Briefly in English
The Finnish Association of Public Health Nurses is the professional association and trade union for public health nurses and audiologists, as well as students of the field. The Association was founded in 1938 and has circa 7,000 members. Our goal is to promote the educational, professional, social and labour market interests of our members. Our association actively contributes to strengthening preventive work and health promotion in society.
Our key duties are:
- Interest representation and the provision of advice and support in matters related to salaries and employment relationships.
- Promotion of coping and well-being at work.
- Influencing the development of the work, profession and education of public health nurses and audiologists.
- Representation in labor market, education and health policies through statements, declaration and initiatives.
- Supporting the maintenance and development of expertise by arranging further education.
The Finnish Association of Public Health Nurses includes 15 regional associations for public health nurses and a national association for audiologists. The associations are in charge of local interest representation, arrange get-togethers, activities and various types of training and other events for their members. Together with their members, the associations form the Finnish Association of Public Health Nurses. The Finnish Association of Public Health Nurses also has a student network that brings together student members from each university of applied sciences’ unit in charge of public health nurse education. The purpose of the student network is to support the extensive participation of the Association’s student members in the Association’s decision-making and activities.
The Profession of Public Health Nurses
A public health nurse is an expert in nursing care that specializes in the fields of public health nursing, health promotion, and public health work throughout the various stages of people’s lives. Public health nurses have a unique key position in primary health care as experts of preventive health care. Public health nurses meet people at every stage of their lives.
Public health nursing focuses on preventing illnesses while promoting and maintaining health by working with individuals, families, communities, occupational groups, and the population at large. It aims to strengthen individuals’ own resources and improve self-care.
The profession of public health nurses has a long tradition in Finland and their work is valued highly by the public. The work performed by public health nurses is very independent, although multidisciplinary cooperation with professionals from other industries is very essential. Public health nurses are tasked with people-centered overall promotion of health. The aim is to provide people of all ages and families with individual support at an early stage.
The impact of the preventive health care services provided by public health nurses at child health clinics and schools, for example, is supported by on-going care relationships and the confidentiality based on these, which are important to the overall promotion of health. Determining the complete picture of a person’s situation and the early identification of need for support as well as the possibility of providing the person with the individual support they need is easier in a long-term care relationship. Furthermore, preventive health care is cost-efficient as it helps to avoid the higher costs associated with corrective health care.
The Education of Public Health Nurses in Finland
Public health nurse education is completed in 4 years and consists of 240 ETCS. The education is a bachelor level degree, it is on level 6 at European Qualification Framework, EQF. Registered Public Health Nurses are certified as medical professionals in the fields of Nursing and Public Health Nursing. All public health nurses are also registered nurses. The public health nurse education included in the degree is in line with EU directives.
The total scope of the practical public health nurse training is 100 ETCS, including a practical thesis project (15 ETCS). The minimum scope of the practical public health nurse training performed in professional studies of the overall scope of the training is 25 ETCS. In addition to central operating environments (including nursing related to internal medicine, surgery, mental health, children, young people and families), practical public health nurse training can be performed in the following operating environments:
- child and maternity clinic/work involving population responsibility/family center,
- maternity hospital: maternity clinic and/or delivery room and/or pediatric ward,
- school and/or student health care unit,
- occupational health care unit,
- community health care unit and/or health education/appointment services for adults/the elderly,
- home-based health care and/or home care,
- public health and patient organizations or volunteering.
Working as a Public Health Nurse in Finland
Public health nurses work in maternity and child health clinics, family planning clinics, schools, student and occupational health care, home care, and in a variety of settings, such as organizations, temporary project- specific tasks, and self-employment. The education meets the requirements laid down in EU directives, which means that it provides graduates with the necessary qualifications for working abroad.
The work performed by public health nurses is demanding expert work. The work is busy and many towns and cities have hired too few public health nurses in relation to the number of people living in the region and their need for services. In recent years, the shortage of public health nurses has grown and the recruitment of public health nurses has failed in parts of Finland. In general, people value the services provided by public health nurses highly and public health nurses like their job. The working conditions vary greatly, as does the possibility of working in a people-centered manner and by fully applying extensive expertise. The salaries of public health nurses must be developed further in order to make them match the salary paid to highly educated experts.
Public health nurses are motivated to take part in further and continuing education, so their career paths are very diverse. Further education is widely available. Continuing education is available at universities of applied sciences and other universities in the form of Master’s and doctoral degrees.
Audionomi– An Expert in Audiological hearing health care
An audionomi is an important part of a multiprofessional collaboration group within specialized healthcare. They test the hearing capability with multiple kinds of tests eg audiometry and dispense and fit hearing aids. Also an audionomi’s work is educating people in many ways on hearing loss, also eg. give help in managing their tinnitus symptoms.
Helping people to accept their declined hearing abilities and learn possibly new supporting communicative means to help them use their sense of hearing to its full extent is an important part of their work.
Audionoms work with people of all ages throughout the various stages of their lives.
Audionoms also do preventive hearing healthcare like informing on preventive measures concerning acquired hearing loss, promoting hearing healthcare at large by working with individuals, families, communities, and the population in general.
An audionomi can work within specialised nursing, in primary health care, in a variety of organisations in the private sector and as an entrepreneur in the private healthcare sector etc.
The audionomi-education is an advanced training programme aimed towards public health nurses (240 ECTS) and nurses (210 ECTS).
The training is organized as a specialization programme that lasts 1.5 years (60 ECTS).