Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Environmental Health
All items and derived items © 2014, 2010, 2006, 2002 by Mosby, an imprint of Elsevier Inc.
Objectives
Explain how the environment influences human
health and disease.
Know which disciplines work most closely with
nurses in environmental health.
Describe legislative and regulatory policies that
have influenced the effect of the environment on
health and disease patterns.
Describe the skills needed by nurses practicing
in environmental health and apply the nursing
process to the practice of environmental health.
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Introduction
Healthy environment is essential for optimal
health and health care.
We often take the environment for granted and
may fail to see the hazards in front of us.
We get chemical, biological, and radiological
exposures that affect our health in the air we
breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat,
and the products we use.
ANA Scope and Standards for Environmental
Health (2007)
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Historical Context
Florence Nightingale: Crimean War
Mary Brewster: Henry Street neighborhood
Environmental contamination
Poverty and exposure to environmental hazards
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Environmental Health Sciences
Toxicology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology triangle
Geographic information systems (GIS)
Competencies
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Environmental Health Assessment
Air (indoor/outdoor), water, land, or food
Chemical, biological, or radiological
Environmental health assessment
“I PREPARE”
Windshield survey
Environmental databases
Environmental health assessment form
Inquire/observe about unintended environmental
exposures
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Environmental Health Assessment
The Right to Know Laws
Consumer confidence report (CCR)
Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
Risk Assessment
Point source
Nonpoint source
Assessing Risks in Children
Children
Pregnant women
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Reducing Environmental
Health Risks
Apply the basic principles of disease prevention
Risk Communication
Ethics
Governmental Environmental Protection
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Advocacy
Nurses have responsibilities to be informed
consumers and to be advocates for citizens in
their community regarding environmental health
issues
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Environmental Justice and
Environmental Health Disparities
Environmental Health disparities
Environmental Justice:
1993 Environmental Justice Act
1994 Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to
Address Environmental Justice in Minority
Populations
2012 Environmental Justice Strategy and
Implementation Plan
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Unique Environmental Health
Threats in the Health Care Industry
Mercury
Synthetic chemicals
Persistent bioaccumulate toxins (PBTs)
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
Dioxin
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Unique Environmental Health Threats
in the Health Care Industry and
Advocacy
Health Care Without Harm campaign
ANA
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Referral Resources
No single source of information about environmental
health is available, nor is there a single resource to
which individuals or a community can be referred if
they suspect an environmental problem.
Starting points
The environmental epidemiology unit or toxicology unit of
your state health department or environmental agency
Environmental health experts in nursing or medical
schools, or schools of public health
Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics
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Roles for Nurses in
Environmental Health
Assessment
Referral
Community involvement and public participation
Risk communication
Epidemiologic investigations
Policy development
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