How to become a public health nurse

[Momon]

Hello. Are there any public health nursing experts here?

I have been in nursing profession several years by now. Been in acute care and community.

Recent professional experience made me think about getting into public health nursing. When I graduated nursing school, I was not interested in public health at all and went into acute care. After seeing both acute care and community health nursing, I realized that public health is where I am meant to be.

so I started sending resumes to job postings with no luck.

can you guide me how I can get my foot into public health nursing?

I have...

bachelor of nursing

community health nursing certificate

community health nursing experience

What else do I need?

any suggestions for CE course to boost my resume?

Do I need a master's degree in public health?

Any advice will be appreciated!

[jennylee321]

Not saying you "have to" get a masters but it would certainly open doors to public health jobs.

[livertruffles]

Your best bet may be to apply to rural public health positions to get in. Compared to the city, the competition for these positions is lower and they have a hard time in general retaining staff. Going rural was the only thing that worked for me. Good luck!

[leslie827]

Hi, I have been a community/public health nurse for low income, at risk pregnant women; before that I worked in an LDRP unit for about 15 years. Two things prepared me to be a great public health nurse...

1. EXPERIENCE in my specialty, you are constantly using your experience in partnership with your intuition on whether a client needs to be seen by the ER or doc. There have been countless times Ive had a client seen in the ER for onset of preeclampsia - often the BP isn't really elevated - it's simply a look the client gets and the way the answer certain questions about their health.

2. Living Life with H.E.A.R.T.

Hope that helps!

With ove & gratitude, Leslie Peters RN

[Fiona59]

Which province do you live in?

My health authority has several variations of public health, Immunization, School Team, Mother and Baby. Usually it's just the degree.

But you have to understand that these are highly sought after jobs due to the fairly "normal" hours. Often it's seniority, or need to be accommodated due to injury that lands these lines.

[Momon]

Thank you for your responses guys.

I have been researching what credentials other PHN have in common. Some have MPH some don't. Some even got position straight from a hospital acute care experience.

I think my experience is reasonable when compared to other PHN. I guess it is just too many applicants in the field.

I looked into going rural public health, but it's really not feasible with family obligations.

It's same for obtaining MPH at this time...

I'll just have to keep applying and refining my skills and qualifications.