Abstract
Purpose The two main goals of this research were: (1) To clarify the current state of collaboration among municipal public health nurses throughout Japan (referred to collectively as “Public Health Nurses”); and (2) To identify personal factors that separate Public Health Nurses who collaborate frequently from those who do not, and to clarify the characteristics of relevant interventions. The author believes that the results of this study should be valuable in demonstrating specific methodologies related to the ability of Public Health Nurses the ability to execute collaborative activities.
Objective Before conducting the main survey, a preliminary survey was performed to determine the affiliate divisions for Public Health Nurses employed by all of the 3,190 municipalities in Japan. Based on this survey, we gained an understanding of factors such as the number of Public Health Nurses and their places of employment. Next, during December 2003 to August 2004, we carried out a questionnaire survey by post to the 21,631 Public Health Nurses in Japan who had been identified through the preliminary survey.
Methods Survey items included: the Public Health Nurse's gender, age, position, most recent academic history, total years of work, number of years working with the current employer, affiliated division, types of tasks undertaken, status of execution of those tasks, and collaborative activities, as well as specialists institutions and organizations involved in such collaboration.
Results Data were gathered from 13,024 Public Health Nurses, which represents roughly 80% of the Public Health Nurses in Japan. First, regarding collaboration, links with health and medical institutions, health centers, and other government institutions appeared active, but this was not the case for social welfare facilities for the physically or mentally disabled. Furthermore, although the subjects collaborated with Public Health Nurses from other institutions, as well as with government administrators and doctors, there was little collaboration with pharmacists or with mental health and welfare workers.
When we analyzed data for individual specialists and specialized institutions, we found that the “collaborating” group had significantly higher scores for collaborative activities than the “not collaborating” group. These scores are believed to reflect actual conditions.
When we analyzed the relationships between personal factors for Public Health Nurses and collaborative activity scores, we found that scores tended to be higher for older nurses and for those with more years of experience.
Looking at the relationship between details of tasks undertaken and collaborative activity scores we found that the group developing new business or securing budgets to develop new business had significantly higher scores, and that in terms of the execution of day-to-day operations, the Public Health Nurses with higher scores were those undertaking tasks that required new knowledge, or tasks that demanded high-level skills.
Conclusions Municipal Public Health Nurses often collaborate with specialists or health-related divisions, but they do not collaborate closely with divisions related to welfare services for the physically or mentally disabled.
The Public Health Nurses with the highest collaborative activity scores were those scores clearly indicated active collaboration, and whose personal factors included extensive experience in the field. These Public Health Nurses were also involved in tasks that demanded a high level of skill.
