Bureau of Public Health Nursing

Public health nursing is a specialized area of practice which strives to preserve the health of populations across the lifespan by emphasizing health promotion, and disease prevention and control. To accomplish this goal, public health nurses provide comprehensive health services to individuals, families and the community-at-large through a broad spectrum of targeted interventions and programs. These programs include child and adolescent health, communicable diseases, and chronic diseases.

Program Highlights

The public health nurse fulfills many roles:

• Care provider in the home, clinic, and community setting.
• Educator to provide health-related information to individuals and groups.
• Advocate for the patients to assure that needed care and services are obtained.
• Manager of clinic operations and patient care services.
• Collaborator in partnership with school nurses and other members of the health care team to plan and provide services.
• Leader on the health care team which influences people to think and behave differently about their health and the factors contributing to it.
• Researcher, who through data collection in clinical programs, performs community assessments to monitor the health of the community.

Locations

Nursing services are provided in the home, health centers and in the community (e.g. shelters, schools). All services are available and accessible through health centers located in many Baltimore communities:

Dundalk Health Center 
Essex Health Center 
Eastern Family Resource Center (Rossville/Towson)
Hannah More Academy Center (Reisterstown)
Liberty Family Resource Center (Randallstown)
Woodlawn Health Center

Health Centers are open Monday–Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but some services and special community activities are often provided during evenings and weekends.

Revised November 8, 2007