Agricultural Health Nurses

Abstract

Agricultural health nurses address the health and safety issues of farmers, agricultural workers, and farm families. This nurse role incorporates both public health and occupational health nurse specialty practice. The purpose of this study was to describe agricultural health nurse job functions and competencies used in providing services to agricultural populations. A two round modified Delphi technique was used to attain a consensus among participants related to agricultural health nurse functions and competencies. In Round I, a mailed survey assessing demographic characteristics, and job functions and competencies was sent to an identified list of 61 nurses. A second mailed survey, with categorized job function and competency responses elicited through Round I, was sent to the 32 Round I respondents to assess the importance of the job functions and competencies and the frequency of performing each job function. Twenty four Round II surveys were returned. Job functions rated highest were: • Serve as a liaison for the agricultural, health and medical, and nonfarm communities.

Occupational Health Nursing and the Quest for Professional Authority

“…Although nurses have worked with agricultural populations for several years, efforts to define the job functions and competencies essential for these nurses have been limited. The only recent study made no attempt to assess the quality of the services that the agricultural health nurse respondents provide [126].…”