SUO Faith Based Nursing Role of State and Local Health Department Discussion

1. Faith-Based Nursing

There are disparities in rural-urban settings, income levels, gender, population, and ethnicity that influence health outcome. The health care system greatly focuses on the body and quite neglects the social relations, spirit, and mind of an individual. However, a person is an integrated whole consisting of the mind, body, and spirit. Faith communities can therefore contribute to improving health outcomes. Faith nursing complements traditional nursing as it intentionally combines licensed nursing knowledge with spiritual care. The community at large is better served if community nurses partner with parish nurses to educate parishioners on health maintenance, comfort, health issues, counseling, and spiritual guidance. The partnership would be beneficial as it reduces the redundancy regarding each other’s roles, priorities, and duties. Therefore, a partnership advances the public health goals and objectives of each group in faith communities.

In the faith communities, faith nurses take the duty of improving both the physical and spiritual health while still taking into account the religious views in that same community. Community nurses can partner with parish nurses by using faith communities as an ideal place to practice their licensed nursing knowledge. The parish nurses would come in with their knowledge of the individuals in the parish community and the two can integrate healthcare with the complex nature of spirituality. The commanding need for sustainable, quality and accessible health care makes faith-based nursing to be worthwhile in improving healthcare. Given that healing powers and health are important in the faith communities, the partnership between nurses in the community with parish nurses would be beneficial. It is a legitimate way of bringing together spiritual wellbeing and physical health wellbeing.

2. Role of state and local health department in the accomplishment of health promotion and goal

Promotion of health involves encouraging individuals to be more compliant with their health and improving their lifestyle. Health promotion goals are directed towards prevention rather than treatment of disease. The local health department plays various roles in achieving health promotion goals. They offer an extensive amount of direct and indirect health services entailing community health nursing. They are in charge of environmental sanitation and hygiene, health awareness, and control and management of infectious disease.

How do their goals of healthy promotion meet the objectives of Healthy People 2020

Health promotion goals meet the Healthy People 2020 objective of promoting healthy behaviors through all stages of life. Local health department help patients to identify unhealthy behaviors and then encourage them to come up with a better tactic to help improve their health. Public health nurses employed in all of these agencies work together to identify, develop, and implement interventions that will improve and maintain the nation’s health (Stanhope, 2015).

How could nurse in the public health setting help clients to, modify unhealthy behaviors at the primary and secondary prevention levels?

Nurses can assist patients to modify unhealthy behavior by educating them at both the primary and secondary level of prevention, with the goal of assisting clients to attain optimal health, avert health problems, and recognize and treat diseases on time (Stanhope, 2015).

Please provide example of each prevention level

Primary prevention is preventing the occurrence of disease, injury, or disability. An example of this type prevention would health promotion and health education programs.

Secondary prevention would include regular exam and screening to detect a disease at it’s earliest state. An example of this prevention would be immunizations.

References

Stanhope, M.& Lancaster, J (2020); Public Health Nursing retrieved from https://www.digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu

Altman, D. & Morgan, D. (1983), The Role of State and Local Government in Health, https://www.healthaffairs.org