Health Care Promotion
Health Care Promotion the Nurses Role Beverly C. Easterwood Grand Canyon University
Healthcare promotion is very complex and has many facets that have to be addressed in order to have an effect on the population. There are three levels of health promotion; primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary health care promotion is teaching how to prevent a disease from occurring. Teaching preventative ways to avoid disease can start in early childhood. School nurses and nurses in pediatrician offices are a key asset to helping children learn healthy habits. Nurses play a huge part in teaching parents …show more content…
and children ways to be and stay healthy. Nurses can help children learn things like washing hands to prevent the spread of illness, personal hygiene to avoid infection, how long and how often to exercise to stay or become physically fit and eating healthy to maintain a healthy body weight so they don’t get diseases like heart disease and diabetes that can be caused by lack of proper diet and exercise.
“Behaviors established in childhood predict health outcomes over the lifespan” (Deborah). Nurses also play a key role in educating parents on the importance of childhood vaccination to prevent deadly childhood illnesses. These are all preventative ways to avoid disease and they are considered primary. Secondary health care promotion is teaching people to get health screenings done. Health screenings are important because they can find disease before the patient feels sick. A nurse’s role in health screening is very important because if not explained in a way the patient understands or if the patient cannot see its importance they may not have screenings done and become sicker than necessary. This is also a cost effective issue because if the patient does not get the screenings done and catch the disease it will end up costing more to take care of that patient. Another reason to get screening …show more content…
done early is to save the patient from pain and undue suffering. Teaching people about health screenings and ways to stay healthy once they become or are diagnosed with an illness is important to help the patient maintain a higher quality of life.
Lastly there is the tertiary role in health care promotion which the goal is better treatments, better educating the patient of ways to keep as healthy as possible like diet and exercise if possible and to help these patients maintain as much function as possible. Having a better quality of life is the goal of the tertiary role of health care promotion. Being that there are so many different things that need to be addressed in the term “healthcare promotion” the definition that best suits healthcare promotion on all levels is; “Health Promotion is the art and science of helping people discover the synergies between their core passions and optimal health, enhancing their motivation to strive for optimal health, and supporting them in changing their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health. Optimal health is a dynamic balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle change can be facilitated through a combination of learning experiences that enhance awareness, increase motivation, and build skills and, most important, through the creation of opportunities that open access to environments that make positive health practices the easiest choice (Michael).
Nursing roles have evolved in many ways since the day of Florence Nightingale.
Over the years nurses have always looked out for their patient’s health and well being, however times have changed, and today’s nurses are not only seen as care takers but as educators, patient advocates and researchers. Ever changing roles of nurses in the medical field is very exciting. Nurses have more opportunities than ever to be a part of changing the healthcare system. One of the main roles of nurses will be healthcare promotion. “Social, economic and political forces have a strong influences on health” (Kumar). Being that Social, economic and political forces have a strong influence on health nurses need to be advocates for their patients in order to make changes. Promoting healthy eating for school lunches and teaching children and their parents healthy eating and exercise habits will greatly reduce childhood obesity which will have a lifelong effect. Making sure the schools are free from asbestos and other carcinogenic substances. Initiating city projects to make parks safe to walk and exercise in would help people get exercise therefore promote physical activity lessening the likelihood for obesity. Without advocates these thing would never change. Nurses have the chance to make a change because they have the tools to seek out evidence based research and apply it to situations in order to make a positive change. Nurses play a unique role in the new 2020 initiative and that is to
share their knowledge with the people in a way that the people can understand and apply the information to their lives. Nurse’s new role in the new 2020 healthcare initiative is educator, advocate and researcher.
Health care promotion is about making the patient as healthy as possible for as long as possible and improving quality of life in a cost effective manner. Primarily the nurses will look at helping the patient understand ways to stay healthy and prevent disease like eating healthy, exercising regularly and getting necessary vaccinations. Secondarily the nurse will teach the patient about health screenings and tests to help identify people who are at risk for or have disease. And the tertiary level of health promotion is managing the disease and making life for the patient as pain free as possible. Health care promotion is cost effective in the way that prevention is always cheaper than illness and it also will help people live happier more productive lives. Nurses play a key role in making life better for the population.
