Community Health Nursing: New Regulations, Research Paper Example

In Oregon, Senate Bill 478 was passed to “Requires Oregon Health Authority to establish and maintain list of designated high priority chemicals of concern for children’s health used in children’s products and to periodically review and revise list” (Your Government, 2015). This is an important public health and community health nursing bill because even though this legislation is local to Oregon, there are many dangerous chemicals in products that are commonly marketed and provided to children, which is a national as well as a local problem in this area. Dangerous chemical are often used to manufacture products that are used to contain food and have the potential to cause cancer in young children. Therefore, there is a need to pass more stringent requirements regarding the products that are considered safe for children to use.

Studies and news reports have been released in several different states indicating that toxic products have been responsible for increasing the cancer rate among children. In one particular study, harmful chemicals were linked to toys that children typically play with. A report entitled “New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and Clean and Healthy New York” revealed that toys being sold in major retail chains around the state, such as Target, were selling products that were known to contain harmful plastics and metals (Eisenstadt, 2015). Unfortunately, this has increased the incidence of cancer amount 5 and 6 year olds in the state. Even though New York is not responsible for passing this recent legislations, people believe that the Consumer Product Safety Commission needs to pass more stringent laws to define what products could and could not be sold in addition to the type of labelling that toys that contain certain materials should have.

Overall, it is expected that this legislation will have a positive outcome on community nursing because over the next several years, it will be less likely that children will be exposed to chemicals that will cause cancer. As such, the incidence of cancer among young children are expected to decrease significantly. However, it is also important for nurses to be aware of this important link between the materials used to construct some toys and cancer. Nurses can benefit patients by constructing a list of the toys that would be banned under this legislation and recommend to parents of new born children that they not be given this products. More importantly, this initiative could happen in any state, not just Oregon. Therefore, it is important for nurses to apply the implications of this legislation in their personal practice in order to improve the health of their more immediate community, independently of where their location actually is.

This bill has been sponsored by Senator Edwards, Senator Gelser, Senator Steiner Hayward, and Representatives Keny-Guyer and Johnson. A majority of these individuals are members of the Democratic Party and have put forth significant effort in the past to ensure the protection of children and families. Furthermore, all Democrats voted in favor of the bill, which enabled it to pass. It is important to consider the important health implications that this bill has and the fortunate situation that the Democrats were in majority and their mutual belief in children’s health over corporate income allowed the bill to pass. It is possible that this would not have been the case in other jurisdictions. This political issue emphasizes the importance that nurses implement their knowledge about scientific facts and public health issues into practice to ensure that their patients receive the best possible care.

Consumers of health care will benefit from the legislation that has been passed independently of the state that they live in. This is hallmark legislation and it is likely that many other states will follow suit because the safety of the products that children are allowed to use is a pressing issue. Overall, it is important to consider that it is very expensive to treat cancer and heartbreaking to have to take young children in to get regular treatments. Avoiding the environmental cause of certain cancers is therefore an important first step in reducing the monetary and mental stress that families of cancer patients suffer. Since the cancer caused by these products is completely avoidable, it is necessary for health care practitioners to ensure that its statutes are being followed in Oregon and to raise awareness of this issue in other states that currently have no legal ramifications for sales of these dangerous products. In this manner, it is expected that the nurse will act as the representative for the well-being of his or her patients. This demonstrates that it is important for nurses to remain aware of these public and community health issues and to constantly implement knowledge of these concerns into their daily practice to improve the quality of care that their patients receive. If nurses put forth their best effort in this case, they will help to effectively reduce the incidence of cancer among young children. It is important for all children to have a fair chance at life in spite of the products available.

References

Eisenstadt M. (2015). Toxic toys are partly to blame for increasing kids’ cancer rates and developmental disabilities, advocate says. Retrieved from http://www.syracuse.com/health/index.ssf/2015/04/toxic_toys_are_partly_to_blame_for_increasing_kids_cancer_rates_and_development.html

Your Government. (2015). Senate Bill 478. Retrieved from http://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2015/SB478/