Perception on Public Health Nursing and Availability of Healthcare Resources

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Question 1
According to Nightingale, "the health of the unity is the health of the community. Unless you have the health of the unity, there is no community". By saying so, Nightingale speaks out her belief that people's cooperation, devoid of competition, is necessary for achieving community health. Communities can never be strong without unity, and good collaboration and community health would be non-existent, and if available, it would only suit rich people. Global cooperation and solidarity are needed to defeat life-threatening communal diseases like the Covid-19 pandemic (Belim, 2022). Similarly, medical health professionals must come together to deal with health challenges (Loveday & Wilson, 2020). While some may find unity insignificant in the realization of a healthy community, a united community will always be healthier than that with disputes.
I strongly agree with Nightingale's belief since I also inherently believe that unity of purpose is strength. When people are united, they can overcome even the seemingly complex challenges that a single individual can't. It brings about healthy relationships, fosters a spirit of togetherness, and brings people with different capabilities together, thereby complementing each other. Before coming across the quote, I thought healthcare professionals were the only people responsible for community health. I now understand that unity of purpose can help solve communal health challenges. Unity enables the current generation of healthcare providers to address emerging crises efficiently. Different legal, moral, and ethical obligations promote human and environmental health. Nurses are guided by ethical problem-solving techniques (Varkey, 2021). Such practices are based on what is morally upright and are subject to legal challenges.
In summation, Nightingale's belief in unity holds. It is applicable in today's medical practices and has multiple benefits. Indeed, a united community will always be healthier than one in disputes.
Question 2
Healthcare resources are all things and personnel needed to prevent, treat and mitigate the spread of diseases and infections. Healthcare providers face the challenge of making informed decisions on allocating resources available day in and day out. Clear guidance is needed to allow room for the proper allocation of public resources (Farrell et al., 2020). There are many perceptions surrounding these healthcare resources.
I perceive the availability of health care resources as the presence of a well-trained nurse or doctor in a given community or facility who has all that he may need to offer medical care. Every living human being has a right to affordable healthcare. Patients have the right to proper treatment and a legal right to end treatments they may be undergoing (Tilse et al., 2021). Fundamentally, every person has a right to dignified medical attention regardless of background. Similarly, it is natural for patients to expect good medical attention from any functional facility to offer medical roles. A nurse working in an extended facility provides custodial medical care for a prolonged period to specific individuals, while a nurse working in a communal facility attends to the health concerns of a given geographical area. A public health worker enhances the health of a given population (Farrell et al., 2020). Having such kind of different roles for nurses brings diverse perceptions. Patients may decide to demand services from ether which ethically is their right, without paying attention or even minding the nurses' scope of work.
Honestly, healthcare providers face resource-related challenges in the course of their duties. Well-spelled guidance on resource allocation is very helpful for them and would potentially help address the many perceptions surrounding resource allocation.
Question 3
Public policies are institutional proposals, rules, regulations, actions, or guidelines that address relevant problems facing humanity. It is a course of action enacted in response to issues affecting the public (Buye, n.d). Public policies can be termed as systems of law. In the medical field, there are general policies driven by attention to illness and fix and those driven by attention to prevention and health of a community.
Policies driven by attention to illness and fix are formulated as an inspiration to help patients suffering from certain conditions. It may be helping smokers quit smoking, promoting reproductive health, and many more. On the other hand, those driven by attention to a community's prevention and health focus on improving and protecting the public. It could be public campaigns or activities (Breda, 2018). It is a wise way of collecting the sources of illness rather than just responding to the illness itself. Such upstream factors are essential in nursing practices (Distelhorst & Hansen, 2021). For upstream thinking to be fully adopted, more emphasis should be channeled on mitigating the causes of infections rather than just focusing on curing diseases. It calls for skillful hands with vast knowledge, experience, and capabilities to structure and improve barriers to conditions to achieve maximum health potential. Such changes would force current medical practitioners to demonstrate thoughtful and resourceful practices like engaging with people at risk of infections to create healthy revolutionary practices.
In conclusion, public policies mold and help in rolling out medical services. If properly used, they can revolutionize the health of an entire community. Policies may be driven by either attention to illness and fix or prevention and health of a community, as discussed above.
Question 4
Epidemiology studies the supply and causes of health risk factors and incidences in a given area or globally. Epidemiology deals with the best way to prevent and control diseases and other health-related problems (Frérot et al., 2018). We should study epidemiology because it helps us identify the cause of the disease and what people in a population it is most likely to affect. From this study, scientists can control the spread of a certain disease.
Epidemiologic transition focuses on changing patterns in health and diseases and the association between these patterns, biological, environmental, and sociological factors, and their outcomes. Epidemiology spreads over time, place, and person. It is unpredictable, but some of this happens regularly (Frérot et al., 2018). Human-made diseases, for instance, can be transmitted from the lowest demographic group to the highest. Diseases attributed to smoking and substance use can lead to an epidemic of degenerated diseases that may cause death.
New processed and improved foods have contributed to the increase in population, and medicine use has also contributed to population patterns in terms of fertility, lifespan, and many more. The epidemiology workforce reported challenges in supervising political dynamics and emergencies (Gu et al., 2021). Most responses reported were the lack of communication, less knowledge sharing, and lack of good relations during an emergency response.
New infectious diseases have primarily grown due to the large population increase, resulting in poor hygiene measures brought along by the spread of bacterial infections and viruses (Mercer, 2021). Urban poverty affects a vulnerable population or group of people, and diseases spread so fast within a short period. Lack of hygiene awareness has also contributed to the growth of infectious diseases.
Public health nurses have licensed caregivers who provide health care services. Public health nurses have ethical and legal responsibilities such as respect and autonomy, which ensures that nurses understand and respect the patient's progression and autonomy—support social justice. Nurses work to provide nonjudgmental, just, and value to all patients (Gu et al., 2021). Acting with beneficence means that a nurse is supposed to support and give beneficiary care to patients. Refraining from conflict of interests means that nurses do not compromise their nursing professions by maintaining professional boundaries. Not harming patients could cause serious charges if the nurse violates ethics.
Question 5
Health disparities are life's normal circumstances that associate with people's health status related to social factors such as gender, age, income ETC (Holman & Walker, 2021). Examples of health disparities are lack of healthcare access, mental health, social and economic factors such as poverty, lack of enough food supplies, violence, and many more. In contrast, Health inequities are the unfair or unjust differences in people's health and the distribution of health services and resources between various groups of people affected by social circumstances.
Public health and nurses have ethical, moral, and legal responsibilities to address disparity and inequity. Nurses should know their nursing practices, ethics, and responsibilities to give their patients the best care possible. The four main ethical, moral, and legal principles are autonomy, beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence (Frischhut & Werner-Felmayer, 2020).
Autonomy gives patients a platform for decision-making, and patients have a right to receive educative medical information. Beneficence describes the attributes of kindness, compassion, and doing well to a patient....