Quad Council Coalition community/public health nursing competencies: Building consensus through collaboration

Abstract

Background: The changing professional environment for community/public health nursing practice necessitates competencies grounded in current evidence-based practice. The Quad Council Coalition (QCC) appointed a Task Force to revise the 2011 QCC Competencies for Public Health Nursing. The goal of the competencies is to guide professional nursing practice, curricula, research, and policy development. This paper describes the process used to develop the revised 2018 Competencies. Methods: A biphasic Delphi technique was used to conduct a detailed examination and build consensus. Four individuals representing community/public health practice and education collaborated to identify and implement a systematic process for revising the QCC Competencies. The process included multiple iterations of review and feedback using consistent methods and tools to analyze and synthesize themes. Results: The primary result of this project is the 2018 QCC Competencies document that has strong consensus and provides a coherent voice from professionals on the practice of community/public health nursing. Discussion: Use of current QCC Competencies will strengthen the community/public health nursing capacity to positively impact the health and well-being of populations.