Self-reported competences of public health nurses for developing needs-oriented local healthcare plans: A nationwide cross-sectional survey

To identify self-reported competencies of public health nurses for reflecting community healthcare needs in local healthcare plans.

We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey in Japan from October 7-November 30, 2019.

We sent 2,185 self-reported questionnaires to public health nurses in Japan who had developed a local healthcare plan since 2013. Self-reported questionnaires included questions regarding demographic data and the reflection of community healthcare needs in local healthcare plans, and the involvement in local healthcare planning.

We analysed 1,042 questionnaires: 651 (62.5%) were from public health nurses who reported that they elicited and shared community views to be reflected for purposes of local healthcare planning (the reflecting group), and 391 (37.5%) of the remaining public health nurses who reported that they did not do so (the non-reflecting group). The logistic regression analysis revealed that public health nurses in the reflecting group were more likely to be in a managerial position, have colleagues who played an active role in healthcare planning, conduct a questionnaire survey, engage in group work, participate in a municipal healthcare planning committee with community-dwelling people, and identify the opinions of the professional organizations.

Identifying community healthcare needs through collaboration with community-dwelling people and professional organizations should be essential competencies for public health nurses (the reflecting group) in developing needs-oriented local healthcare plans.

Identification of their related competencies for developing a needs-oriented local healthcare plan as an upstream strategy to mitigate the prevalence of health inequities in each community.