Florida public health nurse workforce initiative: opportunity through crisis.

The National Public Health Leadership Institute (NPHLI), a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites public health professionals to participate in a 2 year leadership program. Three Florida nurses participated in the NPHLI along with a cadre of 40 to 50 participants from the United States and foreign countries. Part of the commitment involved implementing a leadership project. This team chose to address the nursing shortage by developing and piloting mentorship program. Baseline research included a basic review of the literature and involvement in several work groups addressing various aspects of employing and retaining qualified public health nurses in Florida. During their NPHLI scholar year, team members sought input from a variety of professional sources on the reasons for the shortage of public health nurses in Florida. Based on responses from nurses, professional association members, and employees in the Florida Department of Health, team members developed a nursing mentorship project designed to address public health nursing retention and education. The goal was to develop a two-pronged mentorship program, which supported the attainment of clinical competence and workplace confidence while also improving the public health theoretical knowledge base of more experienced nurses. Nursing leadership at both the state and local levels agreed and embraced the concept. The Florida Team developed a Mentorship Handbook, which contains recruitment criteria, baseline, midterm and end of project assessment tools, and numerous other documents. The Team gained endorsement for the project and a commitment to see it through from the Department of Health's Nursing Office. The Florida Nurses Association partnered with the team to initiate the kickoff and involve team members in important discussion groups. In effecting change it is vital to have engaged and included the targeted "community" in the process. Achieving buy-in and ownership takes some investing. Time is important, everything seems to take longer than expected-therefore maintaining momentum is critical for team members. Finding resources for an unfunded project can be a challenge. Creative thinking in how the project relates to available resources is important.