Public health nurse role with vulnerable populations

Public health nurses (PHNs) have a legacy of advocating for populations who do not or cannot advocate for themselves. Public health nursing activities with vulnerable populations include case management, advocacy, and policy development and enforcement. However, there has been a lack of data documenting these specific PHN activities. This session will present the results of a task analysis that identified public health nursing activities related to vulnerable populations. The task analysis was conducted with 60 PHNs representing 30 states. The PHNs in the sample were baccalaureate prepared with 3 years of experience and represented the broad scope of PHN practice. The first survey identified the PHN activities participants typically performed in their public health nursing job; the second survey probed deeper into each PHN activity. This session will report the results of the task analysis on 1) the populations that most frequently receive case management, 2) the types of case management activities performed (88% PHNs reported performing case management), 3) case management reimbursement, 4) the average number of case management contacts (phone or in-person) by population, 5) the types of individual and system level services for which PHNS advocate and 6) policy enforcement activities related to vulnerable children and/or adults, elevated blood lead levels, and public health nuisance. The session will also discuss the implications related to the distribution of vulnerable populations in PHN caseloads. Despite the considerable differences in geography and population size, the task analysis revealed remarkable similarities in the work of PHNs across the nation.