Session
Public Health Nursing Workforce: Session 2
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Abstract
Entrepreneurship– The needed competency for the next generation of Public Health Nurses
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
The Future of Nursing positions public health nurses (PHN) as key to health equity. Yet PHN education is at a crisis, with declining programs, recruitment, and careers, especially in social justice and structural racism. Opportunities exist to re-envision PHN education to advance a new generation of entrepreneurs as PHN strategists generating innovative solutions to pressing social challenges.
This study explores the state of education of PHN entrepreneurs in the Untied States. We assess existing programs in Research Universities for preparing BSN, MN or DNP population health nurses to apply entrepreneurial skills. We identify components of entrepreneurial education for PHN.
Methods: We assessed all R1 universities for partnerships between business school entrepreneurship programs and nursing school programs advancing population health education at the BSN, MSN or DNP, including explicit MPH partnerships. We explored existing partnerships and goals/curricula.
Results: Of 137 institutions, only 11 had cross-over entrepreneurship programs, none oriented to the BSN level. All 11 focused on products for hospital-based/clinical care, design thinking, leadership, and innovation; but none directly related to PHN.
Discussion: We identify gaps and opportunities in existing educational practices to meet future demand of the entrepreneurial PHN workforce. We operationalize competencies in PHN entrepreneurship such as social entrepreneurship, leadership, and design. We propose interdisciplinary approaches to PHN education and envision the partnerships necessary for supporting the future PHN entrepreneur.
Conclusion: Entrepreneurship education applied to PHN holds promise for mobilizing new energy towards advancing health equity
Abstract
Credentialed public health nurses: North Carolina’s approach to building a foundational educational program for its public health nurses.
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
North Carolina local public health departments operate using a nurse-driven model. Focus groups of local health department nursing administrators representing 20 different counties consistently reported that RNs hired for public health nurse (PHN) roles demonstrate varying levels of and experience with public health concepts and knowledge. There is a need for consistent foundational public health nursing skills and knowledge for all RNs functioning as PHNs in NC local health departments.
Currently, non-BSN educated RNs working as PHNs in public health departments are required by NC Administrative Code to complete an introduction to the principles and practices of public health and public health nursing course within their first year of employment. A statewide panel of PHN experts recommended that all RNs practicing in governmental public health be required to complete the same preparation and training to be successful in their roles, regardless of their educational background. As a result of this call to action, an educational program centered on NC public health and PHN roles and functions was developed.
The North Carolina Credentialed Public Health Nurse Program (NCCPHN) is structured as a foundational competency-based educational program centered on the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and judgement PHNs need to practice safely and effectively in NC governmental public health settings. This presentation will provide the frameworks, critical decision points, and steps required for building this foundational course required by NC Administrative Code.
Abstract
Clearing the path for Public Health Nursing Practice: A singular set of competencies and why they will strengthen Public Health Nursing Practice
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Competencies enhance the public health workforce's skills. The Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations (CPHNO) defines core competencies as the individual skill[s] desirable for the delivery of Essential Public Health Services (2018). Varying sets of Public Health Nursing (PHN) competencies have been promoted by several nursing organizations, causing confusion and redundancy within the specialty. PHNs in practice need one purposeful set of competencies that are grounded in the core areas of public health nursing practice.
The most recent third edition of American Nursing Association's (ANA) 2022 Public Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice provides an overview of how PHNs practice; roles and functions differentiated within eight unique components of practice. The Standards within this most current version include both Standards of Practice and Standards of Professional Performance. The first six Standards of Practice describe a competent level of nursing practice grounded by the nursing process.
By cross walking the competencies associated with the six Standards of Practice against the eight components outlined in the Roles & Functions of how PHNs practice, we will better determine if the competencies outlined in the ANA's 2022 Public Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice supports PHN practice by providing a global set of skills necessary for delivering PHN practice grounded in the nursing process.
We expect to learn several things as we examine the ANA’s PHN Standards of Practice, primarily that adopting one purposeful set of core competencies for practice is essential to strengthening both the PHN specialty and workforce.
Abstract
In whose interest? A critical analysis of industry influences on nursing Policy and practice
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Background
The US healthcare system is undergoing a period of rapid restructuring facilitated by deregulation and increased reliance on technology under the proclaimed need of the Covid 19 public health emergency. So-called crisis models of care delivery are now at risk of becoming normalized in healthcare delivery. Various industry stakeholders drive adverse changes to policy and practice to maximize profits, often at the expense of quality nursing care. Industry restructuring schemes are poised to fundamentally alter the role of registered nurses in the US healthcare system. The Covid 19 crisis has also dramatically impacted the nursing workforce and created a staffing crisis. The convergence of technology, deregulation and an epidemic of moral injury in the nursing workforce has also created a rupture that facilitates models of staffing that rely increasingly on temporary workers. Large healthcare systems, private investors, and industry lobby groups have identified the nursing workforce as a prime target for gigification.
Approach
Threats to the nursing workforce are identified and discussed—emphasis on the impacts on the registered nursing profession in redesigned care and employment models. Current trends, future threats, and the driving forces will be explained and evaluated through the reported experience of direct-care nurses and available evidence.
Lessons Learned
The Covid-19 healthcare emergency has provided cover for the healthcare industry to implement long-term industrial goals, which are designed to maximize profits at the expense of the health and safety of patients, communities, and nurses, which will disproportionately impact historically underserved populations and communities. Healthcare employers are also capitalizing on the nurse staffing crisis to implement staffing models in all settings, which rely increasingly on temporary employment models. Additionally, these practices are contributing to moral injury in the nursing workforce. Gigification of the nursing workforce would further exacerbate this crisis and adversely impact nursing care.
Implications/Recommendations
Nurses should be alert to policies and practices that threaten our patients and profession. National Nurses United members have successfully intervened in their workplaces and with policymakers to halt the implementation of detrimental care models and practices. When utilizing their collective voice of advocacy, nurses have the power to protect and preserve the role of registered nurses in the US health workforce.