The American Nurses Association (ANA), the Association of Community

Health Nurse Educators (ACHNE), the American Public Health

Association (APHA), and the Association of State and Territorial District
Nurses (ASTDN) constitute the Quad Council. This information is
important because the Quad Council defines the scope and standards
of practice and thus the definitionsfor both CH and PH nursing.
Community health (CH) nursing practice synthesizes information
from both public health theory and nursing theory. Its goal is to
promote, preserve, and maintain the health of populations through the
delivery of personal health services to individuals, families, and groups.
The focus is to improve the health of the community as a whole by
improving the health status of the individuals, families, and groups who
reside in the community. CH nurses work in home health, hospice, and
community-based clinics.
Public health (PH) nursing is a subset of CH nursing. In developing
the PH nursing competencies, the Quad Council members concurred
that the generalist level of public health nursing would reflect
preparation at the baccalaureate level; the specialist would require a
masters-prepared nurse. Although PH nursing also synthesizes nursing
and PH theories, its focus is on health promotion and health
preservation at the population level. Population is defined as a
collection of individuals who share one or more environmental or
personal characteristics. Many times in PH, the term population is used
interchangeably with the term aggregate. This specialty area looks at
the community and the effects of the communitys health status,
including access to healthcare resources, on the health of individuals,
families, and groups. The goal is the prevention of disease and
disability and the promotion and protection of the community as a
whole. Examples of where PH nurses work include the U.S. Indian
Health Service (IHS), the Bureau of Prisons (BoP), the Health Resources
and Services Administration (HRSA), and the National Institutes of
Health (NIH).
- See more at:
http://www.elearnportal.com/courses/nursing/community-healthnursing/community-health-nursing-role-of-community-health-nursingand-public-health#sthash.jAOzA6HS.dpuf