The North Carolina Public Health Nurse Recruitment & Retention Study

The NC Public Health Nurse Recruitment & Retention Study is an ongoing project with the goal of creating an inclusive public health nurse workforce in North Carolina. The project began with a study of non-supervisory public health nurses across North Carolina to examine retention of NC PHNs. The research from this seminal study, authored by Isley et. al., can be read via open-access in Public Health Nursing, the official journal of the Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations. The article, “To stay or leave: public health nurse workforce retention in North Carolina” can be viewed here.

The project continues as evidence from the study is translated into practice.

Dr. Jaimee Watts-Isley and Dr. Susan Haynes Little, Chief Public Health Nurse present an award-winning poster at the Annual Public Health Association 2021 Annual Meeting. Watch this short video for information on how the NC PHN Recruitment & Retention study will be translated into practice.

North Carolina’s PHNs are leading in the COVID-19 pandemic at the local, state, and national levels through advocacy, policy, and practice.  PHNs were the first nurses involved in COVID-19 response, well before the first case was diagnosed in our great state.  Since the state Office of Public Health Nursing was established over a century ago, PHN nurse leaders have led in responses to public health threats, addressing population health, writing public health policy, and designing programs and services to meet the health needs of North Carolina’s residents. Even while facing severe workforce shortages after years of declining investment in public health services in the state and across the nation, North Carolina’s PHNs continue to demonstrate their indispensable expertise as specialists in population health, particularly in the face of the global pandemic.  Read this hot-off-the-press article written by NC PHN leaders Drs. Vaughan, Kneipp, and Little for The Tarheel Nurse, the official publication of the North Carolina Nurses Association.  (NCNA members can access the full publication here.)

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