Health Promotion

“Prepare an essay (750-1,000) words in which you review and compare the three articles you have selected for this assignment. Address the following: 1) How is health promotion defined? 2) What is the purpose of health promotion in nursing practice? 3) How are nursing roles and responsibilities evolving in health promotion? 4) Explain the implementation methods for health promotion that encompasses all areas of nursing. 5) Compare the three levels of health promotion prevention. ” According to Wilson V. , Andrew A. , and Wilson L. (2012), “In its most simple definition, Health Promotion is the process of facilitating individuals, groups and or communities control of their health”. For the European Journal of Scientific Research (2009), “Health Promotion aims to empower people health”. Health care providers “often take Health Promotion for granted in favor of secondary health care issues”. Some healthcare professionals think that discussing health promotion with patients at the beginning and/or the end of care is a waste of time, or should be delegated to other healthcare providers like nutritionists or health educators.

Practicing in that way will lessen the fact that Health Promotion can help avoid the risk of relapse. Health Promotion should be at the beginning, the middle and the end of nursing practice in order to help make the benefit of acute care a reality. Nursing has a huge role and responsibilities to play in Health Promotion. The World Health Organization stated that Health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It means that Health promotion goes beyond preventing only physical threats, but needs to take care also of the mental part the human beings. The roles and responsibilities of nursing in health promotion can be found in the conclusion of the “International Conference on Primary Health care”. Indeed, “The Declaration of Alma -Ata expressed the need for immediate action by all governments, health care workers, and developers, as well as the World community, to promote and protect the health of people worldwide (World Health Organization) [WHO] 1978)”. Then in 1986, the WHO released the Ottawa Charter.

In this important document, we can find clearly defined the willingness of Health care providers, in addition to trying to improve personal skills, to re-orientate “health care services toward prevention of illness and promotion of health”. For example it would be better for a nurse to educate and train a non dependent insulin diabetic patient how to eat healthy in order to avoid moving to insulin dependent diabetic patient, more than giving the patient the insulin shot every day. Also, Health promotion in nursing practice is a continuous and laborious work with sometimes the feeling of not doing anything.

But as the saying goes, “repetition is pedagogical. ” Patients will eventually understand and even include other people because “from mouth to ear”, information spreads. For the World Health Organization (WHO) “Health Promotion is a process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health” (WHO, 1986). To accompany this laborious process, Nurses have to guide people by teaching and providing the right information about health promotion. Because well trained, competent, and experienced, people believe them and this should be an occasion to seize and give as more useful information as they can. When nurses are working within a health promotion model, every interaction with a client can be an educational intervention”. As an example, the best moment to teach a patient for smoking cessation will be when administering the patient’s COPD medication. Because this disease is linked most of the time to smoking, the patient has must more chance to understand the origin of his/her suffering. Nurses are promoting health constantly: At work, at home, in the community, everywhere is ideal to have people change their behavior and one day or another everybody will communicate with a nurse at some point in their lives. I challenge you to make the most of the expertise of a nurse. Nurses are high level thinkers with exceptional skills and considerable ability to communicate, negotiate, coordinate, and collaborate in order to deliver care”. The primary level of health promotion is about all activities that help to prevent illness to occur. A lot of examples can be cited: vaccination, healthy diet, good lifestyle, exercises etc. The secondary of health promotion intervenes when the primary level has failed.

At this point, in order to avoid serious damage and to give the maximum of chance of healing, “the promotion of early detection and treatment of disease and limitation of disability” is necessary. The tertiary of Health Promotion gives the opportunity to accompany the patients in their recovery and also their rehabilitation phase. references 1. Wilson, V. , Andrew, A. & Wilson, L. (2012). Health promotion: Future occupational therapy in an ageing New Zealand. 2. PHartman, Jul 2012, retrieved from http://www. studymode. com/essays/Levels-Of-Health-Promotions-In-Nursing-1043259. html