Office of Nursing

Population Health

The population health education program for public health nurses was launched in 2000. In July 2002, the Office of Nursing received federal funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA, Grant #6D11HP00368-02-01) to support part of the infrastructure for the population health training program. When the HRSA grant funding ended in 2005, there were 351 Public Health Nurses who had completed the population health training program (either online or the CE version). The Office of Nursing then began working with nursing faculty in preparing the population health didactic content for a CD-ROM format. In December 2007, the Office of Essential Preventive Clinical Services identified funding to support development of the population health independent study course.

Background

Since early 1998, the Office of Nursing has taken a leadership role in the planning, management and evaluation of a workforce development program for public health nurses in Georgia. Results of a 1999 statewide needs assessment showed that 82% of responding public health nurses were interested in taking a population health online course; 71% expressed interest in starting the course within the next year. The Georgia Practice and Education Workgroup (GaPEW), which is a consortium of public health nursing leaders and academicians who share common interests in the preparation of public health nurses, developed the syllabus guidelines for the population health online course using the ten essential public health services and the three core public health functions as the framework. The pilot for the population health competency development program was conducted in August 2000 at Brenau University School of Nursing and each of the 15 nurses enrolled in the course successfully completed all of the requirements. One of the nurses who participated in the pilot said, “I have worked in a public health clinic for 16 years and I had no idea that public health was so broad.”

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Current Status

The Office of Nursing and the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) are in the final phase of editing the population health independent study course CD–ROM. Once editing is finalized, GTA will produce 700 copies of the CD-ROM for future distribution to the District Nursing Directors and State Office Nurses. The final production of the CD-ROM is expected in the Fall 2008.

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Future Plans

The Office of Nursing plans to pilot the population health independent study course with district, county and state public health nurses. After successful completion of the pilot program, the population health independent study course will be used as a training tool for Georgia’s public health nursing workforce. The Office of Nursing will coordinate a “roll-out” of the CD-ROM training program via VICS at some future date with a plan to evaluate the program within a year from the roll-out date.

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For More Information

Carole Jakeway: ccjakeway@dhr.state.ga.us
Meshell McCloud: mymccloud@dhr.state.ga.us
Website: http://health.state.ga.us/programs/nursing
Email: phn@dhr.state.ga.us
phone: 404-657-6422 | fax: 404-463-0377