Quantification and “Best Practices” for the public health nursing workforce
 
In January, 2008, Palm Healthcare Foundation awarded the Florida Public Health Institute a three year grant for $81,664 for their Quantify the Public Health Nursing Workforce project.
 
In collaboration with the Florida Department of Health, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Data Analysis, the FPHI project will gather information and conduct a study and sampling process to establish a desired public health nursing staffing pattern and number of Full Time Equivalents (FTE’s).   While data are collected in Florida’s system on the number of people served by Public Health and the types and numbers of encounters, there are no statistics on the amount of time spent by practitioners or the staff needed to adequately meet the broad range of public health needs.
 
Based on FPHI’s research through the National Network of Public Health Institutes, the New York State Health Department, and the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials, this type of metric is not available in any other region of the country.  By creating a “best practice” staffing pattern and number of FTEs, Palm Beach County and Florida will serve as a national model to:
 
  • Plan and allocate resources for routine public health services
  • Measure surge capacity in the event of a disaster
  • Project staffing needs to address health disparities
  • Identify areas with the most severe shortages of nurses
  • Establish criteria for designation as a nursing shortage area
  • Assess and plan for other public health positions