What does a community health nurse do?
The main role of a community health nurse is to provide care to patients. Community health nurses make a plan on educational assemblies, conduct health screenings, and hand-out fliers. These nurses administer immunizations and dispense medications. They distribute health-associated items such as pregnancy tests and condoms. Part of their job is to assist the elderly, pregnant women, disabled, or homeless by directing them to social service centers. Also, they may concentrate on offering community health nursing.
Community health nurse responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real community health nurse resumes:
- Participate in manage care activities to produce health change, specifically providing diabetes education and lifestyle counseling in chronic disease areas.
- Assist in GYN unit and in NICU.
- Administer medications via PO, IM, SC.
- Provide a caring & safe environment for neonatal, pediatric populations & couplet mother-baby care.
- Record information and counsele patients regarding communicable diseases as required by law.
- Communicate with MD and collaborate with disciplinary team to formulate comprehensive care plans for patients.
- Experience with pediatric patients that need care for tracheostomy and ventilator, congenital abnormalities and developmental delays.
- Provide care to medical/oncology patients, administer chemotherapy, intravenous medications, and perform physical assessments while implementing the nursing process
- Maintain and monitor patient's tracheostomy providing a stable respiratory condition.
- Experience with pediatric patients that need care for tracheostomy and ventilator, congenital abnormalities and developmental delays.
Community health nurse skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Community Health Nurses are proficient in Patients, Community Health, and Home Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Community Health Nurses that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 22%
Communicated with MD and collaborated with disciplinary team to formulate comprehensive care plans for patients.
- Community Health, 13%
Implemented delivery of comprehensive community health nursing for the largest Army installation serving over 70,000 beneficiaries.
- Home Health, 8%
Case managed complicated cases with assistance of other disciplines such as therapist, social workers and home health aides.
- Public Health, 5%
Provide administrative oversight, coordination and implementation of health promotion and public health initiatives.
- Quality Care, 4%
Included compilation and analysis of data, investigation and intervention with other departments to achieve goals of efficient quality care deliverance.
- Mental Health, 3%
Developed and utilized individualized treatment plans that addressed behavioral and mental health concerns in children and adults.
"patients," "community health," and "home health" are among the most common skills that community health nurses use at work. You can find even more community health nurse responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a community health nurse to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." Additionally, a community health nurse resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "initiated a program for direct communication between residential treatment staff and community health rns located in different parts of the city. "
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform community health nurse duties is compassion. Community health nurses responsibilities require that "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients." Community health nurses also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "demonstrated compassion, collaboration and expertise in coordination of hospice and home health services. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for community health nurses to perform their duties. For an example of how community health nurse responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a community health nurse: "oriented to all public health programs such as the uas-ny, citrix/saam, and oasis/485 systems. ".
Emotional stability. A big part of what community health nurses do relies on "emotional stability." You can see how essential it is to community health nurse responsibilities because "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stressors." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical community health nurse tasks: "perform health assessments, diagnosis and treatment of school age children to address their physical, emotional and social needs. "
Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in community health nurse job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what community health nurses do. Community health nurse responsibilities rely on this skill because "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." You can also see how community health nurse duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "contributed to organizational growth initiatives as a member of patient education and procedural committees. "
Physical stamina. Lastly, "physical stamina" is an important element of what a community health nurse does. Community health nurse responsibilities require this skill because "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as lifting patients." This resume example highlights how community health nurse duties rely on this skill: "coordinate services for clients including: skilled nursing, physical therapy, social work, home health aide and financial assistance. "
The three companies that hire the most community health nurses are:
- Rochester Regional Health38 community health nurses jobs
- My Florida Regional Mls28 community health nurses jobs
- Change Healthcare20 community health nurses jobs
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Compare different community health nurses
Community health nurse vs. Registered nurse charge nurse
A registered charge nurse is responsible for supervising nurses' workflow in a particular department or area, ensuring every patient gets the proper care that they need. A registered charge nurse has the discretion to direct tasks, arrange schedules, and monitor patients, such as in the aspects of admission and discharge. Furthermore, a registered charge nurse must maintain an active line of communication and coordination among nurses, physicians, and other personnel involved as the conditions in a hospital can be unpredictable.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a community health nurse are more likely to require skills like "community health," "home health," "public health," and "quality care." On the other hand, a job as a registered nurse charge nurse requires skills like "bls," "cpr," "acls," and "resident care." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Registered nurses charge nurses tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $68,929. In contrast, community health nurses make the biggest average salary, $57,349, in the government industry.The education levels that registered nurses charge nurses earn slightly differ from community health nurses. In particular, registered nurses charge nurses are 4.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a community health nurse. Additionally, they're 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Community health nurse vs. Nurse
Nurses are medical professionals assigned to a specific department in the hospital and provide their trusted department services. Nurses are in charge of taking patients' medical histories, getting vital signs, preparing patients for checkups or procedures, explaining upcoming practices, answering any questions, and communicating any concerns to the assigned doctor. Nurses should ensure that patients follow the medical advice given to them. They also assist patients in completing administrative requirements, such as filling out forms, validating details, and endorsing payments.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, community health nurse responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "community health," "public health," "mental health," and "disease prevention." Meanwhile, a nurse has duties that require skills in areas such as "cpr," "bls," "acute care," and "acls." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Nurses may earn a lower salary than community health nurses, but nurses earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $63,263. On the other hand, community health nurses receive higher pay in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $57,349.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Nurses tend to reach similar levels of education than community health nurses. In fact, they're 2.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for community health nurses in the next 3-5 years?
Lisa Rebeschi Ph.D.
Associate Dean of the School of Nursing Professor of Nursing, Quinnipiac University
Community health nurse vs. Psychiatric nurse
A Psychiatric Nurses role is to supervise the medication and treatment of patients diagnosed with mental disabilities, illnesses, or distresses. They have an essential role in the administration of psychiatric treatment and care.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, community health nurses are more likely to have skills like "community health," "home health," "public health," and "mental health." But a psychiatric nurse is more likely to have skills like "mental illness," "cpr," "therapeutic interventions," and "psychiatric care."
Psychiatric nurses earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $63,449. Community health nurses earn the highest pay from the government industry, with an average salary of $57,349.When it comes to education, psychiatric nurses tend to earn similar degree levels compared to community health nurses. In fact, they're 0.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Community health nurse vs. Registered nurse prn
As a registered nurse PRN, their job is to collaborate with medical teams, reviewing the patient records to ensure providing the best quality health care for patients. They deliberate ongoing patient care with physicians and other staff. In addition, they help explain treatment to patients and their families. Moreover, they also provide different services, including treatment of chronic illnesses and providing urgent care. They may be scheduled in a flexible shift to work in various departments as needed.
Types of community health nurse
Updated January 8, 2025
