Introduction
Good health is one of the goals medical practitioners and nurses desire to achieve. For this goal to be achieved, it is important to look at different aspects of enhancing good health through health promotion. Health promotion is an important strategy towards ensuring that everybody achieves good health. Nurses are important personalities in health promotion in that they are involved in a number of activities geared towards health promotion. This paper will look at different issues related to nursing and health promotion.
Definition of Health Promotion
Health Promotion can be defined as the act of disseminating information to communities, families or individuals with the aim of improving their health standards. It is also referred to as the promotion of health perceptions with the aim of encouraging individuals to embrace behaviors that contribute positively towards their attaining good health. Health promotion is a process that involves both political and social actions (Edelman & Mandle, 2007). It does not only focus on actions that strengthen the skills and capabilities of individuals but also focuses on changing the economic, environmental and social conditions of individuals in order to improve their health (Adamson, 2009).
Health Promotion is a process of empowering people to gain full control of those factors that influence their health hence improving it. It is comprised of some basic strategies which include health advocacy to provide the necessary conditions for good health, assisting people to attain their highest health status and bringing together different parties in the society to boost health.
Purpose of Health Promotion in Nursing
Health promotion is vital in nursing since it provides information and assists individuals in taking responsibility of their own health. It initiates measures both at community and individual levels that enable them maintain good health. Health promotion in nursing targets the various issues that affect our health. There are different strategies used in health promotion such as development of personal skills, improving community activities and creating the proper environment for good health. It is important for these endeavors to be supported through government legislation. More emphasis is also laid on the importance of paying attention to services in health facilities in order to improve health promotion (Adamson, 2009).
Evolving Nursing Roles and Responsibilities in Health Promotion
Nursing responsibilities and roles in health promotion have been constantly evolving owing to the fact that nurses are indispensable in promoting health, initiating preventive campaigns and providing programs and services aimed at educating the public. Nurses also play an important role in addressing referral and case management procedures (WHO, 2011). They help the patients gain knowledge and show them how to embrace strategies of taking care of themselves. In addition, they provide patients with skills of managing themselves without assistance. These evolvements in the responsibilities of nurses enables them make an impact in the future trends of health promotion.
Nurses and Implementation of health Promotion
The role played by nurses brings added accountability of care which is based on a large population. This compels the nurses to think widely and deeply. Authority in nursing practice is dependent on the social contract. In implementing health promotion, nurses are expected to positively influence health promotion while ensuring that they take care of everybody without compromising their training, work ethics and nursing standards (Burkhart & Sommer, 2007). For nurses to deal with the challenges they are likely to face, it is important for them to have accurate information and a good foundation in the field. They achieve this by taking care of both healthy and sick people, people with intellectual, social and psychological needs regardless of their backgrounds.
Levels of Health Promotion
There are three different levels of health promotion. The first level of health promotion is the primary level which is the process through which implementation of health promotion takes place by preventing the eruption of certain illnesses or diseases. This implies that people are supposed to maintain health standards that prevent outbreak of diseases such as typhoid. The other level of heath promotion is secondary level where diseases are detected and treated at an early stage before they worsen. The stage involves health maintenance. For instance, if one experiences the symptoms associated with a certain disease, medical precautions are taken in order to deter the symptoms from developing into a serious illness. The third level of health promotion is the tertiary level where specific services are offered with the aim of curing a disease that has already developed. For example, taking medicine to cure malaria falls under the tertiary level (Burkhart & Sommer, 2007).
Conclusion
From the journals that have been reviewed in this essay, it is evident that health promotion is an important strategy towards ensuring that people get relevant information regarding their health. Through provision of this information, people are able to adopt good strategies of improving their health. Nurses play a very important role in availing this information as well as assisting people prevent themselves from diseases and also assisting them get over their illnesses once they are infected.
References
Adamson, T. (2009). Dermatology Nursing Excellence: The Impact of Professional Knowledge on Environment. Journal of the Dermatology Nurses Association , 1(1), 48-52.
Burkhart, L., & Sommer, S. (2007). Integrating Preventive Care and Nursing Standardized Terminologies in Nursing Education. Journal of Professional Nursing , 23(4), 208-213.
Edelman, C., & Mandle, C. (2007). Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span. New York: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Jack, L. (2010). Environmental Health Promotion. Sophe , 11(3), 10-15.
WHO. (2011). Health promotion. Web.