17 Job & Career Opportunities Outlook for Nurses in Public Health

Most of the positions listed require some sort of Graduate level study most importantly MPH

For nurses who are interested in public health, or a MPH in Public Health Nursing, there are many excellent job opportunities where you can both practice your nursing skills and enhance public health in local communities. Most of the positions listed require some sort of Graduate level study most importantly MPH programs, otherwise known as a Masters of Public Health (MPH).

Some of the most awesome public health opportunities for nurses include those below:

#1 Public Health Nurse

You will help to stop diseases and illnesses by providing good education to the public on good health practices. You will work in underserved areas and will provide immunizations, and will help to research health epidemics and how to stop them. You also will help people to become more educated on how to maintain a safe environment in the home. Expected salary: $44,000.

#2 Public Health Educator

With your nursing background Master in Public Health, you can qualify to become a public health educator, where you can work in many different domestic or international organizations. You could, for example, work as an health educator for an organization that fights a major disease, or work as a health educator in HIV/AIDS prevention in a developing country. Expected salary: $52,000.

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#3 Managed Care Administrator

As a skilled professional in nursing and public health, you will have the background to work in the management of a complex health delivery organization. You could work in this type of job in a hospital, clinic, international organization or possibly a government agency. Expected salary: $78,000

#4 Disaster Specialist

You will put together effective disaster response initiatives and will train other public health professionals on how they should respond to various man-made and natural disasters. With your background as a clinical professional, you will have special insights into how to prevent a bad situation from turning into a true public health emergency. Expected salary: $38,000.

#5 Health Services Research Analyst

With your background as a nurse, you will be able to understand the importance of good health care for patients. In this career, you will be working on providing high quality health care to people of many different backgrounds, who may have come from communities with poor public health practices. Expected salary: $41,000.

#6 Project Specialist in Public Health

Many of the new jobs that are available in public health are in health policy. You will be able to work in a career such as this on making important health policy decisions for people who live in many communities around the world. Expected salary: $57,000.

#7 Public Health Scientist

Being a nurse and also a public health professional, you will have the unique skills to work as a scientist in a local community. You will work on solving complex public health problems in at need communities and will offer solutions based upon scientific research. Expected salary: $58,000.

#8 Research Associate – Public Health

With your clinical background, you could step into a career in basic and applied research in public health. With your past courses in the biological sciences, you will be able to contribute to the growing body of clinical knowledge in the field of public health. You could become a research associate for state and local governments, international health agencies, and also public and private foundations. Expected salary: $37,000.

#9 Public Health Information Officer

Ensure that all information released about public health is accurate and on time. You also will work to ensure that all affected areas get timely information to help them to reduce their risk in a public health emergency. People in this career typically work for public health agencies here and abroad. Expected salary: $43,000.

#10 Public Health Inspector

You will conduct public health safety inspections to ensure that establishments are complying with relevant public health laws in various states. Typically you would work in a state government agency. Expected salary: $40,000.

#11 Public Health Adviser

You would be responsible for all of the advisory and technical work in all areas of public health investigation of communicable diseases. You would often interview people who were exposed to diseases, carry out blood testing, collect data for statistical analysis and more. Expected salary: $41,000.

#12 Public Health Planner

You will assess the public health needs of needy communities and populations, and will analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of programs and policies. You then will use this vital information to carry out new public health objectives. Expected salary: $45,000.

#13 HIV Training Worker

You would be working in the development of educational programs in HIV prevention, and would also be helping in all phases of training, recording keeping, coming up with training materials, helping HIV counselors and also training of educators. Expected salary: $40,000.

#14 Environmental Health Scientist

You will use your knowledge of public health, as well as your extensive clinical knowledge, to help to protect both people and the environment from serious health hazards. Expected salary: $55,000.

#15 Infectious Disease Manager

Whether you call this profession this title, or an epidemiologist, you will be using your nursing and public health skills to determine what is causing deadly diseases to spread in at risk communities and to try to stop them from getting worse. Expected salary: $64,000.

#16 Public Health Nutritionist

If you have a background in nutrition, as well as nursing, you could find an excellent career path as a public health nutritionist. You will provide research and education on how nutrition plays a key role in keeping people healthy and preventing disease outbreaks. Expected salary: $51,000.

#17 Epidemiologist

Do essential work in detecting, controlling and preventing major health problems in needy communities. You may specialize in a certain area, such as maternal and child health. Expected salary: $91,000.

The fact is the future needs more qualified public health workers, especially nurses with the established background and training. The Association of Schools of Public Health estimates that by 2020 the United States will face a shortage of more than 250,000 public health workers. This is due to a steadily increasing need for services in disadvantaged populations and the emergence of new biological and environmental threats to overall public health. What will be the primary source of these workers? Nurses? Social Workers? Physicians? The Nurse is certainly one of it not the most qualified to tackle our current and future public health issues.

All salary figures were provided by Bls.gov.

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