Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Katherine Schmidt, RN, MS, MPH, Governing Board, Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses, 62 Churchill Street, Milton, MA 02186, 617-534-5665, kaydee_schmidt@bphc.org, Charlotte Eileen Stepanian, BS, MSN, RNBC, President Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses, Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses, Merrimac Board of Health, 25 E. Main Street, Merrimac, MA 01860, Glynnis LaRosa, RN, MPH, Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, Masschusetts Department of Public Health, State Laboratory Institute, 305 South Street Room 557E, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, Sheila Miller, RNC, BSN, Board Member at Large and Chair of the Visibility Committee, Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses, Sharon Health Department, 90 S. Main Street, Sharon, MA 02067, Dawn Dewkett, RN, BSN, School of Nursing - MS/MPH Dual Degree Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 216 Arnold House, Amherst, MA 01003-9304, and Andrew Ellingson, MPH, Cambridge Public Health Department, 119 Windsor Street, Ground Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139.

In Massachusetts, basic workforce data for public health nurses has not been available. This has significantly limited efforts to assess public health nurse (PHN) capacity and assure that each resident of the Commonwealth has equal access to local public health nursing services.

In 2003, the Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses (MAPHN) took the lead and piloted an individual PHN survey tool to learn more about the design and administration of a survey tool. In 2005, an improved PHN survey tool was distributed statewide in tandem with a local public health capacity survey commissioned by the Coalition for Local Public Health. The Coalition survey went to each municipality to document types of positions, budget allocations, fulltime equivalents, educational requirements and job responsibilities. The PHN survey went to each PHN to collect specific individual PHN information; age, educational preparation, nursing and public health experience, participation in educational trainings on bioterrorism and all-hazards, and utilization of current nursing protocols, guidelines and practice models.

Over 200 public health nurses representing more than 220 municipalities responded to the survey. The more than 220 municipalities account for 77% of the total population of Massachusetts. A wide variation was documented in the ratio of PHNs to population size. The survey was successful in collecting age specific information. Only 3% of those responding declined to indicate an age category.

Analysis of the results enabled MAPHN to strengthen their strategic planning efforts working to assure the adequacy of population-based public health nursing services for every municipality. The challenges and benefits of conducting this statewide PHN inventory will be presented highlighting the advocacy strategies and marketing approaches developed from the PHN survey data.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the rationale for creating the statewide PHN survey.
• Describe the methods employed in designing and conducting the PHN survey.
• Identify advocacy strategies and marketing approaches developed from the survey results.

Keywords: Workforce, Nurses

Related Web page: www.maphn.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation