Emerging Leaders in public health nursing: Mentorship and graduate programs

Background and Issue: The need for public health nurse leaders is greater now than ever before. There are many public health issues that face our nation and our world, some are the ones that PHNs have addressed for many years, and others are emerging concerns that affect health locally and globally. To effectively meet the health needs of these large populations, we must equip a PHN workforce with leadership skills that will enable them to make a difference. Listening to young people describe their goals for the future, one quickly recognizes their desire to make a positive impact on society. However, a mentoring gap for young women has been identified by Marci McDonald (2003). This gap is not limited to women, nor is it limited to the business world, McDonald's population. Rather, we can extrapolate McDonald's findings to the PHN workforce.

Description: This roundtable discussion will provide the opportunity for PHN students and new graduates to communicate their needs related to mentorship as well as to connect the attendees with potential PHN leaders who might serve as their mentors for career and educational guidance. We recognize that we learn from one another, thus both the experienced leader and the novice PHN will gain knowledge from this process.