Public health nursing is the practice of promoting and protecting the health of populations. The primary focus is not on providing direct care to individuals in a community setting but rather on promoting, assessing and assuring the health of the entire population.

Public health nurses work with other health care providers to support existing systems and programs in the community and plan and develop initiatives to prevent health problems and provide access to care. Examples of community services that public health nurses provide include: clinical services, communicable disease surveillance and outreach, immunizations, health education programs, policy promotion, and development of emergency response plans and actions.

Within the state of MA, public health nurses are hired by individual communities or regions to assist with providing preventative measures to assure healthy communities in a time of ever changing public health issues.

To learn more about nursing and career opportunities in public health nursing visit: the Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses Website www.maphn.org, or these 2 sites developed by the U.S. Bureau on Labor Statistics: www.bls.gov/oco/ocos083.htm, and www.bls.gov/oco/ocos102.htm