Part-time in Public Health?

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Hi all. Something I was curious about while reading about Public Health are the types of positions. Nurses in the hospital and other areas tend to have the flexibility (at least in my area) to do full-time, part time at 60 hours or even 48 hours a pay period.

When i was looking for work, all the positions for Public Health were 80 hrs/week, which is normal, but do any public health nurses work part-time?

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It's rare in the department where I work - mostly, I think, because we're a government agency with benefits that exceed what you get in the private sector. County policy is that anyone working over 20 hours/week would get benefits, but it would be really expensive for them to provide our health insurance for two people (and their families) sharing one full-time job...therefore, they don't really hire that way. They only hire full-time.

However, we do have some flexibility. In my office, most of us work 5 eight-hour days one week, and then 4 ten-hour days the next, so every other week I get a 3 day weekend. Unlike a hospital, I can vary my hours a bit, as long as I get my job done - if I get there at 07:00, 08:00 or 09:30, it's all OK. I can go out to a doctor appointment without taking sick time, if I want, by just staying later that day.

But nope, you don't get the stretches of free days like you do in a hospital job. You have to just think about what's best for your own situation.

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It's rare in the department where I work - mostly, I think, because we're a government agency with benefits that exceed what you get in the private sector. County policy is that anyone working over 20 hours/week would get benefits, but it would be really expensive for them to provide our health insurance for two people (and their families) sharing one full-time job...therefore, they don't really hire that way. They only hire full-time.

However, we do have some flexibility. In my office, most of us work 5 eight-hour days one week, and then 4 ten-hour days the next, so every other week I get a 3 day weekend. Unlike a hospital, I can vary my hours a bit, as long as I get my job done - if I get there at 07:00, 08:00 or 09:30, it's all OK. I can go out to a doctor appointment without taking sick time, if I want, by just staying later that day.

But nope, you don't get the stretches of free days like you do in a hospital job. You have to just think about what's best for your own situation.

Thanks! It's nice to hear how it works there. The local county places near me seems to work similarly. They can work from home time to time though.

I guess it depends on how you feel about the job and if it's worth it.

Nice thing is the 13.5 holidays off, so some weeks you might have a 4 day weekend. Though i would prefer 4 10s every week. The flexibility in hours is great. The hospital is much more strict do to being paid hourly.

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They can work from home time to time though.

I guess it depends on how you feel about the job and if it's worth it.

Nice thing is the 13.5 holidays off, so some weeks you might have a 4 day weekend. Though i would prefer 4 10s every week. The flexibility in hours is great. The hospital is much more strict do to being paid hourly.

Oh yeah, that's the other thing I forgot to mention - I work from home two days/week (barring some kind of outbreak, emergency, etc). It's the best!

Hourly pay is way lower than hospital, so that sucks, and raises are rare. But I rarely have any anxiety about work, and I have a LOT more energy in my free time to exercise, socialize, etc. It's a nice change to spend weekends and holidays with my family - I worked in hospitals for a long time before this. Good luck with your planning!

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Oh yeah, that's the other thing I forgot to mention - I work from home two days/week (barring some kind of outbreak, emergency, etc). It's the best!

Hourly pay is way lower than hospital, so that sucks, and raises are rare. But I rarely have any anxiety about work, and I have a LOT more energy in my free time to exercise, socialize, etc. It's a nice change to spend weekends and holidays with my family - I worked in hospitals for a long time before this. Good luck with your planning!

Thanks a ton again! The working from home time to time sounds amazing. Also you mentioned barring emergencies. Something that really interested me even before nursing school was outbreaks and disasters and during a presentation many public health nurses mentioned that it's part of their job to assess and help communities using their abilities during then. That sounds pretty exciting and different.

I do have one last question, how often do you work with the pediatric population? I've enjoyed working with them but during my rotation in public health I was only with adults.

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I do have one last question, how often do you work with the pediatric population? I've enjoyed working with them but during my rotation in public health I was only with adults.

I don't work with peds at all....I am not a peds person! However, the majority of the public health nurses in our department work in programs for children and families (I'm in a conservative state that does not support much programming in public health. Programs with a political chance of getting money include kid stuff, and programs funded mostly by the feds.....so things like WIC, child vaccinations, day care quality programs, home visits for ex-NICU babies, early intervention programs for kids with developmental needs). I don't think it's particularly hard to find options working with kids and parents.

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