Dr. Mary FOONG
Principal Nursing Officer, Department of Health, Hong Kong SAR, China

Dr. Foong is the Principal Nursing Officer of the Department of Health (DH), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.  She completed her Master of Nursing, Master of Science in Health Education & Health Promotion and Doctor of Nursing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).  Dr FOONG had served in various Service Units in DH, including General Out-patient Clinics, Family Health Service, former Central Health Education Unit, former Client Relations Unit, Child Assessment Service and Clinical Genetic Service, former Office for Registration of Healthcare Institutions, Public Health Nursing Division, etc. for more than twenty-five years before taking up the current post in 2016.  She is also a member of the Nursing Council and Midwives Council of Hong Kong, as well as honorary advisor of various professional nursing organisations. 

Abstract

COVID-19 Pandemic: A Stage to Showcase the Public Health Nursing Practice in Hong Kong, What are We Doing and What have We Learnt?

Public health nursing is defined as “the practice of promoting and protecting the health of populations using knowledge from nursing, social, and public health sciences” (APHA, 2013, p.2). In Hong Kong, only nurses working in the Department of Health and have completed specialised training are entitled as public health nurse. The public health nursing practice in the Department is related to four main areas of work, namely disease prevention / health promotion, management of acute and chronic conditions, regulatory function and participation in implementing public health emergencies response plans.

The COVID-19 fight has showcased public health nurses’ broad practice in the aforementioned areas. Nursing actions embrace different public health measures including encouraging behavior changes to slow the spread of the pandemic, screening of travelers and issuing quarantine orders in airport and borders, performing contact tracing to identify and contain outbreaks, providing health advice and assistance to Hong Kong residents in foreign countries, designing and setting up community testing centre in order to identify cases to cut the transmission chains in the community, caring of close contacts who become confinees in the quarantine centre, as well as planning and rolling out the community vaccination centre.

In the shadow of COVID-19, 2020 was a year like no other as the world seemed to have shut down. However, other health challenges, such as the non-communicable diseases, did not rest. Many health indicators have been getting worse and require public health nurses to attend to, although the fight against COVID-19 keep going.

Apparently, the COVID-19 pandemic brings public health nurses to the forefront of the battle. It also offers a stage for public health nurses to fully display their work at three levels, viz individual, community and system; and to contribute greatly in primary, secondary and tertiary prevention interventions.

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