Assuring a competent public health nursing work force through student engagement in local health department strategic goals

Public health nurses are the largest part of the public health workforce and the field that will be most affected by workforce shortages in the future. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) factors such as budget constraints and lack of qualified candidates are currently hindering the hiring of public health nurses in local health departments. Additionally, due to the economy, local health departments are finding their budgets cut and having to make hard choices about resource allocation. According to the Quad Council, students often select the area of nursing they want to specialize in based on their student experience. Students may be hesitant to choose a career in public health nursing when they have not been exposed to it in their undergraduate clinical experiences. Currently there are few nursing programs utilizing local public health departments as clinical sites and most nursing students are unaware of the role of public health nurses in their local communities.

This presentation will describe the collaboration between a local baccalaureate-nursing program and several local health departments to provide educational opportunities for student nurses. Recently every county in New Jersey completed a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) based on a community-wide assessment. Public health practice standards require local health departments to implement the strategic goals identified in these plans. The students utilize the goals from these plans to guide their field projects, thereby supporting the health departments in fulfilling the strategic goals of these plans and supplementing the declining resources of the departments. The benefit to the students is participating in real world health promotion activities that benefit the communities in which they live, working with seasoned public health nurses and being exposed to potential employment opportunities. Curriculum objectives, collaborative difficulties and suggestions for future programs will be discussed.