Columbia Study Urges Federal Recognition Of Public Health Nurses

After 140 years of vital, often invisible service, nationalist wellness nurses (PHNs) merit general nickname arsenic a chopped occupation, says a caller study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The investigation argues that classifying PHNs nether a unsocial national occupational class would yet let nan U.S. to accurately count, compensate, and support this captious conception of nan nationalist wellness workforce. The findings are published successful nan diary Nursing Outlook.

PHNs blend objective training pinch nationalist wellness expertise-offering services that spell acold beyond bedside care. From emergency preparedness and argumentation defense to organization engagement and illness surveillance, their domiciled is unsocial and essential.

Public wellness nurses are a well-defined, highly specialized occupation and are wide recognized arsenic a halfway constituent of nan nationalist wellness workforce. Yet nan U.S. Department of Labor does not categorize them separately from different registered nurses. Our study group retired to alteration that."

Heather Krasna, PhD, EdD, subordinate dean of Career and Professional Development, Columbia Mailman School

Krasna and colleagues analyzed responses to nan National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) and Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) to comparison PHNs pinch different nurses. They besides utilized Lightcast, a large-scale and broad database of occupation postings, to stitchery real-time information connected salary, education, skills, and acquisition for occupation postings for PHNs arsenic compared pinch different nurses, and conducted a lit reappraisal arsenic well.

From these nationalist datasets and real-time occupation postings, Krasna and co-authors recovered PHNs execute a markedly different scope of activity than accepted RNs, including:

--Leading community-level assessments and surveillance of wellness issues and events.

--Managing cases to forestall aliases resoluteness problems and coordinating attraction crossed systems.

--Promoting wellness acquisition and communicating facts and ideas.

--Building partnerships and advocating for changes successful policies.

--Playing a cardinal domiciled successful emergency preparedness, outbreak investigations, and responding to
disasters. 

Despite their chopped contributions, PHNs presently autumn nether nan aforesaid Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codification arsenic each RNs (29-1141). This deficiency of differentiation limits nan expertise of national agencies to way nan size, compensation, aliases shortages successful this workforce-making it harder to adjacent gaps during wellness crises.

"A abstracted SOC codification would let america to yet reply basal workforce questions and build capacity," said Krasna.

PHNs dress up astir 18 percent of nan section and 8 percent of nan authorities wellness section workforce-serving connected nan beforehand lines of issues for illustration opioid addiction, climate-related disasters, and chronic illness prevention. Yet without general recognition, their visibility and worth stay diminished successful nan eyes of policymakers and funders.

The adjacent opportunity to update SOC codes is successful 2028. Columbia Mailman School's study urges national agencies to enactment now to guarantee PHNs are classified-and counted-correctly.

Co-authors see Isabella Patino and Sarika Karra, Columbia Mailman School; and Jocelyn Leung, University of Minnesota.

The study was supported by nan CDC and HRSA nether awards U81HP47167 and UR2HP47371.