Columbia pushes for a nurse specialty to be recognized

Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health is calling for public health nurses to receive formal recognition as a distinct occupation from registered nurses.

Published in Nursing Outlook, the study compared PHNs with other nurses by analyzing data from the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses from the Census Bureau and the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey published by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. The researchers concluded that public health nurses have a different scope of work compared to RNs. 

Here’s what to know:

1. Public health nurses have existed for about 140 years. In the course of their practice they blend clinical training with public health expertise, including emergency preparedness, policy advocacy, community engagement and disease surveillance. They make up about 18% and 8% of local and state health department workforces, respectively.

“Public health nurses are a well-defined, highly specialized profession and are widely recognized as a core component of the public health workforce,” Heather Krasna, PhD, EdD, associate dean of Career and Professional Development at Columbia Mailman School, said in the release. “Yet the U.S. Department of Labor does not categorize them separately from other registered nurses.”

2. Public health nurses currently fall under the same Standard Occupational Classification code as all registered nurses. This lack of differentiation limits the ability of federal agencies to track the size, compensation or workforce metrics of this role, the release said. 

3. The Standard Occupational Classification codes will next be updated in 2028, and Columbia urges federal agencies to give public health nurses their own classification.

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