Licensed Practical Nurses are not only responsible for providing care to patients; they also play an active role in promoting and maintaining patients’ health. Health promotion is an essential aspect of nursing, and it involves various actions aimed at improving health outcomes and preventing diseases. Through these health promotion strategies, practical nurses can help patients take greater responsibility for their health, resulting in a better quality of life.

In this blog, we will discuss three health promotion strategies that nursing school students can use to improve the health of their patients.

1. Education

Education is an essential tool in health promotion. As a nursing school student, you should not only focus on learning about diseases and their treatments, it’s vital that you also learn about the preventive measures that can be taken to avoid these diseases. With this knowledge in place, you may reliably educate patients about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise, healthy eating, and stress management.

Health education is a powerful health promotion strategy when put to good use. For greater effectiveness, nursing school students can take the message to the grassroots, educating people about health conditions and introducing them to prevention and early treatment steps. As part of their practical nurse training, students are also taught how to tailor health education to existing circumstances or health challenges in certain neighbourhoods.

2. Counselling After Practical Nurse Training

Counselling is another health promotion strategy that nursing school students can use to improve the health of their patients. Counselling involves one-on-one conversations with patients to help them understand their health and make positive changes, it is also an effective way to promote behaviour change and improve health outcomes.

As a practical nursing student, you must develop counselling skills to help your patients. These skills may be acquired through courses, workshops, or practical experience. Some of the counselling skills that can be used include active listening, empathy, and motivational interviewing.

Motivational interviewing is a counselling technique that helps patients identify their goals and motivates them to achieve these goals. It involves asking open-ended questions and providing feedback to help the patient find the motivation to change their behaviour. For instance, you may use motivational interviewing to help a patient who wants to quit smoking. You can ask them how they feel about smoking and what motivates them to quit. You may then provide them with information on the benefits of quitting and help them develop a plan to quit.

3. Collaboration

Collaboration is an important health promotion strategy that involves working with other healthcare professionals, community organizations, and policymakers to promote health. After nursing school, you will often be required to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive care to your patients. You may also get to work with community organizations to promote health in the community. 

Further, you may play active roles in the facilitation of policy, systems, and environmental change. You may also work with a local gym to promote regular exercise in the community or with policymakers to advocate for policies that promote health. For instance, you may advocate for policies that increase access to healthy foods and promote physical activity.

Are you ready to become a practical nurse?

Contact Discovery Community College to learn how you can get started!