Florence Nightingale and Lilian Wald focused on environmental health in nursing. As modern nurses rediscover environmental health, they are reintegrating observations about relationships between environmental exposures and potential harms. The document discusses five disciplines of environmental health - environmental epidemiology, toxicology, exposure science, environmental engineering, and environmental law. Environmental epidemiology uses observational studies like cohort studies, case-control studies and cross-sectional studies to understand how environmental factors impact health. Toxicology involves studying adverse effects of chemicals and diagnosing and treating exposures.
13. Florence nightingale is a recognized symbol of
nursing because of central focus of environment in
her practice and writings.
14. Early in 20th century, Lilian Wald, spent her life improving
the environment and tried to make positive changes in the
environment. As modern day nurses are rediscovering
environmental health, they are reintegrating many of the
observations and skills that were practiced by our
foremothers in nursing, its important to note the
relationship between environmental chemical exposures
and their potential for harm e.g
15. When humans present with signs and
symptoms that can be connected to a specific
chemical exposure and their potential for
harm.
When large, accidental release of chemicals
have befallen a community and contaminated
air, water or food resulting in health effects.
During such events, we have learned about
chemical toxicity to humans as well as others
in the environment.
16. PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH
Five basic disciplines generally contribute to
the field of environmental health:
environmental epidemiology,
toxicology,
exposure science,
environmental engineering, and
environmental law.
17. Each of these five disciplines contributes different
information to describe problems and solutions in
environmental health. However, there is some
overlap among them.
18. Environmental epidemiology is a branch
of epidemiology concerned with determining how
environmental exposures impact human health. This
field seeks to understand how various external risk
factors may predispose to or protect against disease,
illness, injury, developmental abnormalities, or death.
These factors may be naturally occurring or may be
introduced into environments where people live,
work, and play.
19. Epidemiological studies
Observational studies
Environmental epidemiology studies are most
frequently observational in nature, meaning researchers look at
people's exposures to environmental factors without
intervening and then observe the patterns that emerge.
This is due to the fact that it is often unethical or unfeasible to
conduct an experimental study of environmental factors in
humans. For example, a researcher cannot ask some of their
study subjects to smoke cigarettes to see if they have poorer
health outcomes than subjects who are asked not to smoke. The
study types most often employed in environmental epidemiology
are:
•Cohort studies
•Case-control studies
•Cross-sectional studies
20. Toxicology is a scientific discipline,
overlapping
with biology, chemistry, pharmacology,
and medicine, that involves the study
of the adverse effects of chemical
substances on living organisms and
the practice
of diagnosing and treating exposures
to toxins .
