Background to the Research:
Public health nursing services, where care is delivered by Public Health Nurses (PHNs) and Community Registered General Nurses (CRGNs) in the community, are coming under increased pressure. Currently PHNs deliver care across the lifespan. However, with changing population demographics and an increasingly older population, PHNs are having to prioritise their care resulting in delayed child surveillance and screening. There is a need for an increased focus on child health, as per legislation, and the role of a child-dedicated PHN. Therefore, it is timely to re-consider models of the provision of nursing care in community settings. This work is currently being undertaken as part of the Programme of Research into Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill-Mix. This Summer Student Scholarship funding will facilitate work as part of this research team investigating nurse and patient outcomes in a re-modelled public health nurse service.
Aims:
To investigate the association between the PHN role and key performance indicators for children in the community.
Objectives:
Student will familiarise themselves with the literature, research area, the data collected
Student will become familiar with data analysis and the tests used to analyse the data
Student will assess associations between PHN role and the delivery of child health (screening and surveillance programme) as per the National Healthy Childhood Programme (HSE 2023)
Student will write a report of the findings
Key Outputs:
The research report will describe any benefits found when a PHN has a child-dedicated focus compared to a generalist focus (birth to end-of-life). It will support the wider research in the recommendations on re-modelling the PHN role.