The changing professional role of community nurses

Community nurses work in diverse community settings to provide primary nursing and health care across the lifespan. Traditionally community nurses meet a continuum-of-health needs that range from the management of specific disease/s to broader community development and public health promotion needs. Health promotion and intervention consciously centre on the client who is viewed holistically; thus, care also considers the social conditions and relationships that affect an individual or a population’s health status. In recent years the community nurse’s role has begun to shift, directing more attention to the provision of disease recovery nursing care for transitioning clients as they move out of the hospital environment and into the community context. Additionally, the community nurse’s role has become more focused on the provision of early intervention measures to prevent exacerbations or complications for clients living with chronic illness/conditions to prevent unnecessary hospital (re)admission. These changes to the community nurse’s role are the product of a complex blend of issues that are discussed in this chapter.