"The Nation has lost sight of its public health goals and has allowed the system of public health to fall into 'disarray'," from The Future of Public Health. This startling book contains proposals for ensuring that public health service programs are efficient and effective enough to deal not only with the topics of today, but also with those of tomorrow. In addition, the authors make recommendations for core functions in public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances, and identify the level of government--federal, state, and local--at which these functions would best be handled.
Bioterrorism, drug-resistant disease, transmission of disease by global travel . . . there's no shortage of challenges facing America's public health officials. Men and women preparing to enter the field require state-of-the-art training to meet these increasing threats to the public health. But are the programs they rely on provide the high caliber professional training they require? Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? provides an overview of the past, present, and future of public health education, assessing its readiness to provide the training and education needed to prepare men and women to face 21st century challenges. Advocating an ecological approach to public health, the Institute of Medicine examines the role of public health schools and degree-granting programs, medical schools, nursing schools, and government agencies, as well as other institutions that foster public health education and leadership. Specific recommendations address the content of public health education, qualifications for faculty, availability of supervised practice, opportunities for cross-disciplinary research and education, cooperation with government agencies, and government funding for education. Eight areas of critical importance to public health education in the 21st century are examined in depth: informatics, genomics, communication, cultural competence, community-based participatory research, global health, policy and law, and public health ethics. The book also includes a discussion of the policy implications of its ecological framework.
The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.
This Revised Reprint of our 8th edition, the "gold standard" in community health nursing, Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care in the Community, has been updated with a new Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) appendix that features examples of incorporating knowledge, skills, and attitudes to improve quality and safety in community/public health nursing practice. As with the previous version, this text provides comprehensive and up-to-date content to keep you at the forefront of the ever-changing community health climate and prepare you for an effective nursing career. In addition to concepts and interventions for individuals, families, and communities, this text also incorporates real-life applications of the public nurse's role, Healthy People 2020 initiatives, new chapters on forensics and genomics, plus timely coverage of disaster management and important client populations such as pregnant teens, the homeless, immigrants, and more. Evidence-Based Practice boxes illustrate how the latest research findings apply to public/community health nursing.Separate chapters on disease outbreak investigation and disaster management describe the nurse's role in surveilling public health and managing these types of threats to public health.Separate unit on the public/community health nurse's role describes the different functions of the public/community health nurse within the community.Levels of Prevention boxes show how community/public health nurses deliver health care interventions at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention.What Do You Think?, Did You Know?, and How To? boxes use practical examples and critical thinking exercises to illustrate chapter content.The Cutting Edge highlights significant issues and new approaches to community-oriented nursing practice.Practice Application provides case studies with critical thinking questions.Separate chapters on community health initiatives thoroughly describe different approaches to promoting health among populations.Appendixes offer additional resources and key information, such as screening and assessment tools and clinical practice guidelines. NEW! Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) appendix features examples of incorporating knowledge, skills, and attitudes to improve quality and safety in community/public health nursing practice.NEW! Linking Content to Practice boxes provide real-life applications for chapter content.NEW! Healthy People 2020 feature boxes highlight the goals and objectives for promoting health and wellness over the next decade.NEW! Forensic Nursing in the Community chapter focuses on the unique role of forensic nurses in public health and safety, interpersonal violence, mass violence, and disasters. NEW! Genomics in Public Health Nursing chapter includes a history of genetics and genomics and their impact on public/community health nursing care.
Health care in the U.S. is in the throes of shifting its emphasis from an illness care system to one focused on health promotion and disease prevention. The convergence of multiple economic, political, and social factors including Healthy People 2020, the Obama Administration's National Prevention Strategy, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) provide a "road map" for improving the health of the public. Public health nurses should be in the forefront of health care to lead change in all sectors from public to private and local to global. This revised edition of Public Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice looks to the future of public health nursing and provides essential guidance in the form of standards and competencies for generalist and the advanced public health nurse. This is a must-have title for public health nursing practitioners, educators, students, researchers and others directly involved in public health. Employers, insurers, lawyers, regulators, policy makers and stakeholders will find value in referencing this publication.
Health Insurance is a Family Matter is the third of a series of six reports on the problems of uninsurance in the United Sates and addresses the impact on the family of not having health insurance. The book demonstrates that having one or more uninsured members in a family can have adverse consequences for everyone in the household and that the financial, physical, and emotional well-being of all members of a family may be adversely affected if any family member lacks coverage. It concludes with the finding that uninsured children have worse access to and use fewer health care services than children with insurance, including important preventive services that can have beneficial long-term effects.
The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.
Ensuring that members of society are healthy and reaching their full potential requires the prevention of disease and injury; the promotion of health and well-being; the assurance of conditions in which people can be healthy; and the provision of timely, effective, and coordinated health care. Achieving substantial and lasting improvements in population health will require a concerted effort from all these entities, aligned with a common goal. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examine the integration of primary care and public health. Primary Care and Public Health identifies the best examples of effective public health and primary care integration and the factors that promote and sustain these efforts, examines ways by which HRSA and CDC can use provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to promote the integration of primary care and public health, and discusses how HRSA-supported primary care systems and state and local public health departments can effectively integrate and coordinate to improve efforts directed at disease prevention. This report is essential for all health care centers and providers, state and local policy makers, educators, government agencies, and the public for learning how to integrate and improve population health.
