Public health nurses are integral to advocating for, supporting, and maintaining the health of the population. Public Health Nursing in Canada teaches nurses how to engage in upstream thinking from a community and population health perspective in order to address clients on individual, family, group, community, population, and system levels. This text offers a comprehensive approach that includes communication, program planning, implementation, and evaluation in addition to policy, standards, and ethics.
Integral skills and knowledgesuch as leadership in public health nursing, anti-racism and anti-oppressive practice, Indigenous public health, community and population health assessments, family health, health education, mental health, planetary health, and moreare explored through real world applications. Each chapter includes practice stories as well as critical thinking questions similar to those found in the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) to aid nursing students in preparation for certification.
Public Health Nursing in Canada serves as a broad and inclusive competency-based resource for undergraduate and graduate nursing students as well as nurses entering public health practice in Canada.
Foreword by Dr. Cheryl Cusack
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Acronyms
Section I: Public Health and Public Health Nursing Practice in Canada
Chapter 1: Function, Structure, and Process of Public Health in Canada
Chapter 2: Indigenous Public Health Transformation
Chapter 3: History and Future of Public Health Nursing in Canada
Chapter 4: Foundations of Public Health Nursing
Chapter 5: Theoretical and Conceptual Approaches to Public Health Nursing
Practice
Chapter 6: Ethical Foundations of Public Health Nursing
Chapter 7: Evidence-Informed Public Health Nursing Practice
Chapter 8: Leadership in Public Health Nursing
Section II: Public Health Sciences in Nursing Practice
Chapter 9: Public Health Sciences
Chapter 10: Planetary Health
Chapter 11: Epidemiology for Public Health Nurses
Section III: Public Health Approaches
Chapter 12: A Public Health Nursing Approach to Health Promotion and Disease
Prevention
Chapter 13: Culture, Diversity, and Inclusionary Practices in Public Health
Nursing
Chapter 14: Trauma- and Violence-Informed Approaches to Public Health
Nursing Care
Section IV: Community/Population Health and Decision-Making
Chapter 15: Working with the Community as a Client
Chapter 16: Community and Population Health Assessment
Chapter 17: Policy and Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation
Section V: Communication in Public Health Nursing
Chapter 18: Communication Within a Population Health Framework
Chapter 19: Communicating with Purpose
Section VI: Public Health Nursing Roles in Public Health Programs and
Services
Chapter 20: Child and Family Health Nursing
Chapter 21: School Health
Chapter 22: Healthy Communities
Chapter 23: Environmental Health from a Planetary Health Perspective
Chapter 24: Infectious and Communicable Diseases
Chapter 25: Mental Health and Substance Use
Chapter 26: Emergency Management
Appendix A: Canadian Community Health Nursing Professional Practice Model
and Standards of Practice)
Appendix B: Core Public Health Competencies
Appendix C: Public Health Nursing Discipline Specific Competencies
Appendix D: Entry-to-Practice Public Health Nursing Competencies for
Undergraduate Nursing Education
Appendix E: Select Infectious and Communicable Diseases in Canada
Glossary
Contributor Biographies
Index
Erin Courtney, RN, EdD, is a professor in the BScN program at Lambton College and an Assistant Professor at Western University in the Doctor of Education, Educational Leadership program. As a nurse, she spent most of her career at Lambton Public Health as a staff nurse and then as the Supervisor of the Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control program. Since leaving Lambton Public Health in 2020, she continues to keep her hands in the private and public health sector consulting and developing education resources and courses related to infectious and communicable diseases, vaccines, and effective health communication.
Ruth Schofield, RN, MSc(T), is an experienced nursing professor in public/community health nursing who has taught and been in curriculum lead roles at McMaster University and Western University and currently teaches in the Mohawk College Continuing Education program. Her research focuses on community health nursing, nursing education, and mental health and housing. She has over 23 years of public health nursing experience in various positions and programs. She is the founder of the new online national PHN postgraduate program. She has been a chair or member on several national and provincial boards and co-chair of the CASN accreditation bureau and has led several national projects in the development of the standards, competencies, educational guidelines, and virtual simulation.
