ABSTRACT
Preparing to become a registered nurse requires an expansive knowledge of health services, clinical skills, clinical conditions, and factors that influence health and well-being. Your educational preparation will have involved theoretical knowledge of biological science, social sciences, ethics, nursing and interpersonal skills. The application of this knowledge to practice and the development of the attitudes and skills that underpin care will have enabled you to develop into the professional nurse that you are today. You will have gained exposure to experiences in practice across a range of settings – in hospitals, in communities and in the voluntary and private sectors. Much of this preparation will have been focused on individuals as clients or patients in healthcare settings. You will have learned about population approaches and may have been able to look in depth into communities during placements or through assessments, although this will have been a smaller part of the course. In becoming a nurse, you have gained the essentials for practice, and in this chapter I am asking you to change your focus a little to consider public health as a career option, to see what it can offer you and vice versa.
