Being a Public Health Nurse

When walking through a hospital or even a doctor’s office, to see the different tasks and performances that doctors and nurses do to help people is very interesting. To see them give inject a flu vaccination, check their heart rate, change the IV, or

even perform a surgery is remarkable. Many little children in the United States are fascinated with the thought of becoming a nurse or even a doctor. The thought of being able to tend to sick and injured people or even perform an open-heart surgery is interesting and something many people enjoy. Being a public health nurse is in the medical field, it has a well paying salary, good benefits, it is a demanding field and it comes with the satisfaction of helping someone out and making them feel better.

Public health nurses work within the community with a very diverse population of people. They help promote, protect, and save other peoples health and lives (career cruising). Public health nurses travel around, visiting schools, nursing homes, patients’ houses, and community centers to give vaccinations and talk to people about healthy living and conditions (career cruising). They are also involved in educating, counseling, and treating problems. Some examples would be dealing with drug abuse in many young teens and educating them on that (career cruising). Public health nurses usually deal with vulnerable people such as young children, pregnant women, and elderly people. They help educate the young generation with information about birth control, infant care, and other issues pertaining to that kind of matter. They help educate elderly people, or help them with medical conditions that they may have (career cruising). Public health nurses also give information and advice to people who will ask or even call them. Part of their job is to record symptoms, reactions and progress that the patients have had (career cruising). They may also give medication and help in the process of rehabilitation.

When becoming a public health nurse, the requirement is to first become a registered nurse (career cruising). After becoming a registered nurse there is the choice to specialize in the public health nursing field. In order to become a registered nurse, a high school diploma must be earned, also a completion of a program for nursing at either a college, or a technical school (career cruising). The requirements to enter a nursing program vary, but their requirements for a graduate must have learned on a senior level of math, science and English class (career cruising). After graduating high school, the requirements are to complete a college with a degree or diploma in nursing (career cruising). A lot of employers call for public health nurses to contain a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Other employers will train registered nurses on the job to become a public health nurse, although they don’t have a bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, the higher the education that the RN’s have, the more advantages they will have getting into that career. All 50 states demand that nurses should have licenses, meaning that they must take a licensing exam and pass after graduating from a nursing course. (Career cruising-education)

There was a need for nurses during World War II that motivated the Congress to pass an act in 1943, named the Bolton act. Congresswoman Frances Bolton from Ohio, who sponsored the bill in the house, and established the cadet nurse corps of the public health service. Under the conditions of the act, federal scholarships in nursing education were made open to young qualified women upon enrollment in the schools of nursing who’s curriculum and nursing facilities met the requirements set by the service (US national library of medicine). During the three years of its existence the cadet nurse corps provided a great reservoir of trained nurses for the military and stopped the collapse of the civilian nursing service on the home front (US national library of medicine). Professionally trained graduate female nurses began to be used more commonly in the public health hospitals in 1912 (US national library of medicine). Public health nurses were used by the public health service during world war one in camp sanitation work an in particular clinics (US national library of medicine). There work consisted of general district nursing, tuberculosis nursing, school nursing, and infant care, visiting in mill villages, emergency communicable disease control, and venereal disease control clinic work.

The curriculum in the area at the time of the schooling was made to meet the needs of those focused in the field of environmental or industrial health that had the basic education in medicine, engineering or public health nursing. The courses were organized in three tracts intended at the environmental health administrator, health engineer and the public health nurse (www.sph.umich.edu/ehs/history.html).
Salaries for public health nurses depend on a number of factors, including the number of hours they work and whether they work in a rural or an urban area (career cruising). Nurses that have a bachelor’s degree have a tendency to earn more then those who have an associate’s degree and they also have a greater possibility of advancement. In general, full time public health nurses can produce between thirty thousand and seventy thousand dollars a year (career cruising). On the other hand, those in management or administrative positions, which may require graduate training, can earn as much as eighty five thousand dollars a year (career cruising). Part time and contract nurses are usually paid on an hourly or monthly basis. The amount they earn a year depends on the number of hours that they work. Public health nurses usually are given or receive benefits such as paid vacations and sick days, health coverage and disability insurance. People in this line of work often belong to a union, which means that, union representatives negotiate their benefits and rates of pay on their behalf (career cruising). Being a public health nurse would benefit it many ways, not only in salary but also in the benefits department. They offer good benefits and the salary is very good. It is a good enough salary to help support someone living on their own, or even someone who has a family and also has a spouse working and bringing in some other source of income into the family. Anyone would be well off in a career like this.

In the future public health nursing is going to explode. Especially because public health nurses are the ones who educate and inform those in need of medical information. This career is going to boom, particularly because it is part of the medical field. Many young teenagers and people who made mistakes or are living on the streets are needing to be informed on what is going on out in the world, either with personal hygiene or disease. This will cause the population to grow much more healthier and wiser. Since Public health nursing is not a very hard career to get into, many people are getting themselves involved in it, or even considering making it their career. They enjoy helping and providing people with the necessary information that they need. That is why it will be a growing field in the near future, where many young scholars will become professional public health nurses.

Therefore, becoming a public nurse isn’t such a horrible idea, many people would definitely think about becoming one. They have the power to educate many people and stop bad things from happening. They make a good and healthy salary, and to become one doesn’t require years and years of schooling to become certified. Working with people and physically is something that they do, and being a public health nurse fits the many qualities that interest people. Commuting to different places and meeting diverse people, and helping them out, either by solving their problems, answering their questions, or even giving them medicine or a shot is appealing and fun. Being involved in the medical field is good. People will always know that they will be needed, and that there is going to be a position of some sort for them. People can even move up in the career as a public health nurse, becoming a more complex nurse or even a doctor. Public health nursing is fun, interesting, manageable, and different. It is without doubt an interesting and exciting career to get into, and hopefully more people with join and become interested, and that way we will have a more healthy and educated population.

Works cited

“Educating and training” (copyright 1999)
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Frederickson, Keville. “Nursing careers.” Lincolnwood, IL. VGM Career Horizons, 1996. 96-98

“Job description”(copyright 1999)
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Morkes, Andrew. “Nursing.” Encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance. Chicago, IL: Ferguson, 2003. 458-464

“Registered nurse” (copyright 1999)
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