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Health Assessment Of Environmental Processes Assessment Of Essay

Health Assessment of Environmental Processes Assessment of environmental processes includes agents and factors that may cause injury, illness, or death. Choose one of the following age groups: toddler, preschool, and school-age child. List some of the most frequent causes of injuries, illness, or death at the age level. Discuss and describe safety concerns specific to the age, listing the most common causes of injury, illness (acute or chronic), trauma, and death for the age level. Describe how health promotion and health prevention interventions can be incorporated into parent and child teaching.

Among the various age cohorts which are most susceptible to the adverse health consequences of environmental processes, the demographical data indicates that school-age children are especially prone to the effects of external factors. Within a collection of scholarly articles entitled Children's Special Vulnerability to Environmental Health Risks, researchers William Toscano, Jr. And Erica L. Fishman begin by stating conclusively that "children have unique behaviors, diets, and physiologic characteristics that put them at greater risk for exposures to environmental contaminants" (2004), and their assessment is supported by a wealth of statistical evidence. With empirical studies consistently demonstrating an observable trend in which "most school-age children spend about 20 hours per day, or about 85% of their time, indoors, primarily at home or in school" researcher John Adgate concludes that "indoor environments are thus important sources...

Entire houses are routinely risk-proofed to prevent infants from unwittingly electrocuting, burning, poisoning or otherwise injuring themselves, but school-aged children are exposed to many of these same risks without the benefit of proactive protection. Due to their nearly constant interactive behavior with the physical environment, school-aged are vulnerable to mechanical agents when riding bicycles, skateboards or other vehicles, biological agents like viruses and bacteria transferred with physical proximity, and physical agents including exposure to fire and cold weather. For nurses working within the realm of public medicine or elementary school service, advocating for health promotion and health prevention interactions is a crucial component of their professional duties. Assisting parents with recognizing and removing potential hazards to their children's health, such as accessible household cleaning supplies, while enabling them to employ common sense tactics like locking firearms in a secure safe and washing hands after outdoor play, may not fall under the traditional purview of medical care, but a concerned and conscientious nurse must be able to indirectly improve the injury and illness rates of the children in their communities.
As adolescents separate from their parents and gain a sense of control, sometimes they are unable to balance stresses. As a result, depression may occur, and, at times, suicide may…

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Sexton, K., Greaves, I.A., Church, T.R., Adgate, J.L., Ramachandran, G., Tweedie, R.L., et al., (2000). A school-based strategy to assess children's environmental exposures and related health effects in economically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology, 10, 682 -- 94. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11138660

Sher, L. (2004). Preventing suicide. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 97(10), 677- 680. Retrieved from http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/10/677.full

Shain, B.N. (2007). Suicide and suicide attempts in adolescents. Pediatrics, 120(3), 669-676. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/120/3/669.full

Toscano, Jr., W., & Fishman, E.L. (2004). Children's special vulnerability to environmental health risks. Healthy Generations, 4(3), 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.epi.umn.edu/mch/resources/hg/hg_enviro.pdf
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