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Guidance for nurses on how to record public health impact

A new toolkit has been created by Public Health England and the Royal Society for Public Health to help nurses, midwives and others record their impact on public health.
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A new toolkit has been created by Public Health England (PHE) and the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) to help nurses, midwives and others record the impact of their work on public health

The Everyday Interactions report was developed with representative bodies and individuals in nursing, midwifery, dentistry and allied health.

A survey of healthcare professionals, contained in the report, shows that 70% of respondents believe protecting and promoting the public’s health is important.

Yet fewer than one in five (19%) currently measure the public health impact of their work.

Vital role

PHE chief nurse Viv Bennett said: ‘All health and care professionals play a vital role in encouraging and supporting people to care for their own health and well-being.

‘Nurses and midwives are developing their practice and services that promote and protect health and well-being.

‘This toolkit will enable them to record and measure the public health impact of care provided to individuals’ families and communities.’

PHE and RSPH believe the main barriers to collecting data are time, capacity and training.

Toolkit

The toolkit aims to overcome this by making it easier to record data related to the priorities outlined in PHE’s All Our Health framework. This includes tackling obesity, alcohol and smoking.

The toolkit consists of four stages:

  • Do – focusing on brief intervention, such as signposting to relevant services.
  • Record – such as categorising a referral and recording body mass index measurements.
  • Collate – capturing the data over time for multiple individuals.
  • Impact – understanding the impact of interventions both locally and nationally.

In addition to the report, RSPH has developed a free e-learning package for healthcare professionals.


Further information


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