Promoting the Community Health Clinical Nurse Specialist

Does Advanced Community/Public Health Nursing Practice Have a Future?

“…The first study was conducted by Mason et al (1992) to: (a) investigate the perceived current and future need for master's‐prepared community health nurses in New Jersey and (b) assess the level of interest of baccalaureate‐prepared nurses in graduate education in community health nursing. The sample consisted of 126 community health agencies (visiting nurse associations, health departments, and home care agencies) and 226 community health nurses.…”

“… revise professional definitions of advanced practice nursing to include population health management skills; change state nurse practice acts to include population health management skills in legal definitions of advanced practice nursing; lobby Congress to provide adequate funding for community/public health nursing master's education; advocate for master's‐level education to be a requirement for population health management roles; develop sophisticated marketing strategies to educate nurses about the value of a C/PHNS degree in community and noncommunity settings; conduct research on the cost‐effectiveness of the C/PHNS role; encourage community/PHNs to publish their stories (Mason et al, 1992); lobby Congress to provide secured funding for community/public health nursing services, including population‐focused services (American Public Health Association, 2003); develop strategies to saturate the media with information about the crucial role of community/PHNs in promoting the health of communities (ANA, 2003); lobby Congress to provide funds to health departments (which currently number around 2700) to attract and retain qualified PHNs (ANA, 2003); redesign baccalaureate nursing education to provide “experiences outside the box of the existing program, aggressively tying [the curriculum] to the needs of a radically different health care delivery system (O'Neil, 1998; p. 220) … [using] population‐based approaches” (p. 219). …”

“…Their graduate education prepared them as community/public health nurse specialists (C/PHNSs), with advanced knowledge and skills to: (a) work in community partnerships and with interdisciplinary teams, (b) conduct population and community assessments, and (c) develop and implement health promotion and disease prevention programs that are culturally appropriate and cost‐effective. Their skills in political advocacy can assist communities to realize their full potential in community development and social justice (Ervin, 2002; Flynn, 1997; Mason et al, 1992).…”

“…Despite the fact that C/PHNSs have the advanced skills and expertise in population health management, their role is underutilized and not well understood (Erickson, 1996; Hemstrom et al, 2000). This may be a result of C/PHNSs not adequately documenting the nature of their work in the literature and their contributions becoming obscure in a health care environment focused on high technology, treatment, and cure (Mason et al, 1992; SmithBattle, Drake, & Diekemper, 1997). Also, the exclusion of population health management skills from professional and legal definitions of advanced practice nursing has produced a serious status problem for C/PHNS programs nationwide.…”

Integrating Informatics into the Graduate Community Health Nursing Curriculum

“…The primary goal of advanced practice nurses in community health is to promote the health of entire communities (ANA, 1986;APHA, 1982;Mason, Knight, Toughill, DeMaio, Beck, & Christopher, 1992). This goal is enhanced if nurses are able to identify, create, and use databases to support nursing assessments of communities, develop and manage innovative programs, and evaluate program effectiveness.…”