Public Health Nurse I
California State Personnel Board Specification
Definition
Under supervision, as an entry-level professional worker, to perform public health nursing services in clinics, conferences, schools and homes, and in the community, or to perform equivalent work in State institutional facilities; and to do other related work.
Typical Tasks
Performs public health nursing services, including promotion of maternal and child health, the rehabilitation of crippled or handicapped children, safeguarding the health of school children, and assisting with the work in local prenatal clinics and child health conferences; assists with the prevention and control of communicable diseases including tuberculosis, venereal disease, and acute communicable diseases; assists with epidemiological investigations and in teaching patient or family members safe care of infected individuals and prevention of spread of infection; performs public health nursing services in occupational health and chronic disease programs; participates in conferences and institutes on community public health problems; correlates the community public health nursing work with the work of other social and health agencies; addresses interested groups on public health subjects; keeps records and prepares reports.
Minimum Qualifications
Possession of a valid license as a registered nurse and a certificate as a public health nurse in the State of California. (Applicants who do not meet these requirements will be admitted to the examination, but they must secure the required license and certificate before they will be considered eligible for appointment.) and Education: Completion of a university or collegiate program of study approved for public health nursing. (Applicants who have not completed the required program of study will be admitted to the examination, but they must have completed this requirement before they will be considered eligible for appointment.)
Knowledge and Abilities
Knowledge of: Principles, methods, and procedures of nursing as applied in public health practice, and of preventive medicine; causes and means of transmission and the methods of control of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis and venereal disease; procedures involved in promoting maternal and child health and in decreasing infant, child, and maternal mortality; essential diagnostic and therapeutic problems involved in the control of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis and venereal disease; principles and purposes of public health programs, sociological problems of disabled and crippled children and other afflicted persons and of those accompanying the occurrence of tuberculosis, venereal disease, and chronic diseases; principles of mental health.
Ability to: Work effectively with individuals and families and assist them in satisfactory solution of health problems; establish and maintain cooperative relations with public and private social and health agencies; analyze situations accurately and take effective action; speak and write effectively.
Special Personal Characteristics
Tact, pleasing personality and appearance, discretion, willingness to live and work in a rural area or in an institutional setting, willingness to travel.
