LEADERSHIP COMPONENTS in PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING

Abstract

ONE of the responsibilities of the Committee on Functions, Standards, and Qualifications of the Public Health Nurses Section of the American Nurses' Association was to develop a statement relating to supervisors, consultants, and administrators in this field. So, as a first step, descriptions and specifications of their jobs were secured from nurses in almost every state and from a large number of cities and counties. The results were analyzed, and the stated functions and activities were compiled. Analysis of over 100 such job descriptions showed that the functions and activities listed for supervisors, for administrators, and for consultants did not clearly differentiate among the types of responsibility and activity carried by nurses in these different categories, but indicated only a difference in emphasis. Administrative functions such as budget construction, for example, appeared on a number of supervisory and consultant job sheets; staff development-essentially a supervisory activity-appeared in virtually every job description for directors and generalized consultants; and the majority of specialized consultants were expected to contribute to general professional development of the staff through activities in the special field, and therefore might be expected to need to know and be involved in the over-all staff development program. Staff training and education, of primary importance in job descriptions of special consultants, appeared also with great regularity on job descriptions of both supervisors and administrators. Inasmuch as the committee had originally intended to construct separate statements for consultants, supervisors, and administrators, this