Environmental Health and Safety

Nurses are charged to incorporate knowledge of the environment into their nursing
practice. Nurses are essential to improve environmental health through nursing
education, research, and practice. A public health nurse incorporates an “upstream”
focus in the community health position working with the community population. The
community health nurse must consider the precautionary principle in the upstream
focus. The nurse has to consider how the core functions of public health will be
applied.

1. What strategic actions does the community health nurse need to consider as
   part of the upstream framework?
2. The community health nurse is using the precautionary principle in the
   upstream framework in the community. What is the precautionary principle
   and how is it applied to public health and the core functions?
3. The core functions of public health can be app