Enumeration of Public Health Nurses in the United States: Limits of Current Standards

Abstract

Recent national initiatives in nursing and public health have emphasized the need for a robust public health nursing (PHN) workforce. In this article, we analyze the extent to which recent national enumeration surveys base their counts of this workforce on the definitions, scope, and standards for practice and practice competencies of the PHN nursing specialty. By and large, enumeration surveys continue to rely on practice setting to define the PHN workforce, which is an insufficient approach for meeting the goals of major nursing and public health initiatives. We make recommendations for the development of new standards for PHN enumeration to strengthen the broader public health infrastructure and evaluate PHN contributions to population-level outcomes. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(S3):S292–S297. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306782 )

Using data visualization to characterize whole‐person health of public health nurses

“…This aligns with literature noting the ability of PHNs to manage stressful situations through resilience factors and coping abilities (Kim et al., 2022; Monsen, Austin, Goparaju, et al., 2021; Nordstrom, 2022; Sierra‐García et al., 2022). This finding also aligns with literature regarding the ability of PHNs to sustain essential work of the public health workforce (Beck & Boulton, 2016; Kneipp et al., 2022; Watts Isley et al., 2022). This finding indicates future research is needed to examine PHN health from a strengths perspective to increase understanding of the importance and value of whole‐person health and how it relates to the PHN contributions to public health systems and outcomes.…”

“…Public health nurses (PHNs) are the backbone of the public health workforce (Beck & Boulton, 2016; Kneipp et al., 2022; Thurman et al., 2022). Since the inception of the discipline, PHNs have served in various capacities to support the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations (Kneipp et al., 2022; Miller, 2015; Monsen, 2022; Monsen et al., 2017).…”

“…Public health nurses (PHNs) are the backbone of the public health workforce (Beck & Boulton, 2016; Kneipp et al., 2022; Thurman et al., 2022). Since the inception of the discipline, PHNs have served in various capacities to support the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations (Kneipp et al., 2022; Miller, 2015; Monsen, 2022; Monsen et al., 2017). In recent years, there has been extreme strain on all facets of the public health sector; resulting in negative effects on PHNs and public health services (Gu et al., 2019; Heuel et al., 2022; Kim et al., 2022; Sierra‐García et al., 2022; Watts Isley et al., 2022).…”

Why a singular set of competencies will strengthen the Public Health Nursing workforce

“…PHN practice is multifaceted and occurs in very heterogenous settings, leading to a lack of clear understanding of the work public health nurses do (Canales & Drevdahl, 2020; Kneipp et al., 2022). Multiple competency sets exacerbate that lack of understanding.…”

“…When our practicing Public Health Nurses and PHN leadership are unable to define work at community and societal levels of the socio‐economic model, the social determinants of health, upstream factors, and policy change efforts can either be overlooked or not prioritized in role descriptions. Role identification and job functions are needed that relate to Public Health Nurses in areas that address social determinants of health, including research, policy and advocacy, and environmental health (Kneipp et al., 2022).…”