Comparing Quad council competencies to preparation of nurses in baccalaureate nursing programs

Background: The New York Public Health Nursing Summit is a workgroup of educators and public health leaders formed through the auspices of The New York New Jersey Public Health Training Center. The goal of the workgroup is to create a strong partnership between public health leadership and academia to support provision of a skilled public health nursing workforce. The summit workgroup identified a critical need for public health nurse generalists (PHN's) who are educated in competency-based, population based practice. It was discovered that although the Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations (Quad Council) designed a set of core competencies specific to PHN generalists, little is known about how the competencies are used in public health nursing curriculum of baccalaureate granting nursing programs (Quad Council, 2003; New York Public Health Nursing Summit, June 2005). Currently there is no consistent framework used to deliver public health nursing education (American Colleges of Nursing, 2006; Institute of Medicine Report, 2003).

Study Purpose: The workgroup designed a study whose purpose was to identify the practices of baccalaureate granting nursing programs in integrating the Quad Council recommendations regarding Public Health Nursing competencies.

Study Design: The descriptive study utilized a survey examining the educative practices and curriculum of baccalaureate-granting nursing programs in delivering population focused concepts and skills.

Results: Preliminary data indicate that there is no consistent framework being used in New York to deliver PHN education in baccalaureate-granting nursing programs. Significant numbers of nurse educators delivering PHN education indicate no awareness of Quad Council competencies. Results will be presented with implications for ensuring standardization of Public health nursing content throughout baccalaureate-granting nursing programs.