PHN 652 Topic 1 DQ 1: Sources of Evidence

Broaden the category before listing anything, because the useful answer here is not the clinical one. A public health nurse draws on at least four kinds of evidence and they answer different questions. Effectiveness evidence — systematic reviews, trials, the Community Guide — says what interventions work at population level. Surveillance and population data — BRFSS, vital statistics, notifiable disease reporting, county health rankings — says what is happening here and to whom. Guidelines and recommendations from bodies such as the Preventive Services Task Force convert the first into practice. And community-generated evidence — needs assessments, community advisory input, local programme evaluations — says what will work in this population, which the first three often cannot answer. Say which question your own practice problem is asking before listing anything, because the type of evidence you need follows from it. A problem framed as what is happening here and one framed as what should we do need different sources entirely.

The prompt asks for at least two sources cited, so name specific ones rather than categories and say what each contains. Then answer the application half, which is where posts thin out. Applying evidence in public health means combining these rather than choosing among them: surveillance identifies the problem and the affected group, effectiveness evidence supplies candidate interventions, guidelines indicate what is recommended and at what strength, and local assessment decides which candidate is feasible and acceptable here. Add the point that distinguishes population practice from clinical practice: an intervention with good average effectiveness can widen a disparity if uptake is unequal, so the applicability question is not only whether it works but for whom it works and who will actually receive it. That is why community evidence is not a courtesy but a necessary input. Say which of your two cited sources you would go to first and why, since the ordering is itself a practice decision.