Essay Sample in Nursing: Roots of Public Health Nursing and Influence on Nursing Today

PHN began as a specialization from the general nursing practice where the services are concerned with preventive health care provision to the population to improve their social conditions. In this century, PHN has managed to influence the emergence of community nursing homes, local health sectors and occupational health plans among others. These systems have managed to cater to the healthcare needs of the homeless, elderly, and rogue teens and have struggled to prevent epidemics (Kulblok et al., 2012).

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Historical Events that have influenced Public Health Today

Over the years, care provision for vulnerable groups has grown significantly, ever since the era of Florence Nightingale. Historically, there have been severe outbreaks that have warranted a change in the standard nursing practice. For example, the black death and of 1348 and just before that, the Bubonic plague of 543 involved outbreaks of diseases such as measles and smallpox which would spread fast because of the compromised provision of health services (Novick and Morrow, n.d). The masses demanded that there be community administration to control their spread and introduce vaccinations. Such episodes in history led to the gradual evolution of the occupation, leading to greater advancements day by day.

ObamaCare

The Healthcare Reform Act has been characterized by milestones such as the insurance providers losing the power to prevent coverage for minors with pre-existing conditions. In addition, children would be under their parents insurance covers until they turn 26. Another major milestone was providing people with rights to dispute the decisions of the insurance company. Firms have to spend 80-85% of the paid premiums on healthcare. One of the greatest milestones was the provision that the government would provide 2-year funding for the children that had not qualified to get Medicaid. This Act has helped in the provision of better healthcare services by ensuring that prevention has improved as has wellness of the people. Furthermore, better financial planning has allowed doctors to proactively partake in advocacy for healthy living. Another benefit would be greater access to healthcare and patient data, which is now stored electronically. Despite these benefits, the program has been in the political debates because some believe that it is unconstitutional. Some feel that it is expensive and ineffective and that the taxpayers money is wasted (Milligan, 2015).

Prompt 2

Nursing theories offer a scope of the duties and goals of this profession. There are some theories that can be used such as middle-range and grand theory, where the former offers a perspective in the interventions of nursing in particular scope. The latter is broader and focuses on abstracts and the overall nursing framework.

References

Kulbok et al. (2012). Evolving Public Health Nursing Roles: Focus on Community Participatory Health Promotion and Prevention. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 17(2)

Milligan, S. (2015). Unraveling Health Care. US News. 19 June. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2015/06/19/obamacare-battles-will-continue-no-matter-what

Novick, L.F. and Morrow, C. B. (n.d.). Defining Public Health: Historical and Contemporary Developments. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1-31