|
|
|
|
|
Kathleen N. Smith, APRN, BC, MPH and Jacqueline Vogt, BSN, PHN. Public Health Nursing Administration, Los Angeles County, 241 N. Figueroa St. Room 347, Los Angeles, CA 90012, 213-240-8089, kasmith@dhs.co.la.ca.us
The role of nurses, and specifically the public health nurse generalist, to improve the health of the community by securing and maintaining a healthy environment has gained widespread interest. Public health nurses have a long history of assessment and intervention of unhealthy environments at the individual level of practice in family homes. However, most undergraduate nursing programs do not have an emphasis on environmental health. If schools touch on the subject, curriculum often does not extend to the community and systems levels of practice. In the County of Los Angeles (LAC), public health nursing practice is guided by the Public Health Nursing Practice Model that includes the assessment of the 10 Leading Health Indicators from Healthy People 2010 (including the indicator of environmental quality). Therefore, strategies needed to be developed to assist both new and experienced nurses in acquiring knowledge of environmental health issues, particularly as they are expressed in LAC. Our educational goal is to help nurses become better prepared to intervene by means of an interdisciplinary team approach to local environmental health problems. This presentation will describe 2 strategies: (1) an environmental health lecture and discussion as part of new nurse orientation and (2) an environmental health self-directed learning module that is available to LAC nurses on the County’s intranet web site. A copy of this self-directed module will be shared with participants at the presentation.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Environmental Health, Education
Related Web page: www.lapublichealth.org/phn
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.