Community as learning opportunity for nursing students: The Lavàl Project of Val Chiusella

Abstract

The new competencies required for Family and Community Nurses (FFCN) involve the ability to make a community diagnosis. To describe the steps in designing an innovative internship for university students (nurses, anthropologists, educators, sociologists etc.). After involving the municipalities, associations and local community networks, the students were asked to enter the community, keep a diary of what they had done and observed, and the nursing students were asked to produce a report based on the synthesis of the diaries, in which they would highlight the specific features, strengths, weaknessess and potentials for development of the observed community. As of 31 March 2022, 50 nursing students and 6 FFCN Master's students had thier practical training in addition to anthropology, sociology, geology an occupational therapist students. By 30 September 2022, 20 nursing students, 10 Master's and Master's degree students, are expected. 96 hours of interviews were carried out with local residents, meetings were held with 30 Associations and 40 events, meetings and assemblies, 12 meetings for Walking Groups, Adapted Physical Activity and Pilates, 70 hours of direct observation in the five pharmacies and 100 hours of debriefing, supervision and multidisciplinary discussion to rework and systematise the information acquired were conducted. An innovative experience of training in making community diagnosia and projects for solutions for a community is feasible. However, both the organisational and local concertation prerequisites are necessary to make these experiences possible.