Competence in public health nurse practice: Moving forward by integrating feedback from the practice arena into an academic BSN program

According to the Institute of Medicine 2003 report “Informing the Future” one of the requirements of an effective public-health system is a supply of well-educated public health professionals. There is a concern in public health nursing practice that the academic nursing programs are not meeting the needs of the workforce. The HRSA-funded New York-New Jersey Public Health Training Center (NYNJ PHTC) has sponsored three Public Health Nursing Summits on this issue. A New York workgroup of academia and local health department representatives from this initiative surveyed public health nurse supervisors in local NY health departments. Using the Quad Council 2003 competencies as the framework, the survey assessed the importance of the competencies and the preparedness of BSN graduates to function in the local health departments. Results of the survey showed BSN nurse hires lacking in many key competencies.

This presentation will describe how the recommendations from the NY workgroup survey are driving syllabus review and change in the community health-nursing component of a BSN program at a NJ state college. The current syllabus does not address many of the key competencies described as necessary by supervising public health nurse practitioners. The syllabus revision utilized information from the NY workgroup survey, quad council competencies and Public Health Practice Standards of Performance for Local Boards of Health in New Jersey. Additionally input from the local county public health department practitioners regarding the skills needed for day-to-day practice contributed to the revision. An overview of the current syllabus will be contrasted with the revision to highlight the process of incorporating recommendations from the public health practice setting into an academic program. Suggestions for continued research and syllabus evaluation will be offered.