¶ … nursing is in a unique position to take on the challenge of the public's health. What more could we do? How does nursing implement the Core Functions of Public Health? Nursing is an integral part of the nursing profession. Even more so than doctors, the nurses will be in direct contact with patients. They are the first people that a patient sees when he or she seeks out treatment. In this, the nurses are able to see exactly what is affecting humanity on a larger scale and are able to interpret that to those in higher positions in the health industry. More could always be done. Often nurses are so harried with a large amount of patients, particularly in heavily populated areas of the world, that they do not take account of larger health trends. More attention and an inclination to create change will inherently help in policy creation and implementation. The Core Functions of Public Health are most importantly implemented in nursing through policy development....

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) explains that the most important of these functions in terms of nursing is to "inform, educate, and empower people about environmental health issues" (Center 2012).
2. Describe the ethical assumptions inherent in the Core Functions of Public Health. Give examples of nursing implications.

The ethical assumptions inherent in the Core Functions of Public Health have to do with the impetus on members of the health community to create and implement ways in which health and medical care can be treated. Nurses are ethically required to observe health trends and to "diagnose and investigate environmental health problems and health hazards in the community" (Center 2012). They are also morally and ethically required to assess health trends and to ensure that patients are cared for in the best possible way that is available.

3. Why is nursing care of families and groups in the community a public health concern?…