Nurses As Health Promoters

NURSES AS
HEALTH
PROMOTERS
BY GODWIN AND RUPI
WHY
• In 2015, the RCN has been leading work to assess the impact and contribution that nurses make
to public health to promote good lifestyle.
• The Royal College of Nursing believes nurses are well placed to pick up this mantle; however,
we questioned whether others shared our views, particularly those outside the nursing
profession. Nurses are often expected to respond to public health challenges as they understand
the particular risks of individuals but also know the population and the community they work.
• Improving public health is at the forefront of all of the UK governments’ policies for health and
social care (NHS England 2014, NHS Scotland 2012, Scottish Government 2015, Public Health
Agency, NI 2015 and Public Health Wales 2015). Health services currently face the
unprecedented challenges of both an increasing population and financial austerity.
AIMS
• Godwin to provide
WHAT DID THE RCN DO TO FIND OUT
THESE AIMS?
The RCN conducted their research in three parts:
1) The RCN used case studies that they have collected of good practice throughout the UK and
not just limited to England. They used a few case studies that they sought from a different
publication Going Upstream (RCN 2012) but also new case studies that they sought from
different trusts.
2) They then sent out web based surveys to commissioners, service planners and designers of
public health services for their views about the value of public health nursing
3) Interviews with a sample of the survey respondents and other stakeholders.
CASE STUDY They case studies were picked through
knowledge of good practice across the UK. They
How did they choose which also used and updated case studies that were
case studies to use? featured in a past publication from the RCN
Going Upstream (RCN 2012).
• As shown in the pie chart – these are

responses broken down in the percentage
of where the results came from.
SURVEY
The survey consisted with
23 closed questions and then
at the end they had three
open ended question.
The first five questions of

the survey asked about the
person filling in the form to
see if the answers
represented their personal
view or represented the
service they are working for.
The survey shows that nurses were not confident in providing care in
sectors that involved public health. (Faculty of Public Health 2015)
“Improving Services”.
INTERVIEWS
• Interviews were conducted by telephone, at the convenience of the participants.

• There can be some limitation with the interview as the participant may not get on with the
interviewer or they may feel that they could be judged and therefore may not be honest (Ward
et al 2015).
WHY TO EMPLOY NURSES? From the responses the
commissioners felt that
nurses had They felt that
nurses had skills. They
said that nurses are the
experts in the care they
provide and have the
skills.
Nurses were seen as

care specialists as they
found that nurses had
skills and knowledge
around public health
services.
KEY MESSAGES!
• Nurses just like you, have assessment skills to support individuals and educate others.
• Using these skills, nurses are best placed to provide person centred care whilst promoting
public health.
• The RCN found that often commissioners are not always aware of what nurses do therefore
through education and voicing their abilities, the stakeholders would be better placed to
enhance the awareness of public health.
• RCN speaks about a point that (Willis, 2015) has said “more needs to be expected from the
graduate nurse of the future to meet a population-based and integrated community approach” .
Public health is everyone's

business!
REFERENCES
• Faculty of Public Health (2015) What is public health? . Available at:
• www.fph.org.uk/what_is_public_health (accessed 15/10/15).
• RCN (2012) Going upstream: nursing’s contribution to public health. London.
• Ward K, Gott M and Hoare K (2015) Participants’ views of telephone interviews within a
grounded theory study. Journal of Advanced Nursing (On line early publication).
• Willis, P (2015) Raising the Bar: Shape of Caring: A Review of the Future of Education and
Training of Registered Nurses and Care Assistants, London: Health Education England.
Available at: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2348-Shape-of-caring-
review- FINAL.pdf (Accessed 21 February 2019)

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NURSES AS

• As shown in the pie chart – these are

The first five questions of

• Interviews were conducted by telephone, at the convenience of the participants.

Nurses were seen as

Public health is everyone's

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