Chapter 14 environmental health – Flashcards

d. Research shows that a healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy living. A healthy environment increases quality of life and years of healthy living. Accumulated evidence shows that the environmental changes of the past few decades have profoundly influenced the status of public health. Globally, environmental factors contribute to nearly 25% of all deaths and increase disease burden (World Health Organization, 2006). The safety, beauty, and life-sustaining capacity of the physical environment are unquestionably of global consequence.

b. "Can you tell me what you do at work?" Because 25% of worldwide preventable illnesses are caused by poor environmental quality, nurses need to ask critical questions about their clients' work and home environments to help discern the contributions of specific hazards to their health. This can be accomplished by an environmental health history. The other responses do not address a question that would be addressed during an environmental health history.

b. Critical theory focuses on oppression and facilitates group action. Critical theory is an approach that raises questions about oppressive situations, involves community members in the definition and solution of problems, and facilitates group interventions. The other two theories focus more on individual beliefs and choice of action.

d. Environmental health requires social, economic, and political changes to improve. Intervening to improve environmental conditions requires basic social, economic, and political changes. Aggregates must work together to create such change. The other responses do not address the multiple dimensions that must be impacted in order to impact change within environmental health

d. Helping the community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative lobbying, and mass demonstrations The ultimate goal is liberating people from health-damaging environmental conditions by using collective actions. Mechanisms have included strategic organization, litigation, public hearing testimony, letter-writing campaigns, legislative lobbying, and mass demonstrations. Helping the community create political change through organization, use of media, legislative lobbying, and mass demonstrations shows how collective action can be applied. The other interventions do not demonstrate the use of collective action.

c. People respond more to an acute crisis than chronic environmental problems. People respond to acute crises with dramatic media coverage (such as hurricanes or earthquakes), but ongoing consistent pressure is needed to ensure day-to-day environmental integrity. Chronic environmental problems are rarely addressed effectively.

b. Risks in the built environment The built environment is the connection between people, communities, and their surrounding environments that affect health habits and behaviors, interpersonal relationships, cultural values, and customs. Most people live within areas that require almost daily contact with potential health risks and threats, such as intoxicated or impaired drivers, secondhand smoke, urban crowding, noise exposure, unabated traffic, and the stress of increased mechanization.

c. Locating industrial hazards in low-income communities Discriminatory land use ensures that many impoverished and marginalized groups, especially people of color, live in close proximity to industrial contamination. Members of these communities are at risk for illness and injury. The other responses do not correctly define discriminatory land use.

b. Nothing, because of family ties and cost of relocation Residents may be unwilling to disrupt family ties and cultural roots to start over elsewhere, or they may be unable to afford to move. Residents are revictimized by the difficulty in obtaining compensation. Attempting to shut the industry down, seeking reimbursement for the hazard exposure, and immediately moving to a different neighborhood are all costly interventions and in most cases cannot be easily accomplished by most residents.

a. Because air pollutants are contributors to asthma and other health problems. All three (mass transit, clean power, and industry) emit air pollutants, which result in smog, the most common outdoor air pollutant in the United States. Atmospheric pollutants cause or contribute to asthma, allergic reactions, bronchitis, lung cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and death. They also harm animals and plants. The most inclusive answer refers to air pollutants, although certainly, the others are true in society today.

c. Individuals assume it is a personal problem, not an employment issue. Statistics do not reflect unreported health problems. Collective problems related to employment or occupation are often perceived as individualized injuries, and no one "connects the dots." Companies are willing to share employee injury information and recognize the risks of employment, but the information may be inaccurate because of the perception of individualized injuries.

c. Little change occurred because these chemicals remain in the atmosphere. These chemicals, which were in widespread use, remain in the atmosphere. Thus, air quality has not improved. This is a global concern and is being addressed worldwide by the World Health Organization.

d. Radon gas Radon exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers in the United States. It is estimated that radon causes an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year.

