Difference between Community Health Nurse and a Public Health Nurse.

Like people in many professions, nurses are subject to being stereotyped. As widespread
misconceptions, nurses are referred as secondary and subordinate to doctors, sadly it is based on the
hierarchy of power thus degrading the nursing profession, but as a student pursuing my career in the field,
I believe our horizons extend far more than that.
Nursing as profession now has two major subdivisions; Community Health Nursing and Public
Health Nursing. In this brief account I will talk through the differences between the two fields of nursing
and their roles in uplifting the quality of health of humanity and humanity itself.
To begin with, let us discuss The Community Health Nursing (CHN). Nurses have historically
provided care for people, families, and communities. An increase in nurses working outside of hospitals,
mainly in community-based settings that prioritize helping individuals and families, has been seen
recently. Nursing care that is community-focused and uses the community as the client is likewise
becoming more and more important. The number of elderly people who are vulnerable to degenerative
and chronic diseases has increased due to rapid global social and economic development, and new
patterns of illnesses caused by these factors, such as occupational hazards, accidents, and environmental
poisonings from air pollution, noise, and contaminated water, have also become more common.
Communities struggle with a significant population of individuals from all walks of life who receive poor
or no health care due to inability to pay for or access treatments. Furthermore, a transition in care from the
more conventional acute care facilities to the community has been facilitated by public concerns about the
quality, cost, access, and fragmentation of health. This has led to changes in the field from being patient-
focused to a broader range of patient care concerns.
On the other hand, a nursing practitioner with training in public health and nursing science who
focuses primarily on population-level outcomes is referred to as a "public health nurse." For whole
population groups, public health nursing's main goals are to promote health and prevent disease. This
could entail helping and caring for certain people in the population. Additionally, it involves identifying
people with health issues that put their own safety and the safety of those in the community at risk, such
as those who have contagious diseases, but who may not seek medical attention. Giving people in-person
care in public health nursing settings is not its main goal. Through a process of evaluation and assessment
of each person's requirements within the context of their demographic group, public health nurses assist in
the delivery of direct treatment. In collaboration with other healthcare professionals, public health nurses
design, create, and support community-wide systems and initiatives that promote health and accessibility
to treatment. Health promotion and disease prevention are the responsibilities of a public health nurse.
This area of nursing focuses on educating groups and people who are at risk about healthy lifestyle
choices and illness prevention by avoiding risky behavior or exposure.
In conclusion, I further analyzed that these two fields in nursing has been widely intertwined.
Although both fields cater to the same population, their goals are different. Those who are unable to seek
medical attention are treated by public health nurses. In order to decrease healthcare inequities,
community health nursing entails lobbying and policy creation. Both nursing specialties employ theory
and evidence-based practice.