Community health nurse professional interview and role assessment

Background
Josephine Lawrence (name changed to protect anonymity) has been a community health nurse employed by the city for almost five years. Working in the public sector is radically different from working in a private healthcare institution, notes Lawrence, who had practiced as an RN for ten years prior to her career change. When asked what precipitated the change. Lawrence said that a lot of it had to do with the way her mind works. She always preferred “big picture” issues, as she put it, recognizing the need for greater community activism, empowerment, and advocacy.
Changes to the Profession
According to Lawrence, the profession has not changed appreciably over the past four to five years. The most important changes to healthcare in general have been due to legislation and policy, with the Affordable Care Act having less of a bearing on community health operations than on the budgets and management of private institutions. Lawrence noted, for example, that “expands public health and prevention programs to support communities and individuals,” (“Public Health Nurse,” n.d., p. 1). Moreover, Lawrence has seen shifts in attitudes towards the role that public health nurses play. The career is increasingly data-driven, and community health nurses now need more professional competencies in information technologies. When Lawrence first started working as a community health nurse, she focused more on program planning and budgeting. Now, she is much more involved in epidemiology and public relations. She still focuses a lot on financial management but has to take into account issues related to marketing public health campaigns, coordinating resources among multiple stakeholders, and assessing the effectiveness of community interventions.
Addressing the Needs of High Risk Populations
One of the most important goals of public health nursing is to reduce health disparities, according to Lawrence. The city set aside additional funds in the budget to help the homeless community this year, which has inspired Lawrence to put together a new team of advocates, social workers, and nurses who are planning new programs to offer vaccines, medical tests, and substance abuse counseling. The city also approved a new safe injection site for drug users, which in the past two years has already been instrumental in reducing the number of preventable infections as well as dramatically reducing the number of overdoses. High risk populations like the homeless, children in foster care, the poor, and the elderly who live alone are continually assessed for health outcomes, to determine whether specific interventions have been working and are cost-effective.
Collaborations and Partnerships
Forming strategic partnerships with community organizations, businesses, and public institutions is one of the most important roles Lawrence fills. It is important that public health nurses “work with diverse partners and providers to address complex challenges in the community,” (Meadows, 2009, p. 19). Thus, Lawrence is continually coming up with new ideas for alliances, which help with fundraising and resource management. Lawrence sometimes serves as spokesperson for the city’s health department, and communicates with the media fairly frequently and especially when there has been a health scare or outbreak. Partnerships also make it easier to perform outreach services and streamline delivery of care to underserved communities and individuals.
Expected Changes
When asked about the future of community health nursing, Lawrence said that she wavers between optimism and pessimism. She says that there is so much that could be done better, but that a lack of funding and too much bureaucracy comes in the way of effective public health planning. With increased awareness of the role that community health nurses play, though, Lawrence is confident that public-private partnerships will make up for the lack of public spending. The opportunities for more robust partnerships with the private sector have recently been expanding, and will likely determine the future of the profession.
Advice
When asked for advice about pursuing community health nursing as a career, Lawrence said that patience is the most important quality one can have to succeed. She said that all public health nurses do need to work hard and approach their career with long-term goals of leadership and advocacy. The work of a community health nurse is more political and involves constant communications and teambuilding, so to practice these skills as much as possible while pursuing my degree.




References
Lawrence, J. (2018). Interview.
Meadows, P. (2009). Community health nursing. The American Journal of Nursing 109(19): doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000343102.62178.80
“Public Health Nurse,” (n.d.). https://www.nursesource.org/publichealth.html