| Course | NURS 6730 Public Health Nursing Leadership |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 4 |
| Paper type | Workforce plan |
| Length | About 1,040 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 6730 Week 4
Who Cannot Be Replaced by Spring: A Workforce Plan Built From Retirement Dates and Single Incumbents
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 6730: Public Health Nursing Leadership
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Who Cannot Be Replaced by Spring: A Workforce Plan Built From Retirement Dates and Single Incumbents
Starting Point
Workforce plans often start from an organizational chart and a list of training needs. This plan for the composite three-county district starts instead from risk: which positions would leave work undone if their holders left, and how long the district would take to refill them. That order reflects the district's situation. Several nurses and sanitarians are near the end of long careers, several roles have exactly one person in them, and the regional hospital pays more for the same nursing license. National evidence points the same way: the state and local public health workforce lost tens of thousands of jobs between the 2009 recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, more left during the pandemic, and recruitment and retention challenges identified two decades ago persist (Leider et al., 2023). A national survey of state health agency staff found that nearly a third were older than 55 (Bogaert et al., 2019), and small local departments like this district tend to feel the same pattern with fewer people to absorb each departure.
Risk Register
Table 1
Positions Rated by Departure Likelihood, Refill Time and Work Stopped
| Position | Likelihood of departure in planning window | Time to refill | Work stopped if vacant | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epidemiologist (only one) | Moderate | Long: few applicants in a rural area | All data analysis and assessment | 1 |
| Bilingual public health nurse (only one) | Moderate: recruited by hospital | Long: bilingual nurses scarce | Communicable disease follow-up and home visits with Spanish-speaking families, including dairy workers | 1 |
| Sanitarian licensed for septic review (only one) | High: eligible to retire | Long: license takes time to obtain | Septic permits; home sales stall | 1 |
| Nursing supervisor | High: eligible to retire | Moderate | Supervision, scheduling, clinical questions | 2 |
| Preparedness coordinator | Moderate: grant-funded, term uncertain | Moderate | Grant deliverables; exercises | 2 |
| Other public health nurses (three) | Mixed | Moderate | Capacity reduced but not stopped | 3 |
| WIC staff | Low | Short | Capacity reduced | 3 |
Single-incumbent roles rise to the top because their departure stops work entirely rather than slowing it.
How the Ratings Were Made
Each rating came from information the district already holds. Likelihood of departure drew on retirement eligibility from personnel records, on whether a position is grant-funded with an uncertain term, and on the supervisor's knowledge of which staff have been approached by other employers; no one was asked about their plans, since that question can itself push a person toward the door. Time to refill drew on how long the district's last three postings for similar roles stayed open and on any license a new hire would need. Work stopped was judged by asking what the district could not do at all, not merely do more slowly, if the chair sat empty for three months. Priority 1 marks positions high on both refill time and work stopped. The ratings are judgments, and the register records who made each one so it can be challenged.
Gap Assessment by Tier
The Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals, maintained by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice, set out skills in eight domains at three tiers: Tier 1 for front-line staff, Tier 2 for program management and supervisory staff, and Tier 3 for senior managers and leaders (Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice, 2021). The tiers are used here to locate gaps rather than to recite the domains.
At Tier 1, front-line nurses and sanitarians are strong in their technical work and in community partnership, which long tenure has built. The gaps are narrower: few front-line staff can pull and interpret data themselves, so every question goes to the one epidemiologist. At Tier 3, the health officer brings leadership and policy skill. The widest gaps are at Tier 2, the middle. The nursing supervisor who is eligible to retire is the only person who has managed budgets, grant reports and staff at the program level, and no one has been prepared to follow. Program management and finance skills, and the systems thinking needed to connect programs to the district's budget, sit with one person.
Retention: Levers the District Controls
Retention measures are limited to levers the health officer already holds. Three are proposed. First, schedules: nurses may choose compressed weeks or a later start on clinic days, which costs the district little and addresses a reason nurses give for preferring hospital work when the hospital offers set shifts. Second, remote data work: staff who complete data training may do part of their data entry and analysis from home, which matters in a district where some staff drive long distances. Third, a promotion ladder: a Nurse II step with defined duties in data, precepting or program coordination, so that a nurse can grow without leaving for a supervisory role that may not open for years.
Pay parity with the regional hospital is marked as a board decision. The plan notes the gap and its effect on the bilingual nurse position but does not depend on closing it, since the board and the three counties control pay.
Succession Assignments
Table 2
Priority Positions and Their Succession Plans
| Position | Successor or backup | Preparation | By when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epidemiologist | One public health nurse with data interest, as backup | Data training; shadowing on quarterly reports; documented procedures for each recurring report | Within the first year |
| Bilingual nurse | Recruit a second bilingual nurse or community health worker; interpreter line as interim | Pay parity request to board; relationships with nursing programs | Recruitment within the first year |
| Septic sanitarian | Second sanitarian begins licensure | District pays exam and training costs; supervised reviews | License before the incumbent's planned retirement |
| Nursing supervisor | One senior nurse named as successor | Takes over grant reports and scheduling under supervision; attends budget meetings | Within the first year |
What the Plan Asks of the Board
The plan asks the board for three decisions: approval of the Nurse II step and its duties, funding for the second sanitarian's licensure costs, and a review of pay for the bilingual nurse position against the regional hospital. Everything else in the plan is within the health officer's authority and can begin now. The risk register will be reviewed each year and after any departure, since the ratings change whenever someone leaves or a successor is ready.
