Public Health Nurse Competency: A descriptive survey of health department managers

Public Health Nursing is a unique area of nursing requiring specialized knowledge and skills. These necessary skills are described in the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals adopted by the Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations in 2003. Although there has been much application and discussion of the core competencies in academic nursing, there has been a lack of input from the field of public health practice as to the relevance of the core competencies. Input from those working in the field and responsible for the hiring and supervision of public health nurses can improve the relevance, and enhance the utilization of the core competencies. This is especially significant as the core competencies are currently under review. An e-mail Delphi approach using state and national public health list serves was used to distribute a survey instrument. The survey collected data on educational and other requirements for employment at local health departments, familiarity of public health managers with core competencies and the relevance of the core competencies to the skill set needed for actual public health nursing practice. Additionally several open-ended questions were included to elicit information for recommendations for nursing faculty in preparing future graduates for employment as public health nurses, and thoughts on important predictors for success for newly hired public health nurses. The majority of those surveyed is familiar with the core competencies and agrees that they are relevant for the current public health nursing workforce. There is a gap between the level of competency required for practice and the level of competency of the health department newly hired public health nurses. An analysis of the respondents' suggestions for nursing faculty and the predictors of success for newly hired nurses will be described. The information gained from this survey has many applications for community health nursing curriculum development that can improve the educational experience and supply of qualified candidates for future public health nursing positions.