Public Health Nursing: Backbone of The Society (part 1)

[omoladams, BSN, RN]

Nursing is defined as science and art of life which is evidenced - based practice profession that is built upon a desired goal in attaining maximal health status of a client well or sick. It encompasses the holistic care given as requested by the client ranging from clinical based disorders to psychological, emotional, economical, spiritual and environmental and community care.

Nursing profession has undergone dramatic revolutions over the years and is still in vogue with current millennial development challenges. Public health nursing is an important integral of health care profession saddled with responsibilities of harnessing public resources tackling and confronting public health challenges. It's a speciality in nursing profession that hasn't received enough attentions from government and policy makers as well as international health organisation.

Public Health Nurse, an individual responsible to preview, proffer, prevent, promote, pronounce, and propagate information about health challenges in the community such as outbreak, and serve as a link between the government and the people. A Public Health Nurse preview health indices all year round of a community or society to ameliorate improvement in coming year as well for budgetary allocation as required. It assists in policy formulation for upward review of yearly health activities and seek for improvement in terms of preventions and treatment. A Public Health Nurse should to extent be able to forecast incoming health challenges based on the preview reports of previous years thus help in planning. This can only be achieved with available resources and support from international organisations as well the government.

One of the major role of a Public Health Nurse is to promote preventive measures in every sphere of the societal health challenges. Resources required for illness prevention is very meagre compared to treatment. Every society promoting illness prevention has robust healthcare facility. This is the opposite of what transpired in Africa, most government in Africa do not empower preventive mechanism yet the health care facility are overstretched. Every year there is budgetary allocation to health sector which doesn't reflect the true status of health indices of the country. With the yearly budgetary allocations to health sector, poor staffing, lack of technological input, poor management, poor incentives, poor working environment and son on. Still there is high rate of maternal mortality (it's preventable) and so on.

A public health nurse is the major player that can ameliorate the sufferings of the victims during outbreak. Many government in Africa do not spend on prevention yet spending huge amount of money during an outbreak. Poor financing of health sector is common whereas public health nurse specialist received nothing from budgetary allocation because they aren't recognised. The skills and knowledge of a public health nurse keep him or her on toe just to enhance the safety of the society. Before any attack to any country soldiers are saddled with protection of the territory at the borders, land, air, and sea. Public health nurses are to be majorly dispersed to all point of entry of any country. Liaise with international organisations to prevent any incoming disease from any part of the world and promote preventions of outbreak. Any nation toying with the health security border is plunging its citizen to any health attack. A public health nurse is versed with health matters of all the neighbouring countries and territorial borders. Not only the neighbours but be alert with global health challenges and disease outbreak.

Governments, Policy makers and International Organisations such as World Health Organisation should proscribe any country that didn't fully safeguard its borders with public health nurses and other health professionals. This is the major way such government can protect its citizen from any disease trying to enter such territory while technology should be accessible and available to detect such infected individual. Safeguarding the safety of the country isn't only having soldiers at the borders rather civilian public health workers should be dispersed to all territorial borders. If any contagious disease should get access to any country its worse than war because of mode of spread especially the air. A public health nurse should have the autonomy so as to take drastic and quick decisions when needs arise as well the care. Interdisciplinary relationship should be attained yet public health nurse with specialised skill cannot wait to receive order due to the emergency. Order comes late and the citizen suffers for such consequences, hence full autonomy can only make a huge difference.

OMOLOLA Adams Olatayo