References
Bogaert, K., Castrucci, B. C., Gould, E., Sellers, K., Leider, J. P., Whang, C., & Whitten, V. (2019). The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS 2017): An expanded perspective on the state health agency workforce. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 25(2, Suppl.), S16-S25. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000932
Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice. (2021). Core competencies for public health professionals. Public Health Foundation.
Leider, J. P., Yeager, V. A., Kirkland, C., Krasna, H., Hare Bork, R., & Resnick, B. (2023). The state of the US public health workforce: Ongoing challenges and future directions. Annual Review of Public Health, 44, 323-341. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-071421-032830
Reading the NURS 6730 Week 4 instructions
Workforce prompts in Week 4 usually ask you to assess an agency's current workforce, identify gaps and risks, and propose strategies for recruitment, retention, training and succession. Plans commonly run four to six pages and rely on tables. Begin with risk: which departures would stop essential work, and how long would each vacancy last in your labor market? Assess competencies against a recognized framework and a tier, so gaps are specific. Propose retention measures the agency can actually approve, and mark the ones that need a governing body's decision. Assign succession by name of role, not by hope. National workforce data can frame the problem, but the plan should rest on the agency's own positions and constraints.
How the NURS 6730 Week 4 example is put together
A short opening explains why the plan starts from risk rather than a chart. Table 1, the risk register, rates each position on three scales, and single-incumbent roles rise to the top, among them the epidemiologist, the bilingual nurse and the sanitarian licensed for septic review. A section explains how each rating was made from records the district already holds. The gap assessment applies the Council on Linkages tiers and draws on Bogaert and colleagues and Leider and colleagues for national workforce context. Retention measures follow, each with its approver. A succession table pairs every critical role with a backup and a training step, and the plan closes with three decisions it asks of the board.
NURS 6730 Week 4 rubric: what earns full marks
Workforce plans are usually judged on realism. A risk register that rates refill time against the local labor market earns the analysis share, since it shows judgment about the actual market. Competency frameworks score well when tied to a tier and used to locate gaps, not recited. Feasibility is often weighted heavily: every retention measure should name who can approve it, and measures that depend on unfunded raises lose credit. Succession planning earns the remaining share through named backups and training steps. APA use, professional tables and clear prose round out the grid. Some sections also reward alignment with accreditation expectations for a workforce development plan, so mention that link if your prompt raises it.
NURS 6730 Week 4 help: mistakes that cost marks
Workforce plans frequently lose marks by listing training topics without any analysis of risk, which leaves the reader unsure which vacancy would hurt most. Another loss comes from recommending higher pay as the whole solution when the writer has no authority over salaries. Some plans cite national shortage statistics and never return to the agency itself. Others name succession as a goal without assigning anyone. Rate positions by departure risk and refill time, locate competency gaps by tier, limit retention to levers you control and assign backups by role. If you want a plan for the agency your course uses, send its structure to the desk. Keep staff anonymous and describe roles, not people.
Get a NURS 6730 Week 4 example written to your instructions
For the Week 4 plan, forward the prompt and rubric along with what you know about the workforce in question, even a rough list of roles and vacancies. Levers get sorted by who can approve them, and nothing in the plan counts on a hire that cannot be made. Expect it in 24-48 hours, with the first one free.
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NURS 6730 Week 4 questions, answered
What are the Council on Linkages Core Competencies?
A consensus set of skills for the public health workforce, organized into domains and written at three tiers, from front-line staff through program managers to senior leaders. The tiers serve here to locate gaps rather than to recite the domains. If your course assigns public health nursing competencies instead, the custom plan assesses gaps against those while keeping the same tiered logic.
Why not recommend higher pay to fix retention?
Because the district's board and counties control pay, and a plan that depends on a raise nobody has funded is closer to hope than to planning. The example marks pay parity as a board decision and builds its measures around levers the health officer already holds. If your prompt places you with budget authority, a custom version can include compensation, argued against the budget it would draw from.
Does the plan have to follow accreditation requirements?
Only if your prompt says so. PHAB accreditation expects a documented workforce development plan, and the example's structure would suit that expectation in spirit without claiming to meet any specific measure. Where your section supplies a template, the custom plan adopts its structure and states which requirement each part answers.
Where can I find a free NURS 6730 Week 4 sample paper?
The full workforce plan, risk register, gap assessment, retention measures and succession table, is on this page free of charge. A plan for the agency your prompt names can be requested.
Which positions top the NURS 6730 Week 4 risk register?
Single-incumbent roles whose loss would stop work at once: the only epidemiologist, the lone bilingual nurse and the sanitarian licensed to review septic systems.