Development, Dissemination, and Adoption of the Revised Quad Council Coalition Competencies for Community/Public Health Nursing

The Quad Council Coalition (QCC) represents nursing professional groups active in public health teaching, research, and practice; its vision and mission are to provide the “voice and visibility for public health nurses.” The QCC “sets a national policy agenda on issues related to public health nursing and advocates for excellence in public health nursing education, practice, leadership, and research” (Quad Council Coalition [QCC], 2017, p. para.1). In 2011, the QC revised the Quad Council Competencies for Public Health Nurses (QCC-PHN) to guide three levels of practice: Tier one generalist, Tier two management or supervisory, and Tier three senior management or leadership. Current trends in public and population health necessitated updating the core competencies to remain relevant to public health nursing practice.

The Public Health Nursing specialty is continually evolving to meet the dynamic needs of the systems and populations that public health nurses work in and serve. The 2016 Public Health 3.0 white paper by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health includes recommendations where public health nurses can provide leadership and vision, including functioning in the role of Chief Health Strategist, establishing a strong workforce, and developing strategic partnerships. A strong, policy and leadership-oriented public health nursing workforce is needed to execute these responsibilities. As a result, the core competencies that guide public health nursing practice must remain up-to-date and relevant to reflect current knowledge, skills, and practice needs.

In March 2017, a 12-member Quad Council Coalition (QCC) competency revision subcommittee, comprised of public health nurses from practice and academia and representing all practice-level Tiers (generalist, supervisory/management, senior leadership/management) began work on updating the 2011 Quad Council Competencies for Public Health Nurses (QCC-PHN). Core competencies were modified and added to reflect current public health nursing practice needs, alignment with related public health competencies, and written using the Anderson and et al. 2001 revised Bloom’s Taxonomy Action Verbs. In November 2017, the subcommittee deployed a Delphi survey to Quad Council Coalition member organizations for input on the proposed updates. Member-organization feedback was integrated to create the final set of revised core competencies. The updated core competencies will amplify the voice of public health nurses and provide them with vital information needed to guide and inform practice in Public Health 3.0 practice environments. Therefore, focused attention on adoption and integration of the public health nursing competencies into practice must be a priority in all practice settings.

This poster will review the revision process used for the development of the newly updated Quad Council Coalition Competencies for Public Health Nurses, share the updated core competencies with session participants, and suggest strategies for integration into practice and into collaborative agreements with community and academic partners.