Please respond to each classmate with at least 125 words with a reference each
Discussion 1:
I have perceived a “client” in the past as a patient who can or needs to be treated in a clinical atmosphere, but now I have broadened my perception of what a “client” is as an individual, a family, a community, or a population across different settings. At first, I thought of a client as a person who directly receives medical care, but now I understand that a client can be almost anyone requiring any aspect of health services or any intervention, including community residents, participating in some public health initiatives, people coming for prevention measures and services, and targets of any health promotion campaigns.
Major Differences Between the Assessment of a Public Health Nurse and a Clinical Nurse
Scope of Assessment
A clinical nurse’s assessment is frequently focused on the level of the single patient. It is comprised of gaining factual information regarding a patient’s current condition, past health, presenting complaints, physical examination, etc. It is used as the main point of diagnosing ailments and prescribing medication for their treatment (Goodwin University, 2020). The assessment process that a public health nurse carries out over some time is broader, involving families, groups, and communities. This net assessment goes beyond assessing risks, strengths, vulnerabilities, and assets of populations, as well as the available health risks and resources and or epidemiology data social contextual factors. Strengthening community health is another goal and power of public health nurses to diagnose more fundamental health issues of a community with the overall notion of health promotion and disease prevention.
Purpose of Assessment
A clinical nurse works to assess and cure diseases or injuries to reach health or ensure that patients’ chronic conditions are well handled through care plans, medicines, and teaching. Clinical nurses are directly responsible for patient care at an individual level, which involves dressing their needs immediately. On the other hand, the role of a public health nurse is about the wellbeing of individuals and a community and the absence or prevention of disease on a wider scale. This involves teaching about health trends and the resulting health practices, formulating community-wide health interventions, and promoting policies that would further health within the community (Goodwin University, 2020). They also specialize in disease prevention education, community support, and equal distribution of health resources. It encompasses goals that are more focused on enhancing the well-being of populations by including social determinants of health and even the physical surroundings, envisaging the higher possibilities of a healthier community. Thus, public health nurses have an important function: to contribute to improving population health and support change in factors that may exist at a societal level.
Clinical nurse interventions are generally approaches taken in direct relation to specific patients, which may include the dispensing of medication, performing procedures on the patient, and giving the patient enlightenment that may directly concern the said patient. These nurses may also consult with other healthcare givers in charge of the patient with the aim of ensuring that each process is implemented in a proper procedure and is made to suit the patient’s needs.
While public health nurses may make direct contact with the person in need, the intervention is usually less personal and targeted at populations. They deliver health education, immunization, health promotion, and health screening and support the dissemination of public health interventions (Goodwin University, 2020). As a branch of professional nursing practice, public health nurses work together with other stakeholders, such as public officials, policymakers, and institutions, to design and implement health initiatives that are aimed at improving the health of the community. In this manner, they strive to enhance the overall health within the community and not just treat diseases and illnesses.
In conclusion, while clinical nurses work at the personal level, providing care and dealing with the immediate health problems of patients, the PH nurse operates at the community level to promote healthy living and long-term changes to eliminate diseases. This broader understanding of the client acknowledges the crucial social and environmental contexts of health and the imperative to deal with them cohesively.
Discussion 2:
My view of what a “client” is has evolved ever since I started nursing school. Before, my view of a “client” was more narrow and specific, now, that view has expanded to include a wider range of people, as well as groups of people. My initial view of a “client” was and individual who received specific services they sought out, and paid for. For example, someone who sought out an attorney, or hair stylist, or wedding planner. When I began nursing school, the term “client” was used interchangeably with “patient” in fact, we were told to use the term “client” more. In all honesty, this was weird to me. Although patients are clients too, “client” had a different connotation in my mind, and it was based on the idea that clients are paying customers, and patients are vulnerable individuals who need care. I recognize, however, that clients can be more than just an individual, it can also be a group of people, a community, or an entire population. While clinical nurses have individual clients, public health nurses have these large groups, or communities as their “client,” and this is one of the main differences between a clinical nurse and a public health nurse. Besides this, public health nurses also focus on prevention and health promotion to help stop or prevent the spread of illness or incidence of disease, and their assessment considers social determinants of health, while clinical nurses focus mainly on treatment and base their assessment on symptoms, head to toe assessments, and personal history (Goodwin University, 2020). It is important to note, however, that at the end of the day, clinical nurses and public health nurses, are doing the same thing. They are both trying working towards health promotion, healing, and advocating for their clients. I have noticed that public health aspects are being integrated in clinical nursing as well. At my hospital system, we are required to ask patients questions to evaluate the social determinants of health that affect them, this is something my hospital system just started implementing in the last 8 months. While there is some overlap between the two roles, they are still very different. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, both clinical and public health nurses had very important roles. Clinical nurses were in the hospitals treating sick Covid patients, and public health nurses were out in the community, administering vaccines, testing patients, and figuring out the severity of the disease and its affects on the community. Both titles still remain very different, but they both work together to help improve the overall health of the population they serve
