Strategies for assessing the feasibility to develop new needs-oriented services by public health nurses.

Aim: To explore the strategies that public health nurses use to assess the feasibility of creating new services.

Background: Although creating a needs-oriented service is a core competency of public health nurses, the practical approaches taken to assess the feasibility of developing new projects are unclear.

Design: Ten Japanese public health nurses were interviewed using Yin's Case Study Method.

Findings: The public health nurses employed common strategies to assess the feasibility of new projects regardless of differences in their experience and the services: 'Estimating the impact of a new project', 'Predicting the resources necessary to implement a new service and quantifying their availability', 'Looking for a promoter of the anticipated project', 'Facilitating recognition of public health nursing practice by the unit head and colleagues' and 'Understanding the intentions of the unit head and co-workers with regard to developing a new service'.

Conclusion: These identified empirical strategies facilitate the establishment of new needs-oriented projects by public health nurses.

Implications For Nursing Management: The new strategies and the model contributed to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of developing a new service by public health nurses at different levels of experience.