Public Health Nurse I

Under supervision, to apply systems-level thinking from knowledge of nursing, social, and public health sciences to provide public health nursing services in diverse settings, including homes, clinics, hospitals, schools, agencies, and community settings as required by the assigned program area.

The following are the duties performed by employees in this classification. However, employees may perform other related duties at an equivalent level. Each individual in the classification does not necessarily perform all duties listed.

• Provides nursing services to individuals by assessing, diagnosing, planning for, implementing, and evaluating appropriate nursing care; • Assists individuals and families in following medical provider recommendations; • Recognizes attitudes and cultural patterns that are detrimental to health and guides families towards desirable changes through a trauma-informed lens; • Teaches and counsels individuals, families, and groups regarding specific diseases, health conditions, and health maintenance; • Participates in various clinics by interviewing and counseling clients; • Assists individuals and families to identify their needs and establish their goals and refers them to appropriate community agencies and clinics for specialized services; • Coordinates care of clients with other public and private agencies; • Collects specimens from clients, performs medical tests and reports test results, and administers injections and oral medications; • Performs ongoing and follow-up evaluation to determine effectiveness of nursing care plan; • Interprets ’medical providers’ orders and assists families in following these orders; • Utilizes health literacy concepts to improve the public’s understanding of their health conditions, treatments, and self-care practices; • Facilitates informed decision making and encourages families to identify the need for appropriate medical, psychiatric, hospital, or other care, as necessary; • Performs defined technical/skilled nursing tasks; • Recognizes the current Essential Public Health Services; • Maintains documentation and prepares necessary reports; • May provide guidance and direction to support staff; • Attends appropriate staff meetings and in-service training sessions; • May pursue appropriate job related educational courses; • May be assigned as a Disaster Service Worker (DSW), as required;* • Performs other related work, as required.

Sufficient education, training, and experience to demonstrate the ability to perform the above tasks, plus the possession and direct application of the following knowledge and abilities:

Training and Experience Note: The required knowledge and abilities are attained through possession of a Bachelor’s Degree, or higher, in Nursing.