NPAC Functional Statements

Awards Subcommittee

Reviews issues, perspectives, and processes regarding awards for USPHS nurses in

field, agency and headquarters positions. This includes MANE, COA/COF and

Publication awards.

Facilitates and supports efforts that ensure nurses are recognized through the

awards process for their outstanding contributions and noteworthy

accomplishments;

Encourages award nominations in order to recognize the accomplishments of HHS

nurses

Facilitates the awards process of both CS and CC nurses through overall

education and training; and

Recognize the value of public acknowledgement of award presentations.

COF Awards Workgroup

Coordination, Review of Candidates and Selection of the following Awards

Lucille Woodville Award

Nurse Responder of the Year

Publications Awards Workgroup

Coordination, Review of Candidates and Selection of the following Awards

RADM Faye G. Abdellah Publication Award for Nursing Research

RADM O. Marie Henry Publication Award for Clinical Nursing Practice

RADM Julia Plotnick Publication Award for Health/Nursing Policy

Minnegerode Awards for Nursing Excellence (MANE) Workgroup

Coordination, Review of Candidates and Selection of the following Awards

McLaughlin Award for Clinical Services

Hanzel Award for Administrative Activities

Hasselmeyer Award for Research Initiatives

Petry Leone Award for Health Promotion and Education

Gregg Group Award for Teamwork

Awards Outreach Workgroup

Facilitates information to increase awareness and nominations for annual awards.

Coordinates the ordering of awards materials.

Works with the N-PAC and COA on the presentation of awards.

Special Recognition Workgroup

Facilitate the awards for N-PAC voting members and N-PAC subcommittee members

Facilitates the request and processing for Special Assignment Awards for N-PAC voting

members who are completing their terms; Certificates of Appreciation, Letters of Appreciation,

Achievement Medals, Commendation Medals, Unit Commendations, Outstanding Unit Citations

and CNO Awards for N-PAC members.

Career Development

Strengthen public health nursing practice and support public health innovations and projects

by USPHS nurse officers and their civilian counterparts through a variety of career

development outreach activities.

Identify and disseminate relevant career development information to

systematically enhance individual performance and potential.

Integrate relevant educational training for Commissioned Corps Nurses through periodic

webinars, ‘tips of the month' and career counseling at PHS events including annual USPHS

Symposium and Nurse Recognition Day, as applicable.

Maintain Career Development Mentoring Program by providing mentors to Nurse Corps

Officers who offer guidance, career development resources and support of the officer’s

professional career goals.

Maintain and enhance dynamic relevant Career Development web pages.

Spotlight DHHS Nurses.

Promotion Preparedness

Train and guide nurse officers on preparing for documenting promotion requirements.

Create and present rank panels and other promotion related webinars

Tip of the Month Workgroup

Write timely

and pertinent Tips for USPHS Nurses, related to professional activities

Continuing Education Workgroup

Identify subject matter experts to develop and present webinars with career development

resources for HHS Nurses

Nursing Spotlight Workgroup

Recognize the contributions of Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officers and Civil

Service Nurses in their diverse roles and settings.

Coordinate with CDS Webpage group for posting spotlight articles.

Mentoring Workgroup

Assign mentors to Nurse Corps Officers to provide assistance, career development resources

and support professional career goals.

Mentor Coordinator Team

oordinate mentor assignments.

Mentor Training Team

nnual interactive mentor training and recorded training session.

OL Monitoring Team

onitor AOL account for mentor requests and assign requests to a mentor coordinator.

ollect mentee initial and close out surveys.

ather data and suggest improvements for the mentoring project.

Ment

oring OBC Team

Connect every new nurse OBC graduate to the NPAC.

ttend the OBC open house.

entor Policy and Procedure Review Team

Update policies and procedures for the mentoring workgroup.

Communications Subcommittee

Manages NPAC Communications across different media

Website Workgroup

Responsible for posting content submitted by subcommittees in a timely manner to the NPAC

website

Coordinates with 508 compliance team to ensure all material posted to the NPAC website

meets current 508 regulations

Transitions webpage design to mobile-friendly format by converting "doc" file formats to

webpage "html" formats

Listserv Workgroup

Develops and maintains a format for a weekly distribution model to eliminate excessive

communications and streamline services to NPAC listserv subscribers.

Responsible for the dissemination of approved messaging from the NPAC, other NPAC

Subcommittees, as well as other sources approved by the NPAC Chair.

508 Workgroup

Responsible for the 508 compliance of all materials submitted for posting on NPAC website and

listserv (where appropriate)

Coordinates with other communications subcommittee teams and other NPAC Subcommittees

for timely posting of material

Collaborative Workgroup

Develops/coordinates/maintains content of the New Member Orientation Guide

Develops/ coordinates/maintains content of the Nurse Resource Manual

Collaborates directly with Website Workgroup Team to ensure updated manuals and guides are

posted to the N-PAC website

Readiness and Response

Disseminate information to Commissioned Corps Nurses, NPAC Leadership and Commissioned

Corps Leadership on the role, impact and preparedness of the Nurse Category (clinical related /

non-clinical related / both).

Survey officers on active and inactive deployment platforms to determine current best practices

and prepares Commissioned Corps nurses to be successful in deployment scenarios.

Assume leadership when called upon to provide advice and guidance to Commissioned Corp

Nursing leadership on matters related to deployment training and preparedness (this has

happened several times in the past year, however, it is so infrequent it would be difficult to

quantify the frequency).

Works with other subcommittees of the NPAC (along with other PACs) to share, disseminates

and ensure the most accurate and viable information is presented and not duplicated.

Communications & Outreach Workgroup

Promote basic readiness and deployment preparedness by providing information through

articles/newsletters, other projects as assigned by the Subcommittee leadership (project

dictates frequency).

Produce “non-clinical” deployment resource material (as opposed to “clinical” ) for nurse

officers. This may include the following: Importance of sleep hygiene during deployments, the

advantages of taking establishing a living will before deploying, benefits of NHDP-BC

certification (project dictates frequency).

Provide readiness information on the Sub-Committee website for Nurse Officers to refer to as

needed (project dictates frequency).

Give presentations as needed/requested on readiness topics to difference PHS Nursing groups

(i.e. NPAC, FNN, etc.)

COF Skills Team

Recruit officers to teach clinical skill stations for category day

Coordinate lesson plans for clinical skill stations

Coordinate CME for participants to include CME requirements (learning objectives, methods to

evaluate learning, etc.)

Training & Deployment Preparedness Workgroup

Research, compile, and disseminate clinically-relevant information to nurses that will benefit any

nurse during a deployment (information nurses can review in preparation for deployments such

as insulin administration, disaster preparedness, pandemics, epidemics, the nurses role in

addressing emotional, psychological, and physical symptoms for patients who have experienced

trauma etc.) (Monthly or bi-monthly).

Preparing Info Papers containing relevant clinical information regarding topics such as mass

vaccinations (project dictates time frame).

Arranging for speakers to educate our nurses on relevant clinical topics (targeted at our monthly

N-PAC meetings (this will change due to the NPAC schedule change)).

Providing presentations (clinical topics) during the N-PAC meetings (quarterly).

Research REACH Subcommittee

Stimulate collaboration to participate and communicate nursing research in the federal

sector.

Highlight and encourage participation in nursing-led research and careers in research

Provide an updated list of conferences for easy reference for nurses

Disseminate research findings that support best practice associated with health care policy,

public health advocacy, and nursing practice through list serves and PHS nursing website

quarterly.

Conduct quarterly presentations at the NPAC meetings featuring nursing research and its

use in practice.

Post nurse authored publications and presentations to NPAC website.

Presentation Workgroup

Deliver up to date and relevant presentations to our professional colleagues.

Newsletter Workgroup

Develop a bi-annual newsletter with articles that highlight the public health priorities of the

Surgeon General and/or HHS and help educate nurses on public health outreach at the

national, state and community levels.

Research Workgroup

To provide research related information to Nurses of the United States Public Health

Service (USPHS). This includes but is not limited to quarterly NPAC RESOURCE REACH

speaker, list of conferences, recent publications/thesis of USPHS Officers, and updated

list of conferences involving all areas of nursing practice.

Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee

Establishes relationships and coordinates events with educational, private, public, and

governmental organizations/associations to promote awareness of U.S. Public Health Service,

the Commissioned Corps, and USPHS nurses/nurse practitioners and provides opportunities for

recruitment of qualified applicants via presentations, attendance at career fairs, social media

presence, and other activities as deemed appropriate.

Reviews/recommends policy and advises the NPAC Chair and Chief Nurse Officer on such

matters pertinent to the recruitment, accession, and retention of U.S. Public Health Service

nurses and nurse practitioners.

Establishes and maintains cross Subcommittee, Agency, Programs (Junior and Senior Co-Step)

and PAC collaborations to assist in the achievement of respective goals/objectives and overall

U.S. Public Health Service mission and vision.

Establishes mentorship and resources for leadership positions within Subcommittee through

creation of Advisor position for Chair and Workgroup Lead positions.

Recruitment Workgroup

Establishes relationships and coordinates events with educational, private, public, and

governmental organizations/associations to promote awareness of U.S. Public Health Service,

the Commissioned Corps, and USPHS nurses and provides opportunities for recruitment of

qualified applicants via presentations, attendance at career fairs, and other activities as deemed

appropriate.

Provides personal contact for interested nurse/nurse practitioner applicants and function as

resource for the application process.

Social Media Workgroup

Establishes and maintains Facebook USPHS Nurse Website to promote awareness of U.S.

Public Health Service, the Commissioned Corps, and USPHS nurses/nurse practitioners.

Provides opportunities for recruitment of qualified applicants via social media presence and the

ability to answer potential applicants’ questions in real time.

Job Acquisition Assistance Workgroup

Assists CCHQ and nurse applicants in the Nurse Application Process.

Assisting nurse applicants acquire a position within the one year of application.

Coordinates with the Career Subcommittee’s Mentor Program for assignment of a mentor prior

to OBC.

Retention Workgroup

Collects baseline retention data.

Gather input, evaluate, track/trend when applicable, and formulate possible actions based on

data content.

Research pertinent retention issues (current and potential).

Develop retention strategies.

Community Wellness Subcommittee*

Partner with PACE and CAARE Mission to promote community engagement, through actives

that respond to and act upon community issues that produce positive outcomes. Connect

officers across all category PACs and COAs on community-based activities, which will educate,

empower, develop coping skills for community members that align with the SGs priorities.

Encourage officers to advocate for community health events that increase the medical

community’s awareness to health crisis and develop resources that make communities active

participants in decisions that impact their community health.

Coordinate, promote and recruit officers for community health.

APRN Subcommittee*

The goal of the Advanced Practice sub-committee is to advice and consultation to the

Surgeon General, through the NPAC and Chief Nurse Officer on issues specifically

related to APRN officers as providers, provide resources to RNs looking to become

APRNs, and develop basic readiness standards for APRNs to maximize their potential on

deployments and community outreach missions.

*Newly established in FY20, still formalizing functions and organizational structure