Public health nurses' graduate education decision making processes

A critical gap: Advanced practice nurses focused on the public's health

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for nurse leaders who "embrace the interconnection" between medicine and public health. The inequitable impact of COVID-19 on people of color demonstrates the importance of applying expertise from nursing practice and public health systems to work with communities and other professions on complex health issues. Yet, despite a clear need for improved population health, educational programs designed to produce Advanced Public Health Nurses, with skills to address complex system changes, have become increasingly scarce.

PURPOSE

We put forward the perspective that the nation needs more advanced practice nurses prepared for leadership roles focused on the health of whole populations, marginalized communities, and the systems and policies that promote their health.

DISCUSSION

We argue that opportunities should be expanded for nurses to attain education for these roles through increased investments in the Doctor of Nursing Practice model to prepare nurses for advanced public health specialty practice.

Does it make a difference? Exploring the value of combining public health and nursing education

BACKGROUND

Within the evolving United States healthcare system, there is a need to strengthen the public health nursing workforce. Historical and more recent trends within nursing education have demonstrated this need. Nurses who obtain a Master of Public Health (MPH) contribute to this workforce's development.

PURPOSE

This study aimed to describe nurses' educational and professional experiences with an MPH and better understand how professionals use this combination in practice.

METHODS

This study utilized a phenomenological, qualitative research method. Researchers interviewed 11 nurses with an MPH via the telephone. The researchers independently coded the interview transcripts and developed a codebook. Qualitative analysis facilitated the emergence of subsequent themes.

RESULTS

Four themes emerged: (1) educational pathway decisions, (2) education experience, (3) role in the workforce, and (4) nursing and public health in practice. Participants worked in a variety of settings, including primary care, academia, and administration. All participants reported utilizing their nursing and public health skills and described the actual integration of these skills in the workplace.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that nurses with an MPH value the education and report being better equipped to promote health on both the individual and community levels.

Being a real nurse: A secondary qualitative analysis of how public health nurses rework their work identities

Many Western nations are emphasizing the importance of population health across health care delivery organizations and education systems. Despite significant momentum to integrate population health into nursing practice, a parallel effort to examine how these efforts impact practicing nurses' views of their professional role and work identity has not occurred. This secondary qualitative analysis, employing an abductive approach, explored processes public health nurses use in creating and maintaining their work identity through three organizing themes: narrative self-identity, mandated identity, and identity as struggle. The analysis was based on interview data collected from 30 US public health nurses residing in 17 states. 'Being a real nurse' describes public health nurses' efforts to balance a contradictory work identity where at times they are expected to focus on populations and at other times, on individuals. The identity work revealed through this study should be further explicated and specific strategies developed for stabilizing a work identity for public health nurses, as well as for any nurse charged with a population health role.