Health promotion in emergency care: rationale, strategies and activities
Intended for healthcare professionals
CPD    

Health promotion in emergency care: rationale, strategies and activities

Adele Phillips Senior lecturer, health promotion and public health, School of Allied Health and Public Health Professions, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Social Care, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, England
Sarah Laslett Lecturer, adult nursing, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Social Care, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, England

Why you should read this article:
  • To understand health promotion and the role of emergency department nurses in health promotion

  • To increase your awareness of the social determinants of health and the health inequalities they produce

  • To count towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD, or you may wish to write a reflective account (UK readers)

  • To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers)

The concept of health promotion emerged in the 1970s, prompting global health leaders to adopt a perspective on maintaining and improving the population’s health that accounts for the underlying causes of ill-health and mortality. Health is affected by social, economic and environmental factors, which explains why there are health inequalities within and between countries. Health services have been partly reoriented to focus on promoting health as well as treating ill-health, but health promotion is still misunderstood, including in the nursing profession. Health promotion is often viewed as being concerned with addressing patients’ lifestyle behaviours, but this is only one aspect of a much broader framework of health promotion strategies.

This article introduces the concept of health promotion, explains its relevance to nurses working in the emergency department (ED), and identifies activities ED nurses can undertake to promote the health of patients, staff and the wider community. It also explains how ED nurses can play a role in health activism to better understand the social determinants of health and address health inequalities.

Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2021.e2103

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

adele.phillips@canterbury.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Phillips A, Laslett S (2021) Health promotion in emergency care: rationale, strategies and activities. Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2021.e2103

Published online: 16 September 2021

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