Distribution and Specialties of Broadly Versus Narrowly Defined Public Health Nurses Working in Government Settings in the United States, 2022

Objectives. To estimate the size of the US governmental public health nurse (PHN) workforce by setting and specialty, including those working outside of health departments. Methods. We used 2022 data from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, representing 2846 registered nurses (RNs) in a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 115; no. 4; pp. 536 - 545
Main Authors: Bekemeier, Betty, Kett, Paula M., Whitman, Greg, Chadwick, Kelly, Edmonds, Joyce K.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States American Public Health Association 01.04.2025
Subjects:
COVID-19
Government
Health services
Humans
Leadership
Medical personnel
Nurses
Nurses, Public Health - statistics & numerical data
Nursing
Public health
Public health nurses
Public Health Nursing - statistics & numerical data
Public schools
United States
Workforce
United States
United States > US
ISSN:0090-0036, 1541-0048, 1541-0048
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objectives. To estimate the size of the US governmental public health nurse (PHN) workforce by setting and specialty, including those working outside of health departments. Methods. We used 2022 data from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, representing 2846 registered nurses (RNs) in almost all states, with weights applied. We examined “setting” and “specialty” of PHNs according to broad and more restricted definitions. Results. Using a broad definition, PHNs in government settings made up 3.7% of the RN workforce, and 1.8% when specialty areas were narrowly defined. These percentages varied by state. PHNs working in public health, school health, and correctional health settings largely indicated their specialty practice areas as public health, school health, and “unspecified” rather than more narrow specialty areas. Conclusions. PHNs are a small proportion of the RN workforce. They consider themselves generalists and can be identified by specialty and when working in governmental settings outside of health departments. Public Health Implications. States with few PHNs may be underserving their communities. Better data are needed to understand specific functions and activities of the PHN workforce. ( Am J Public Health. 2025;115(4):536–545. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307950 )
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2024.307950