Why Public Health Nursing Matters After COVID

Public health nurses (PHNs) bridge clinical care and community wellbeing, and the field changed in real ways after COVID-19. Flexible schedules, virtual meetings, multidisciplinary teams, and new technology have reshaped the work, along with programs that tackle problems like vaccine hesitancy. If you are weighing a career in public health nursing, here is what the role looks like now and where it is headed.

What Public Health Nursing Is

Public health nursing works to improve the health of whole communities. It pulls from nursing, the social sciences, and public health to improve care delivery, allocate resources, and shape health policy and research. The goal is to address systemic problems like diabetes and obesity while slowing the spread of infectious diseases like influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Unlike clinical nurses who deliver one-on-one care, PHNs run broader initiatives that move population health. They lead immunization drives aimed at under-vaccinated groups, design education campaigns for underserved communities, and advocate for policies that address problems like food insecurity.

"There is so much to public health nursing and so many areas to move into," says Kelly Lind, RN, a public health nurse supervisor in St. Louis County, Minnesota. "You can work in programmatic areas that are meeting clients' needs at an individual level. But there's also community and systems-level work that you can grow into that makes a bigger, broad-spectrum impact."

What Public Health Nurses Do

PHNs work on big-picture community health and stay hands-on at the same time. Their responsibilities include:

• Leading health education campaigns based on community needs
• Supporting disease prevention through immunizations and screenings
• Providing direct care and education to vulnerable and underserved groups
• Assessing community-specific health risks and how to address them
• Raising awareness of local programs and services

During the pandemic, PHNs in rural Alabama ran mobile vaccination units to reach isolated communities, administering vaccines and addressing safety concerns face to face.

Nicole Spitzer, RN, BSN, a public health nursing senior manager in Anoka County, Minnesota, describes another approach. Using the Minnesota Immunization Information Connection, her team launched a targeted texting campaign to reach families of children overdue for their measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccinations, responding to the largest jump in measles cases since 2017. The result was a 20% rise in vaccine completions.

"It made us wonder: is it solely vaccine hesitancy that is lowering rates, or was it access to healthcare during the pandemic and the culture shift to virtual medical visits?" Spitzer says.

Where Public Health Nurses Work

PHNs go where they are needed, often partnering with local, state, and federal agencies to push for better resources so community members can stay healthy and informed. Employers include:

• City and county health departments
• K-12 schools and universities
• Community health centers
• Nonprofit organizations

PHNs increasingly work on multidisciplinary teams alongside public health educators, community health workers, and epidemiologists, attacking complex problems from several angles at once.

"In the past, in my public health department, we had mainly nurses," Lind says. "But after the pandemic, with the nursing shortage, we realized we needed to diversify our workforce."

The work is also autonomous. "We come into the office to get our things, and we're out and about," Lind says. In her unit, three of every five working days are mobile work days that keep nurses active in their communities.

How COVID-19 Changed the Field

When Lind started in public health nursing in 1998, schedules were rigid and PHNs worked fixed hours in office or clinical settings with little say over their time. The pandemic forced a rethink. Employers realized that caring for the community meant caring for staff.

"COVID-19 really pushed us to embrace flexible, outcome-based expectations," Lind says. "Now we trust our staff to make their own hours, adjust their schedules and get their work done."

Technology shifted too. "When I started in 2012, we were still documenting in paper records," Spitzer says. During the pandemic her team moved to fully virtual operations, with telehealth visits, electronic document signing, and online resource libraries for staff. "These efficiencies allowed PHNs to serve populations who might have otherwise been left behind."

The pandemic also sped up adoption of wearables that help patients track heart rate, blood pressure, and lung function. That focus on technology and flexibility makes public health initiatives more effective, and it helps retention: research shows that nurses with better work-life balance stay in the field longer.

What Comes Next

As public health systems evolve, PHNs will take on a larger role in complex challenges. A few trends are shaping the work:

• Working across disciplines. Multidisciplinary collaboration is now central. In Stark County, Ohio, PHNs worked alongside police officers to address rising opioid overdoses.
• Using technology. Mobile clinics and data analytics are changing how PHNs operate. Public health leaders in Texas use Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping to track community health resources and outcomes.
• Putting equity first. Closing health disparities is a top priority. "Public health nursing is an absolute need and value in the system," Lind says.
• Building stronger systems. More funding has expanded leadership and specialized roles, driving long-term gains in community health.

Spitzer also sees room to improve how science reaches the public. "I anticipate we will need to shift to getting the science disseminated to the public by use of communication and marketing experts in place of doctors and subject matter experts," she says. "This is a lesson learned during the pandemic."

Pay and Career Outlook

Public health nursing offers both meaning and room to advance. According to the BLS, the median annual salary for registered nurses is $93,600, and those in government settings tend to earn more. Advanced degrees, certifications, or experience in areas like epidemiology or health informatics raise earning potential and open leadership roles. Many public health systems also fund ongoing education, which lets PHNs build expertise and take on more complex work. Employment of PHNs is projected to grow about 5% through 2034.

The Bottom Line

Public health nursing has a clear, tangible effect on community health. By addressing individual needs and systemic problems at the same time, PHNs make a difference in the places they live and work.

"Public health nursing offers opportunities you have a hard time getting in a clinical or hospital setting," Lind says. "If you want to hone in on what public health nursing practice is and best use your skills, this is the field for you."

To get started, you need to become a licensed registered nurse.