From the battle to prevent the spread of AIDS to breakthroughs in cancer research, disease and its impact on the human body are everyday subjects for health organizations and the scientific community as well as the popular press. News articles, reports, studies, and other resources can provide insights into how disease affects the human body and its systems. These resources inform not only researchers and scientists, but also public health officials and the general population.
In this Discussion, you locate an article related to a human disease and you analyze the information the article provides. Also, you explore how greater understanding of a disease’s effects on the human body informs public health and disease prevention.

To prepare for this Discussion,

• Locate an article related to a particular human disease from the popular press (e.g., Time, CNN, Newsweek), a federal or global health organization (e.g., CDC, WHO, World Bank, UNAIDS), or a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal such as the Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology (search using the CINAHL database in the Walden library). This article should have been published within the last 2 years.
• Identify which body system(s) is/are impacted by the disease. Consider the implications of the subject matter discussed in the article on the body system(s).
• Reflect on how public health and disease prevention are impacted by the subject matter of the article.

Application
The History of Public Health and the Role of the Community/Public Health Nurse
Using Chapter 2 in the course textbook, your assigned reading on the role of the nurse in a specific public health setting, and this week’s media presentation, address the following in a 2- to 3-page paper:
Trace the history of the public health nurse including the contributions made by Lillian Wald and the Henry Street Settlement. Also, summarize the role of the nurse in the practice setting assigned. Include the following in your summary:
• Explain how the core functions of community/public health nursing and the standards of practice are met with that specific role.
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• Describe the population served by the nurse in this role.
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• Which interventions might the nurse in this role utilize?
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• Explain the level of practice used in this practice setting (primary/secondary/tertiary).
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• Describe an ethical dilemma that might be encountered in this nursing role.