c. A neighborhood with little to no access to healthy foods A food desert is a neighborhood with little or no access to healthy foods. There are significant disparities in access to healthy and fresh food supplies, with poor minority families being more likely to live in a food desert. The other responses are not the correct definition of a food desert.

b. Methane gas may move through the soil to cause fire or explosions nearby. Solid waste landfills accumulate methane gas, a by-product of decomposing organic wastes. Without proper venting, this volatile gas can move through soil and cause fires and explosions in nearby areas. Waste incineration is not the best solution because it causes particulate air pollution. Illegal dumping of garbage and purchasing additional land for more landfills are concerns related to the disposal of trash from private residents, but methane gas explosions is of primary concern.

d. Increased number of parasites and insects Global warming is the gradual increase in the average temperature of Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation (Easterling, 2011). Rising global temperatures may enhance the quantity and distribution of parasites, insects, and other disease vectors, potentially increasing the prevalence of a variety of infectious diseases.

b. Federal policies have been weakened, and enforcement lacks funding. Legislation in the 1970s was aimed toward a comprehensive national environmental policy. The momentum slowed in the 1980s, with policies being reversed and regulation losing its funding. This trend has continued. The EPA sets rules but lacks resources to accomplish the goals. There are no federal mandates for recycling, but local communities have made great strides in this area.

b. The nurse did not address actions that should be taken to improve air quality and only focused on the treatment of asthma. By placing responsibility for the cause and cure of health problems exclusively on the individuals, the belief is reinforced that all individuals are free to control their lives. Such a perspective absolves society, government, industry, and business from accountability. Research suggests that changing individual behaviors does not lead to significant reductions in overall morbidity and morality in the absence of basic social, economic, and political changes. Thus, the nurse must include information in the presentation that addresses the need to improve air quality.

a. Hold a dialogue with community members about the problem and its effects An important nursing goal is to help people learn from their own experiences and analyze the world with an intention to change it. It is essential that those affected participate in the process of identifying and working to solve environmental problems. The nurse's role is to ask critical questions and help groups reflect on the environmental realities of their lives. The only way for the nurse to promote this involvement is through a dialogue with the community members.

d. Form coalitions with other groups that have similar goals Brainstorm about all possible groups that might have a stake in the outcome of the issue. Nurses can help make connections with larger, more powerful organizations.

d. Participatory action research poses solutions to the problem. Participatory action research calls for nurses, community members, and other resource people to work together in identifying health problems, designing the studies, collecting and analyzing the data, disseminating the results, and posing solutions to the problems. The research process (use of control groups, randomization, and using a predetermined hypothesis) is part of participatory action research

d. Memorize the I PREPARE mnemonic The I PREPARE environmental exposure history mnemonic is a quick reference for primary care providers I—Investigate Potential Exposures P—Present Work R—Residence E—Environmental Concerns P—Past Work A—Activities R—Referrals and Resources E—Educate This tool will help the nurse remember what to ask to determine environmental factors relevant to health.

b. Many aquifers are contaminated with pesticides and fertilizers. c. More than 45 million Americans drink untreated water. d. Sediment from construction, agriculture, and deforestation is often present. e. Underground water, if contaminated, cannot be cleansed. More than 45 million Americans obtain water from private wells, which have no treatment or monitoring guidelines. Water quality problems include dosing reservoirs with chemicals to reduce algae, contaminating aquifers with pesticides and fertilizers, and leaching lead from water pipes. Underground water cannot be cleansed. Companies demand high reimbursement when asked to stop dumping heavy metals into local water sources and the frequent occurrence of water-related diseases (cholera, typhoid, dysentery) are not current problems with the water quality in the United States.

b. Assessment d. Management f. Communication The National Center for Environmental Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Public Health Association have established three core competencies for Environmental Health professionals: (1) assessment, (2) management, and (3) communication. Assurance, policy development, and advocacy are not part of the core environmental health competencies.