Paper
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
581
The Advanced Practice Role of the Community/Public Health Nurse Specialist: A Commitment to Best Practice
Julie Fisher Robertson, EdD, RN, School of Nursing, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA and Karen B. Baldwin, PhD, RN, Nursing, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: describe an important characteristic of the community/public health nurse specialist role. |
| Learning Objective #2: expand her/his knowledge of community/public health nursing at the master's level. |
Nurses with master’s degrees in community/public health nursing have advanced knowledge and skills to manage the health of populations and communities. They are prepared as community/public health nurse specialists (C/PHNS) to conduct population and community assessments, develop and implement community-wide health promotion programs and work in community partnerships and interdisciplinary teams. However, even though C/PHNS have the advanced skills in population/community health management, their role is underutilized and not well understood. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the advanced practice role of the C/PHNS using the stories, experiences, and perspectives of nurses currently practicing in this role. The purposive sample consisted of 10 nurses who had master’s degrees in community/public health nursing and were working in a variety of community health settings. They were chosen for the study because they were considered to be exemplars by community health nursing peers who recommended them as participants. Data were collected using audio-taped interviews and observations of study participants in their workplaces. An editing analysis style of content analysis was used to analyze the data. A key finding indicated that an important role characteristic of study participants was an enthusiastic commitment to providing best practice for the communities and populations their agencies served. The commitment to best practice was focused not only on the participants’ practice, but also on the practices of their nursing staff, other nursing colleagues, and colleagues from other disciplines who were part of the health care team. Results provide important descriptive data about this aspect of the advanced practice role of nurses with master’s degrees in community/public health nursing from the expert’s perspective.