Health Promotion Argumentative

Health PromotionAccording to World Health Organization “Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions”. (WHO, 2014). When it comes to health promotion it is not limited to a certain set of behaviors, it entertains a variety of different groups. You have to think about the risk factors and the disease behind it. “Health promotion, and the associated efforts put into education, community development, policy, legislation and regulation, is equally valid for prevention of communicable diseases: injury and violence, and mental problems, as they are for prevention of noncommunicable diseases”. (WHO, 2014). While promoting good health you have to deal with the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of health promotion. Nurses play a major role in health promotion. The role of the nurse in health promotion is more complex then traditionally.

According to Health promotion International “Nurses’ health promotion activities were guided by individual perspective nurses’, they exhibited a holistic approach in their health promotion practice, they concentrated on activities such as helping individuals or families to make health decisions or they supported people in their engagement with health promotion activities”. (2012). In the past nurses have taught clients how to manage illness but today’s nurse is focusing on teaching clients how to remain healthy. Nurses have an evidenced-based understanding of the enormous effect that can make the health promotion interventions work. Nurses are helping clients grow more aware of activities that lead to good health and staying healthy, knowing their own health status and the health of their family members. By using this form of health promotion the overall health of our population will improve.

Nursing roles and responsibilities are evolving in health care and in health promotion. Nurses in this day and age are advance practice nurses, community nurses, and nurses who specialize in health promotion. [Nurses help attain higher quality, longer lives free of preventable diseases, disability, illness, and pre-mature death. Nurses achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups. Nurses create a social and physical environment that promotes good health for everyone. Nurses promote quality of life, healthy development, and healthy behaviors across the life span]. (Burggraf, 2012). Some of the implementation methods of health promotion are achieving goals and meeting them, promoting health care cost effectively, and teaching a lifestyle according to client’s individual needs. As the nurse you can refer health care services, go into the different communities, have training and educational classes, have policies and build a framework. Nurses should do research before treatment and evaluate all treatment and outcomes.

The nurse must defiantly provide a calm and private environment, reduce health iniquities, improve health, and most importantly prevent and reduce disease. In comparison of the three levels of health promotion and prevention, they all have the same common cause, to prevent, treat, and educate. The care of primary health promotion is to prevent or stop any habit or addiction before it in turns affects the health of that individual. According to Health Promotion at Primary Care “The effects of tobacco, physical exercise, diet, and alcohol consumption on morbidity and mortality underline the importance of health promotion and prevention (HPP) at the primary health care (PHC) level”. (2011).

If you can stop a person before these things become a habit that is a form of primary prevention. The secondary levels of health promotion are put into place after a disease has already occurred. Like telling someone to take a daily low dose aspirin after a stroke would be considered secondary prevention or recommending exams or screenings of any sort. Tertiary prevention focuses on management or treatment of long term diseases such as heart disease or diabetes. In the tertiary stage you may have patient support groups, or long term pain management programs. Conclusion

Different ways of promoting good health or preventing health problems can be challenging, but it can be done. According to the Institute for Work & Health “For many health problems, a combination of primary, secondary and tertiary interventions are needed to achieve a meaningful degree of prevention and protection”. (2006). It’s easier to think that the further upstream a person is from a negative health outcome the likelier that the intervention will be effective. Sometimes this isn’t always the case especially when a person has little to no knowledge about what causes different illnesses and disease. This is why it is and always will be important for the nurse to help promote and prevent health care problems if applicable.

References

At Work, Issue 43, Winter 2006: Institute for Work & Health, Toronto. Retrieved July 18, 2014 from https://www.iwh.on.ca/wrmb/primary-secondary-and-tertiary-preventionBurggraf, V., (January 31, 2012) “Overview and Summary: The New Millennium: Evolving and Emerging Nursing Roles” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 17, No. 2, Overview and Summary Calderón, C., Balagué, L., Cortada, J. M., & Sánchez, Á. (2011). Health promotion in primary care: How should we intervene? A qualitative study involving both physicians and patients. BMC Health Services Research, 11(1), 62-72. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-11-62 Health Promot. Int. (2012) doi: 10.1093/heapro/das034 Retrieved July 18, 2014 from http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/08/10/heapro.das034.fullWorld Health Organizations (2014). Health Promotion. Retrieved July 18, 2014 from http://www.who.int/topics/health_promotion/en/