The Roles of Public Health Nurse in Rural Area: A Narrative Review

This narrative review aims to identify the role of public health nurses in rural areas and provide a comparative description of their roles and duties. The literature search was conducted in May 2024 using four electronic databases including PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and COCHRANE. The review adhered to the Preferred Reporting System for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Of the 2249 retrieved articles, 500 duplicates were removed. After title and abstract screening, 1734 were excluded, followed by two due to unavailable full text. Six more did not meet eligibility criteria, while two additional articles were identified through hand searching. Study quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Nine studies were selected, including four descriptive studies, one mixed-methods study, and four qualitative studies. In all nine studies, the nurse was a registered nurse; some studies also included practice nurses and advanced practice nurses. From the selected studies, eight distinct roles of rural public health nurses were identified: Assessment, Health Prevention and Promotion, Intervention, Care Coordination and Management, Communication, Community Solidarity, Education and Research, and Administration and Evaluation. Duties were matched according to these roles. This review highlights the essential roles and duties of rural public health nurses, providing foundational data for future research and practice, guiding the development of standardized role definitions, job descriptions, and training programs for rural public health nurses.