Community / Public Health Nursing

Community Nursing Reflection #5 Reading through Chapters 21-24 and 30-32 allowed me to have a more comprehensive view of nursing as my chosen profession and vocation. In these chapters, I learned about the different facets of nursing, which could be dependent on the people that nurses work with or the environment or settings they work in. For example, nurses could work with people of different socio-demographic profiles.

Most evident was the different kinds of work that nurses do depending on the "developmental progression of individuals." Nurses might focus their work with toddlers and young children, school-age children and adolescents, adult men and women, and/or the elderly. Further, nurses could also work in different settings, such as schools, communities, and private institutions or organizations (e.g. nursing homes).

This range of people to work with and places to work in for nurses demonstrate not only the nurse's wide scope of work, but most importantly, the high relevance of nurses in the lives of the people they work with, wherever they may be stationed or based. Among the concepts discussed, the most salient for me was the discussion about community health nursing in the public setting.

Involvement with the community with regard to their health encompasses everything that I could possibly learn about nursing: I could work with different people of different age groups, not to mention the range of challenges that I could face concerning the people's health (i.e., from a specific illness to a general disease). Furthermore, part of the challenge requires the P/CHN to coordinate with different agencies related to public health.

Another critical role that I think the nurse assumes when in the community is that s/he becomes the advocate and promoter for the good health of each member of the community.

Community health nursing in the public settings piqued my interest because of the nurse's multiple roles in the community, not to mention the multitude of knowledge and skill that a nurse could develop over time working constantly with the community, different government and non-government health agencies and organizations, and even private entities who are relevant or have taken an interest to community health.

The nurse assumes the roles of health practitioner, community worker, and advocate for public health all at the same time when helping individuals in the community with their health concerns. Comparing community nursing in the public settings vs. The school or private setting, I think that the dynamics in the community among its members and different agencies are more interesting and challenging, which were the reasons why I think I would be more inclined to choose a career in the public rather than the school or private settings.

I think I would most likely pursue a career in community nursing in the public setting. Having said this, I.