New ANA Publication Places Environmental Health Concerns Explicitly Within The Scope Of Nursing Practice

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 11 Nov 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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ANA's Principles of Environmental Health for Nursing Practice with Implementation Strategies developed by a workgroup of the Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics (CNPE) and a group of nurse experts in this field.

Both as a call to action and a guide to practice, this book clearly presents the essential topics in a way suited to all nurses in their roles as health care advocates and providers. It articulates a set of ten environmental health principles, which frame the book's content. These principles can guide nurses in dealing with such issues and in providing nursing care in an environmentally healthy and safe manner. The book urges nurses to gain a working understanding of the connections between human health and environmental exposures-whether in the world at large or in health care facilities and work settings-and then shows how to integrate this knowledge into their practice.

To help nurses apply these principles in their practice, the book offers a selection of implementation strategies for each principle, variously tailored for individuals, workplaces, communities, and facilities. To help nurses educate themselves and others, background information and organizational resources fill out this succinct guide to a field whose importance will only continue to grow.

Several ANA CE study modules on environmental health are currently available online at NursingWorld.org, with a new module on chemical policy issues strategies for nurses coming soon. The ANA Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) provides the on-staff expertise on these topics as they relate to both the nursing profession and the health care industry in general.

The ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the interests of the nation's 2.9 million registered nurses through its 54 constituent member nurses associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

Nursesbooks.org, the publishing program of the American Nurses Association, publishes a variety of books and monographs. These works translate the latest in evidence-based and related healthcare activities into practice-centered resources for nurse leaders, managers, practitioners, educators, and students. To learn more, go to http://www.nursesbooks.org, a part of the ANA website, http://www.NursingWorld.org.