Environmental Health Nursing
Impact of environmental health problems & Environmental Health Nursing
In order for the nursing profession as a whole to strengthen its capabilities to present and minimize health problems due to environmental exposures, it is critical to understand the central role that environmental exposures have in disease occurrence. More than one quarter of the global disease burden is attributable to environmental exposures, with children bearing a disproportional amount of risk. Ezzati and colleagues calculated exposure prevalence and hazard sizes for 26 risk factors in 14 epidemiologic regions. Approximately 3.7% of global disease burden was attributed to lack of access to water and sanitation, and 2.6% attributed to indoor smoke from solid fuel burning. Tobacco was the leading cause of mortality in developed nations and was associated with 12.2% of disease burden in those countries.
In a widely cited study, Lichtenstein and colleagues studied heritable and environmental contributions to disease for 28 types of cancer in a sample of 45,000 twin pairs. Heritability estimates ranged from 0% for cervical cancer to 27% (73% environmental) for breast and 42% for prostate cancer. The authors noted that, “the overwhelming contribution to the causation of cancer in the populations we studied was the environment.” In an attempt to quantify the social and financial impact of environmentally-associated disease in the US, Landrigan and colleagues estimated the environmentally attributable fraction (EAF) for four types of pediatric health problems. The EAF for lead poisoning was 100%, and those for asthma, cancer, and neurobehavioral disorders were 30%, 5%, and 10%, respectively. Total annual costs for treating these disorders were estimated at $54.9 billion, or 2.8% of total U.S. health care costs.
This arm of the HRSA funded training program is designed to provide advanced nurse education, skills and knowledge for tomorrow’s leaders in Environmental Health Nursing.
Competencies:
Advanced Graduate Certificate in Environmental Health Nursing :
Other Program Information:
