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Results for “Environmental Health”

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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Challenges and successes of infusing environmental health content in a nursing program.

Environmental health has received minimal attention in nursing curricula over the past decade, despite efforts by the Institute of Medicine (1995) and others to advance the environmental health agenda in nursing education, practice, and research. This paper describes an initiative that was first funded as a part of the Environmental Health Scholars Program in 2000 to incorporate environmental health into master's and undergraduate nursing programs at one university. Evaluation of this initiative highlights the challenges and successes experienced in this academic setting. A number of recommendations based on this experience and the literature are offered. There is a perceived need to define the critical body of knowledge and skills in environmental health and to develop tools to enable educators and practitioners to apply this knowledge in public health nursing and other specialty practices. In tandem, opportunities and incentives are needed to encourage faculty development and the infusion of environmental health into existing curricula. Changes are also needed across practice settings to proactively address environmental health issues so that environmental health becomes and remains an integral part of nursing.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1997

Perspectives on the place of environmental health and protection in public health and public health agencies.

The field of environmental health and protection and the entire field of public health have repeatedly found themselves isolated from one another, unable to articulate the definition, mission, and goals of public health and the essential role for environmental health and protection in the provision of a healthy ecological and human environment. Environmental agencies often forget that they, too, are public health agencies; public health agencies that have had environmental health functions have divided and abdicated their environmental responsibilities, considering these to be "regulatory" rather than public health. This article reviews the history of environmental health and protection, its involvement within the field of public health, its eventual separation from other public health programs with resulting benefits and consequences, and what the future may hold for environmental health and protection activities as well as for the broader scope of public health of which these activities are a part.

Association↗
PubMed2001

Health assessment for the occupational and environmental health nurse. Skills update.

The assessment and management of clinical problems of employees related to occupational and non-occupational health are key components within the scope of the occupational and environmental health nurse practice. Employees present with various physical or psychosocial problems. The occupational and environmental health nurse must be equipped to make appropriate assessments and decisions related to the employees' care and referral. Use of a structured health assessment tool provides a systematic approach to identification of health needs given the stated goals of maintaining employee health and securing a safe work setting.

Communication↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pediatric environmental health competencies for specialists.

BACKGROUND: Because environmental health problems are complex and require specialty training, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association initiated a 3-year postgraduate fellowship in Pediatric Environmental Health. OBJECTIVE: To develop competencies for the specialty of Pediatric Environmental Health and appropriate measures (performance indicators) for the achievement of these competencies. METHODS: The President of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association appointed a 6-member Fellowship Oversight Committee to guide the development of the Fellowship Program and to draft competencies for fellows in Pediatric Environmental Health. The Committee developed a list of proposed competencies for graduates of Pediatric Environmental Health fellowships. These were skills identified as very important for a specialist to have for minimal competency in the practice of pediatric environmental health. RESULTS: Twenty-seven Pediatric Environmental Health competencies are proposed. The competencies are presented from 3 separate perspectives: academic, individual patient care, and community advocacy. Each competency has a list of suggested performance indicators. CONCLUSION: These competencies are intended to assist in structuring the training experience, achieving consensus with respect to expectations of fellows and faculty, providing opportunities for fellows to assess their own needs or gaps in training, and identifying the expertise of fellowship graduates to potential employers.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1992

Environmental health in the journals.

The environmental health aspects of general medical practice have attracted the attention of many professional organizations in the past few years, including the American College of Physicians, the Institute of Medicine, and the American College of Occupational Medicine. To assess the degree of emphasis placed on environmental health issues in professional journals, a survey of representative specialty and general medical journals was conducted through a Medline literature search. Over the past 15-year period (1976-1990) specialty journals demonstrated a dramatic and consistent increase in published articles that were indexed under the headings environmental pollution, environmental pollutants, and environmental cancer. General medical journals also demonstrated continued increases in the rate of published articles addressing these environmental health topics. Within the environmental categories, air pollution, especially that due to dusts, was the most heavily indexed topic, followed by water pollution, especially that due to chemical contamination. This study supports the notion that environmental health issues are assuming more importance in general medical practice, especially within the specialty of occupational medicine.

Environmental Health↗
PubMed2004

Genomics in environmental health research--opportunities and challenges.

Environmental health research impacts both environmental health regulatory policy and the practice of medicine. However, this area of medical research has not garnered public support and attention of medical researchers because of its emphasis on prevention and public health. Also, the pervasiveness of a scientific culture wedded to old problems and outdated technologies and models systems has not been helpful in generating enthusiasm for the field. While the emphasis on prevention is both laudable and appropriate, the adoption of cutting-edge technologies to exploit the new scientific opportunities, made possible by the nation's investment in genomics, is essential if the discipline expects to be competitive with other highly deserving programs. The new 'omics' era of environmental health research, ushered in over the past decade, characterized by the linkage of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics to conventional toxicology and pathology databases, holds great promise for elucidating mechanisms of gene-environment interaction in human health and disease. These combined approaches will allow one to monitor multiple molecular events, pathways and interactive networks simultaneously-a requirement for elucidating toxic mechanisms. But, before embracing the 'omics' technologies as the 'be all-end all;' they need to be validated for their predictive capacities in large-scale multi-institutional studies, such as those described in this article.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Susceptibility and biomarker knowledge for improvement of environmental health.

