Who should teach policy-Related subjects in public health nursing education?

Purpose: Public health nursing (PHN) faculty have traditionally taught community activity and individual/family care as important contents of nursing curricula. Policy competencies have recently become more important for public health nurses, but policy-related subjects are taught by non-nursing faculty or by community health workers in many cases. This survey aimed to clarify who should teach policy-related subjects in PHN education. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was sent to all PHN educational facilities in Japan by mail and 72 of 207 (34.8%) were returned with valid responses. This research was approved by the university ethics board. Results: PHN faculty mainly taught health and welfare administration (42%), epidemiology (15%), and health statistics (14%). These three subjects are provided by law: Specified Regulations for Public Health Nurses, Midwifery, and Nurse's Training School. In the questionnaire, they replied that the PHN faculty should teach all content related to community health assessment, health programs, health measures, and management and administration of PHN. Policies and structure of administration were taught mainly by PHN faculty and were supported by external non-nursing faculty. Eighty percent or more of the faculty replied that they required further training in order to strengthen their abilities as educators in the area of political competencies. Conclusions: PHN faculty will take up the responsibility and challenge of teaching policy and epidemiology at the standard appropriate for PHN. Therefore, we should establish policy-related subjects that specialize in PHN.