Community Health Nursing

Opinion on if ‘patient’ has changed or expanded

In my perspective, I feel that the term ‘patient’ has changed over time since currently, the active participation and public involvement, has made the name “patient” to be an aggressive anachronism, and no longer reflects on what is definite of the relationship between the ill people and health workers. The term “patient” invokes an idea of a suffering individual lying in a bed waiting for the doctor to come and treat him or her (McMahon, et al., 2014). Moreover, this shows an imbalanced relationship between the provider and the user of healthcare services; the user known merely as the sufferer, while the healthcare provider is referred to with a title, a doctor, nurse phlebotomist, or physiotherapist. The term ‘patient’ has changed over time since before it signified a classified relationship often showing a sickly person. However, currently, a majority of people opt to use the term ‘client’ since it highlights a collaborative relationship. 

References

McMahon, S. A., George, A. S., Chebet, J. J., Mosha, I. H., Mpembeni, R. N., & Winch, P. J. (2014). Experiences of and responses to disrespectful maternity care and abuse during childbirth; a qualitative study with women and men in Morogoro Region, Tanzania. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 14(1), 268.

Differences between the assessment of a public health nurse and a clinical nurse

Both the public health nurses and clinical nurses share the same goal of maintaining, preserving, and promoting the community’s health. Public health nurses are trained to assess the residents. In general, their health knowledge is in evaluating the requirements of both families and individuals within the area they work in. However, the clinical nurse assesses people’s health needs. The community is evaluated to distinguish whether or not the health requirements were met, which is done on an individual level. Furthermore, clinical nurses examine the health of a person and observe whether the health status of a person is improving or not (Drummond et al., 2015). The clinical nurses help to prevent disease, promote life, as well as, prolong life by treating diseases. This is conducted through skills and experience along with organized efforts of the nurses.

References

Drummond, M. F., Sculpher, M. J., Claxton, K., Stoddart, G. L., & Torrance, G. W. (2015). Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes. Oxford university press.