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Advancing Public Health Nursing in Georgia through the PEW Initiative

What is Public Health Nursing?
Public Health Nursing is a fundamental resource for the protection and promotion of health within the community.  We rely on Public Health Nurses (PHN’s) to inform and educate us about health care issues and provide a range of public health services including the prevention of epidemics and spread of disease, protection against health hazards, and the promotion of healthy behaviors.  PHN’s not only develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts, but they serve as a vital link between the un/under-insured population and much needed health services, assuring the provision of health care when it is otherwise unavailable. 

What is the PEW initiative?
Because the Public Health Nurse is key to improving the health status of Georgians, our public health system is facing a crisis due to the rapidly decreasing nursing workforce.  With a loss of more than 230 PHN’s in the last three years, Georgia’s public health system is struggling to deliver adequate health care to the community.

To address this issue the Georgia Public Health Nursing Practice and Education Workgroup initiative was developed.  This initiative established a regional Practice and Education Workgroup (PEW) for each of the 18 public health districts, in an effort to connect public health practitioners with educators from local nursing schools.  This partnership between educators and practitioners is necessary in order increase the public health nursing workforce.       

How can nursing students participate in the PEW initiative?
Public Health Nursing needs your help!  One of the goals of the PEW initiative is to develop ideas to improve the recruitment and retention of student nurses into the field of public health.  At the groups’ winter meeting in December, GANS presented the student perspective on public health nursing and offered suggestions for improvement in educational and clinical public health experiences.  To expand upon this student perspective and gather more information, the workgroups have invited students from each district to participate in the regional workgroups.  If you are interested in participating in the PEW initiative, please contact Becky Carbley, GANS President, by phone at 443.528.3601 or by email at ganspresident@yahoo.com.