The roles and education system of public health nurses in Japan

With introduction of social workers as their collaborator

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (hereafter, COVID-19) has caused complex health problems. Public health nurses (hereafter, PHNs) in Japan have provided not only patients but whole community with care and comfort under this harsh period collaborating with wide range of relevant professions like social workers (hereafter, SWs). The purpose of this paper is to describe the roles and education system of PHNs and introduce SWs as their collaborator.

As generalist, PHNs take charge of specific areas and provide all residents with health programs to promote their health condition and well-being There are four education ways to be a PHN. As human resource development, Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare launched the framework to develop PHNs' competency as “the Standard Career Ladder”. Also, there is a special training for infectious disease called Infectious disease Health Emergency Assistance Team (hereafter, IHEAT) which was established in 2021.

As one of PHNs' collaborators, SWs support diverse people to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing. Their core mandate is to promote social inclusion and social cohesion as similar as PHNs'. There are 12 ways to take national examination for SWs. The curriculum for SWs was amended to cover wide range of discipline in 2020 because of SWs' role expansion.

This paper introduced Japanese two public health workers but each country has its own values based on its history. Each country should enhance its own strength to attain the own goal –the common goal might be “no one left behind”.