Public health nurses' activities vary widely and aim for maintenance and promotion of resident's health and prevention of diseases. Speaking of local mental health, in history, public health nurses have served to meet the needs of those with mental disorders who have been socially isolated and played a role to create new services. Currently, local municipalities are designated to implement the services prescribed in the Act on Mental Health and Welfare for Mentally Disabled. Public health nurses working at local public health centers give counsel for issues related to mental health or social rehabilitation as the closest help providers for the residents. On the other hand, public health nurses working at a health centers that cover a larger area give counsel to those suffering from alcohol use-related problems and to adolescence-specific mental health issues, providing services that require higher specialty, and get involved in involuntary hospitalization. The strength of public health nurses is their numerous contacts with the local residents, and in the name of relevant Acts, they can serve to all residents. This paper, with promotion of multidisciplinary collaboration in mind, gives an overview to utilization of public health nurses, who are health care professionals as well as administrative officials.
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