Journal of Community & Public Health Nursing
Open Access

Public Health; Nursing; Patient education; Disease surveillance; Public health campaigns

Introduction

Public health nursing is a specialized field within the nursing profession because it is population-focused, as practitioners often work with community members who are not in hospitals or other health care institutions, and community-focused, as practitioners focus on the relationship between population health and the environment which includes physical, biological, and socio-cultural factors—in order to meet public health needs [1]. Public health nurses are concerned not only with direct patient care, but also with community and population health promotion and disease prevention activities, which require an interdisciplinary focus on nursing, public health, and social sciences [2]. Public health nurses work in diverse settings with a variety of health actors and offer a wide range of services to patients and community members, including education and epidemiological research [3].

Despite the long history of the field of public health nursing and efforts to define its scope and practice, it is difficult to find systematized information about the public health nursing workforce in the Americas. Public health nurses play important roles in promoting public health across the Americas and currently comprise the largest group of professionals in the field of public health [4]. There are significant differences in the number, job descriptions, and work responsibilities of these health workers. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the levels and types of training and education of public health nurses. Regional differences in characterizations of public health nursing are complicated by the fact that many nurses carry out some or all of the essential functions of public health, but are not considered to be public health nurses and/or are not familiar with the field of public health. It is important to note that there is a scarcity of health workers, especially nurses, across the Americas. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) states that 15 countries in the Americas do not meet the baseline of human re source density, which is 25 health workers per 10,000 people, and emphasizes the extreme lack of nurses who are needed to maintain population health.

Although more research was needed to ascertain the number and composition of the public health nursing workforce, information remains difficult to find or non-existent for many countries in the Americas [5]. According to the available data about nursing, there are high numbers of assistants and auxiliary nurses who are responsible for direct contact with patients in primary care settings. There are low numbers of nurses who have advanced degrees and/or are trained for administrative or research positions. Even though some nurses have higher levels of training, many carry out the same roles as nurses with lower levels of training.

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