Works Cited
Gould, T., Fleming, M., & Parker, E. (2012). Advocacy for health: revisiting the role of health promotion. Health Promotion Journal Of Australia, 23(3), 165-170
Deborah Leachman, S., Nurgul, F., & Kathleen T., M. (n.d). From the Academy: Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics:
Kumar, S., & Gs, P. (2012). Health Promotion: An Effective Tool for Global Health. Indian Journal Of Community Medicine, 37(1), 5-12. doi:10.4103/0970-0218.94009
Michael P. O 'Donnell (2009) Definition of Health Promotion 2.0: Embracing Passion, Enhancing Motivation, Recognizing Dynamic Balance, and Creating Opportunities. American Journal of Health Promotion: September/October 2009, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. iv-iv. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4278/ajhp.24.1.iv
Healthcare promotion is very complex and has many facets that have to be addressed in order to have an effect on the population. There are three levels of health promotion; primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary health care promotion is teaching how to prevent a disease from occurring. Teaching preventative ways to avoid disease can start in early childhood. School nurses and nurses in pediatrician offices are a key asset to helping children learn healthy habits. Nurses play a huge part in teaching parents …show more content…
and children ways to be and stay healthy. Nurses can help children learn things like washing hands to prevent the spread of illness, personal hygiene to avoid infection, how long and how often to exercise to stay or become physically fit and eating healthy to maintain a healthy body weight so they don’t get diseases like heart disease and diabetes that can be caused by lack of proper diet and exercise.
“Behaviors established in childhood predict health outcomes over the lifespan” (Deborah). Nurses also play a key role in educating parents on the importance of childhood vaccination to prevent deadly childhood illnesses. These are all preventative ways to avoid disease and they are considered primary. Secondary health care promotion is teaching people to get health screenings done. Health screenings are important because they can find disease before the patient feels sick. A nurse’s role in health screening is very important because if not explained in a way the patient understands or if the patient cannot see its importance they may not have screenings done and become sicker than necessary. This is also a cost effective issue because if the patient does not get the screenings done and catch the disease it will end up costing more to take care of that patient. Another reason to get screening …show more content…
done early is to save the patient from pain and undue suffering. Teaching people about health screenings and ways to stay healthy once they become or are diagnosed with an illness is important to help the patient maintain a higher quality of life.
Lastly there is the tertiary role in health care promotion which the goal is better treatments, better educating the patient of ways to keep as healthy as possible like diet and exercise if possible and to help these patients maintain as much function as possible. Having a better quality of life is the goal of the tertiary role of health care promotion. Being that there are so many different things that need to be addressed in the term “healthcare promotion” the definition that best suits healthcare promotion on all levels is; “Health Promotion is the art and science of helping people discover the synergies between their core passions and optimal health, enhancing their motivation to strive for optimal health, and supporting them in changing their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health. Optimal health is a dynamic balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle change can be facilitated through a combination of learning experiences that enhance awareness, increase motivation, and build skills and, most important, through the creation of opportunities that open access to environments that make positive health practices the easiest choice (Michael).
Nursing roles have evolved in many ways since the day of Florence Nightingale.
Over the years nurses have always looked out for their patient’s health and well being, however times have changed, and today’s nurses are not only seen as care takers but as educators, patient advocates and researchers. Ever changing roles of nurses in the medical field is very exciting. Nurses have more opportunities than ever to be a part of changing the healthcare system. One of the main roles of nurses will be healthcare promotion. “Social, economic and political forces have a strong influences on health” (Kumar). Being that Social, economic and political forces have a strong influence on health nurses need to be advocates for their patients in order to make changes. Promoting healthy eating for school lunches and teaching children and their parents healthy eating and exercise habits will greatly reduce childhood obesity which will have a lifelong effect. Making sure the schools are free from asbestos and other carcinogenic substances. Initiating city projects to make parks safe to walk and exercise in would help people get exercise therefore promote physical activity lessening the likelihood for obesity. Without advocates these thing would never change. Nurses have the chance to make a change because they have the tools to seek out evidence based research and apply it to situations in order to make a positive change. Nurses play a unique role in the new 2020 initiative and that is to
share their knowledge with the people in a way that the people can understand and apply the information to their lives. Nurse’s new role in the new 2020 healthcare initiative is educator, advocate and researcher.
Health care promotion is about making the patient as healthy as possible for as long as possible and improving quality of life in a cost effective manner. Primarily the nurses will look at helping the patient understand ways to stay healthy and prevent disease like eating healthy, exercising regularly and getting necessary vaccinations. Secondarily the nurse will teach the patient about health screenings and tests to help identify people who are at risk for or have disease. And the tertiary level of health promotion is managing the disease and making life for the patient as pain free as possible. Health care promotion is cost effective in the way that prevention is always cheaper than illness and it also will help people live happier more productive lives. Nurses play a key role in making life better for the population.
Works Cited
Gould, T., Fleming, M., & Parker, E. (2012). Advocacy for health: revisiting the role of health promotion. Health Promotion Journal Of Australia, 23(3), 165-170
Deborah Leachman, S., Nurgul, F., & Kathleen T., M. (n.d). From the Academy: Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics:
Kumar, S., & Gs, P. (2012). Health Promotion: An Effective Tool for Global Health. Indian Journal Of Community Medicine, 37(1), 5-12. doi:10.4103/0970-0218.94009
Michael P. O 'Donnell (2009) Definition of Health Promotion 2.0: Embracing Passion, Enhancing Motivation, Recognizing Dynamic Balance, and Creating Opportunities. American Journal of Health Promotion: September/October 2009, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. iv-iv. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4278/ajhp.24.1.iv