Building PHN capacity through CAN-DO-IT technical assistance

BACKGROUND: The Mid-South Delta continues to rank at the bottom of measured health indicators and disparity increases as the number of primary care (PC) providers decrease. Health departments have provided safe, quality PC over the last forty years; however, state and federal regulatory barriers limit access to services (Byrd, 2011). The HD centralized system does not fully utilize the HD PHNs in leadership and planning outside the point of care delivery of services. Therefore, administrators requested to partner with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Public Health Nursing (PHN) option to facilitate a student-led needs analysis. PURPOSE: The student-led assessment was to gather executive administration information by using a focus group method to identify HD leadership needs, challenges, and deficits. METHODS: Student-led focus groups asked 5 questions about the HD organization. PHN core competencies were measured with a pre- and post-test. RESULTS: Focus group discussion themes included PHN workforce building, PHN role recognition and practice support, and equity for their communities. The administration revealed the desire for centralized nursing and a voice in nursing matters. The student-led logic model development helped to clearly define the situation and assumptions within their organization; the goals and external factor barriers; resources, activities, and stakeholders; and develop short, medium and long term goals. The pre- and post-test revealed a lack of exposure to and use of PHN Core Competencies; however, participants discovered they could measure and were meeting the core competencies in their daily work.