Week 2 Flashcards
What is public health?
most commonly defined as the organized efforts of society to keep people healthy
and prevent injury, illness, and premature death
It is a combination of programs, services, and policies that protect and promote the
health of all Canadians
Public Health Agency of Canada purpose and year established
established in 2004 with a mission to
“promote and protect the health of Canadians through leadership, partnership,
innovation, and action in public health
Who’s is the Chief Public Health officer
Dr. Theresa Tam
Named in 2017
Functions of a public health nurse
- Health Surveillance
- Population Health Assessment
- Disease and injury prevention
- Health Promotion
- Emergency Preparation & Response
Health promotion includes work to improve the rate of
- Alcohol
- Child and Youth Health
- Injuries
- Maternal and Infant Health
- Mental health
- Oral Health
- Physical Activity
- Substance Use
- Tobacco and E-Cigarettes
Health survivance includes
Chronic Diseases
* Raw Water Chemicals Map
* Infectious Disease Surveillance
* Overall mortality rates and population
Primordial Prevention
Initiatives to prevent conditions that would enable the risk
factors for disease development. It is often accomplished through
healthy public policy
* For example, iodized salt has been used for decades for
micronutrient deficiencies and newer evidence suggest we
may also need to double fortified salt with iodine and folic acid
- Other examples of primordial prevention include adequate
minimum wage, prohibiting hate crimes, and mandatory
education for all children
Primary Prevention
- Impacts of specific risk factors are lessened, which
leads to a reduction in the occurrence of a disease
May be personal or communal efforts
* Examples include: decreasing environmental risks,
enabling nutritional status, immunizing against
communicable diseases, or improving water supplies
Secondary Prevention
Interventions aimed at identifying a disease
process as early as possible, usually at the
preclinical stage - which may reduce the
prevalence of the disease by curbing duration
* Typically targets individuals who are already
accessing health services
* Includes PHN’s planning, implementing, and
evaluating early clinical detection and screening
programs
Example: Colorectal Cancer Screening, Cervical
Cancer Screening
Tertiary Prevention
Aimed at reducing the impact of long-term
disease and disability by eliminating or reducing
impairment or disability
* Occurs “after sign or symptom is present” and
reduces the likelihood or progression
* Example: studies show that marginalized women
living with various vulnerabilities (mental illness,
active substance use, HIV, unstable housing)
show improved measures of HIV care when
exposed weekly to a texting intervention
Quaternary Prevention
Identifies individuals or populations at risk of overmedicalization
* Guidelines and policies are put in place to help
protect individuals from over-diagnosis
* May include protecting populations from new medical
procedures or interventions that are untested and
proposing alternatives that are ethically appropriate
* Example: Studies from 2017 found those found to
have BRCA “Variant of uncertain significance” (VUS)
had higher rates of mastectomy’s exceeding 38%.
Over time, a large proportion of VUS strains were
reclassified as benign
Why does theory matter?
Theory helps guide our practice as nurses to improve
the quart of nursing care
* Allows nurses to be able to explain “why” they do
what they do for the patients
Key foundations of nursing (theoretical foundation) (meta)
Person, health, environment, nursing, social justice
Feminist theory
Social and political CHANGES TO IMPOROVE THE GENDER QUALITY WITHIN SOCIETY
Focused on quality, oppression and justice
Many different perspectives
Critical social theory
Questions society, used by PHN to develop their own practices with populations who have been desadvantaged by social circumstances
