Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Jose Escobar, RN, MSN¹, Roberto Avitia, RN, MS², and Sharon Trucker, RN, MS¹. (1) Public Health Nursing Administration, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 241 N. Figueroa Street, Suite 347, Los Angeles, CA 90012, 213-240-7725, strucker@ladhs.org, (2) Monrovia Health Center, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 330 W. Maple Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016

Los Angeles County (LAC), Public Health Nursing faces many challenges. 60% of the LAC nursing workforce is between the ages of 41-59 which is 5% higher than the national average. The workforce of 24-40 year olds and 60 years and over is similar to the national RN average of 29% and 11% respectively. The 735 public health nursing staff is located in multiple settings including 13 clinic sites and 14 program offices throughout a geographical area of more than 4000 square miles. California ranks 49th out of 50 states in nurse to population ratio. Retirement of an aging workforce, multiple career opportunities for a limited pool of nurses and expansion of public health nursing into emerging fields such as bioterrorism preparedness has influenced nursing administration to conduct an employee survey to obtain a baseline of staff job satisfaction. The employee satisfaction survey was available for completion from September 2005 through November 2005. The categories included in the satisfaction survey were: demographics, work environment and benefits, professional recognition, supervision, and influential factors in work satisfaction. In addition, nurses had an opportunity to share written suggestions for improvement, particularly in areas where dissatisfaction was indicated. To enhance response, the anonymous survey was available on the internet which could be accessed from all work sites or from home. The response rate of the survey was 55%. Of the employees who completed the survey, 54% rated their overall job satisfaction as good and another 21% rated their overall job satisfaction as excellent. The areas with a level of dissatisfaction are currently being explored by LAC Public Health Nursing Administration to develop strategies to retain and recruit more nurses.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participants in this session will be able to

• Identify the factors that influenced job satisfaction and dissatisfaction among nurses who responded to the employee satisfaction survey.
• List two challenges encountered by LAC Public Health Nursing Administration in surveying public health nusring staff.
• Discuss the results of the employee satisfaction survey and apply the findings to other public health departments.

Keywords: Public Health Nursing, Staff Retention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation