctors and nurses should not be forced to participate in any way. I want to go into healthcare to help people. I know the morning after pill is becoming very popular, and I do not agree with it. I know that I could never give that to somebody

You can't bring your values to other people's lives. If this is how your going to provide care in any health care setting, you are denying the patients of their autonomous rights by not allowing them to be informed of LEGAL options. You cannot dictate what a person's need are because each person is different. Thus, you cannot say that "nobody needs" abortions or plan b. You need to understand that the legality of x action is not necessarily closely tied to x action's morality. Doctors and nurses are not forced to participate, they have a choice not to work in those settings. To my understanding, you're not a nurse or a student nurse yet. I'm sure that when you do decide to attend nursing school you'll learn what everyone it trying to reiterate. Frankly, I feel you do not have a full grasp on the nurses role and thus, you are perplexed at the answers you receive in this thread. Good luck to you.

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so far we know that you don't want to dispense plan b to prevent an unwanted pregnancy:

and you would prefer not to discuss/educate women about abortion.

so let me ask...what is it about public health that appeals to you?

let me tell you, the public health community is mostly comprised of the poor working and non-working population, as well as prostitution, indigents, junkies, and all-around street people.

from what you have posted, i would strongly discourage you from pursuing public health.

seriously.

there are so many areas of nsg...why not forget about this particular specialty, yes?

leslie

Leslie, up here in Canada, where the poster lives, Public Health is different to the US model. Our Public Health offices deal with a lot of social services type stuff as well. Audiology, TB programmes, diabetes education, well baby/Mum clinics. The STD programme, Immunization programmes, infectious diseases fall under the Public Health umbrella. So there are lots of different fields for a nurse to work in.

Universal Healthcare in Canada allows even the poor, homeless, etc access to medical care at doctors offices but having said this most will wind up heading to Emerg for their care. There are inner city clinics that specialize in drug addicted patients, sex trade workers and street people. Their hiring interviews are quite rigourous and they are very good at screening out people who have different values from those expressed by the centre.

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Ah, I remember the OP. Comes by every so often and starts a similar topic.

I skimmed through your posting history, JayMar23, and see that Fiona59 is correct; you've started at least three threads before with the same question.

In case you weren't paying attention the first hundred times nurses have told you, I'll say it again. There's a very easy solution to your "dilemma": if you don't want to do abortions or administer birth control, then pick a practice setting with no abortions or birth control.

This is not a complicated idea. Are you really finding it so hard to understand, or are you just trolling us?

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Carolina,

Just to clarify a common misconception and one that the OP herself seems to misunderstand, the "morning-after pill" or Plan B would not terminate a pregnancy if there already was one. It acts to prevent pregnancy in the first place. Therefore, those who are pro-life should technically be very pro-Plan B as it it no way ends a life or acts like an abortion. It prevents pregnancy so people do not have to make that choice. I also realize this is a highly emotional and more philosophical debate than we should get into here, but as nurses we should all understand how medications work and from a scientific and pharmacological standpoint, Plan B only acts to prevent, not terminate, a pregnancy. No different than the regular daily birth control pill.

FINALLY, someone address that misinformation! I thought I was going to have to be the one! :yeah:

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I would not be judgemental working with drug addicts or prostitutes.

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I havent even been on here for months! Somebody commented on a post from a long time ago and i responded, my last post was about athabasca university. I have not brought this topic up in a very long time. I understand that nurses can work being pro-life.

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https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/100-pro-life-422916.html

https://allnurses.com/canadian-nurses/canadian-nurses-rights-424430.html

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/pro-life-work-438441.html

Here are the threads you've started on this topic. Two were closed if I recall correctly. I don't think the forum members have changed their views since the last time you dropped by.

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Here is a great link for anyone who is unsure about how plan b works.

Plan B/Emergency Contraception - McKinley Health Center - University of Illinois

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Maybe you started this thread months ago, but you said today:

Yeah I agree. Being judgemental is not good, but who said I was? Being against something doesn't make me judgemental. Do patients discuss things like abortion with you? Can you opt out of having those discussions?

So it seems that you still don't understand that it's not OK for you to put your beliefs above your patients' needs.

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