At the international level, environmental health problems are usually most serious in countries that have the least resources to deal with the problems. Therefore, international efforts have been initiated to achieve equitable environmental health globally. One approach is to conduct international collaborative studies. This approach has been successful in the building of scientific infrastructure in these countries so that they can address their own environmental health concerns and to sustain the environmental health programs. Using liver and oral cancers as models for discussion, examples of success in the identification of etiology and the mechanisms for the diseases are provided. For example, biomarkers are used to provide early warning signals for the disease. In addition, the application of the collected information for developing disease prevention and intervention programs is presented. Expertise in genetic susceptibility is used to provide a more precise understanding of the cancer process. With the precise knowledge, the information can potentially be used to screen for high-risk individuals and to develop "designer" intervention procedures against specific biochemical defects. Success in disease prevention is dependent upon multidisciplinary collaborations at the local and international levels.

Aflatoxin B1↗
PubMed1997

[Communication in environmental health protection and in environmental medicine counseling].

Practically all municipal health authorities, including the Bremen health authorities, now offer advice with regard to healthy environmental protection, i. e. environmental-medical consulting activities. The majority of the consultantcy services deal with individual inquiries made by citizens. This is supplemented by counselling and discussions with groups in various contexts. It is frequent for extremely difficult counselling contents, situations and deficits in the conducting of the discussions by the consultants who are specialised in natural science subjects to coincide. Within the framework of a further training course designed for these specific needs, the staff of the Bremen health authorities, with specialist instruction, were successful in acquitting skill in the communication of risks, which is a qualification that should become self-evident also in this sphere.

Communication↗
PubMed1993

[The environment and health. Environmental pollution and its health effects].

Both environment and health are terms of far-reaching meaning, which impedes a complete survey of their interactions. Originating from considerations about global phenomena, as e.g. the extinction of biological species, of the so called "forest dying", or of the extensive consumption of energy and material resources, on the hierarchy of effects on health of environmental damages on one hand or on the undisputable adaptivity of man in particular on the other, only actual examples are outlined. The groups of dioxins, asbestos and radon are outlined, considering them as representatives for the vast number of substances potentially harmful to the environment and for the complexity of the toxicological and oecological interactions with oecosphere, biosphere and man. By the examples, the principles of toxicological/oecological thinking are explained, finally never resulting in yes/no alternatives, but in compromises by sober balances of risk and benefit. The basically correct vigilance of the public against avoidable risks may not lead to hysteric reactions, impeding the concentration onto necessary and practicable solutions.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed2000

An environmental health survey of residents in Boston Chinatown.

The Asian/Pacific Islander (API) population in the United States is majority immigrant, diverse ethnically, and resides predominately in urban settings. It is possible that urban APIs face health-threatening environmental hazards that differ in form or magnitude from environmental concerns of other definable subpopulations or the overall population in the United States. To date, little or nothing is known about this topic. Spurred by the complaints of one such community, in Boston Chinatown, which is also of low socioeconomic status, we conducted a first-stage survey of randomly chosen residents about environmental health concerns. Despite a small sample size, we were able to document several environmental factors of potential concern that were worthy of further study. These included exhaust and noise from motor vehicle traffic and dust from construction projects, and factors originating inside the home. Pedestrian safety and lack of open/green space emerged as primary community concerns, while residents' knowledge of environmental hazards, such as lead paint, was found to be weak. We conclude that standard surveys of "environmental justice" in communities such as this one require tailoring of methods to specific conditions in order to be effective. For example, our survey preferentially missed working-age men, and about half of all randomly selected persons were not interviewed despite bilingual/bicultural interviewers, support letters from the local health clinic, and in-person attempts at residences.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Evaluation of an environmental health education program: assessing changes in knowledge of health professionals.

Knowledge about environmental health is crucial for nurses so they can take into account both the living and occupational environments of clients during history taking and physical assessments. When focused on local environmental conditions and exposures, outreach educational programs on environmental health can result in a measurable increase of interest to learn and enhance the knowledge base of participants. Public health agencies and educational institutions should consider entering into partnerships to sponsor such professional development programs for nurses and other health professionals to promote the health of local populations.

Education, Nursing, Continuing↗
PubMed1989

An evaluation of introductory courses in environmental health.

Introductory courses in environmental health are intended for doctors newly appointed to the emergency duty rotas of the Medical Officer for Environmental Health. Three courses have been held in Bristol between 1984 and 1987. They have been evaluated with a problem management questionnaire completed by 44 of the 47 participants before and after the teaching. Seventy-four per cent (23/31) of a comprehensive list of aspects that could be considered were mentioned by less than 30% of respondents at the beginning of the course and 65% (20/31) of these aspects were mentioned by at least 30% more participants at the end of the course than before it. There were no differences in these patterns between respondents who attended the different courses. The findings support the need and educational worth of such courses, and help to identify learning deficiencies. Problem management questionnaires are useful in their evaluation.

Education, Medical, Graduate↗