title: Public health nursing job descriptions:  are they aligned with professional standards?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The American Nurses' Association (ANA) 2007 Public Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice along with the Quad Council's PHN competencies frame the practice of public health nurses (PHNs). The preface for ANA's PHN Scope and Standards encourages using the standards as the basis of PHN job descriptions. This study sought to assess the extent to which PHN job descriptions are aligned with the ANA's PHN Scope and Standards and the Quad Council competencies.
  
  
  METHODS
  We obtained PHN job descriptions from 3 local health departments in Illinois and 3 in Washington. Statements from the job descriptions were content analyzed, categorizing statements into the 16 ANA PHN Scope and Standards and using Quad Council competencies as additional definitions of each category. To code all job statements related to PHN practice, 2 categories were added which were MPH competencies from the Associations of Schools of Public Health. Interrater reliability was established.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 18 PHN job descriptions had statements related to Standard 5 Implementation, followed by 94% of the job descriptions having statements related to assessment, planning, coordination of services, health education/health promotion, and collaboration. The least frequently (22%) included standard was outcome identification.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Attention to human resource management is necessary to align job descriptions with current professional scope and standards for basic and advanced PHN practice. The lack of statements regarding Outcome Identification has serious implications for PHN involvement in quality improvement and health planning.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. issel@uic.edu
authors.forename: L Michele
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Issel
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ashley
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kirk
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bekemeier
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D007087:Illinois; D007587:Job Description; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011637:Public Health Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States; D014861:Washington