Community Health Nursing Education Research Articles

Understanding the Current State of Community Health Nursing Education in Canada: An Exploration of the Erosion and Devaluation of Community Health Theoretical and Practice Education in Canadian Nursing Programs

Understanding the Current State of Community Health Nursing Education in Canada: An Exploration of the Erosion and Devaluation of Community Health Theoretical and Practice Education in Canadian Nursing Programs

Community Health Nursing Education in Austria-The Need for Competences in Planning, Management and Collaboration: A Problem-Centered Qualitative Study.

(1) Background: The Austrian health care system is extremely fragmented. Primary care is mainly provided by self-employed GPs. Other health professionals are rarely integrated into primary care. But, according to the political plans of the Austrian government, a system of community nurses and community health nurses should be implemented and several pilot projects have already been started. (2) Objective: The present study explores the skills and competences needed in the planning, management and collaboration for the change in the system and gives recommendations for community health nurse education in Austria. (3) Methodology: Fifteen qualitative, problem-centered interviews were conducted with experts in the field of community health nursing and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. (4) Results: The skills and competences often and widely mentioned are interprofessional collaboration, cooperation with other actors, systems thinking, project and change management, and basic management skills, including strategic planning, communication, accounting and finance. Areas such as health planning and lobbying are also highlighted. The main competences are broken down into subcompetences, making it possible to create a detailed competence grid. Competences in planning, management and collaboration are particularly important in the initial stages of the first implementation of a community health nursing system. (5) Conclusions: Skills and competences in these areas occupy a central position. A multilayered breakdown of these competences is required in order to create a targeted requirements profile. Due to the small-scale fragmentation of the Austrian health care system, collaboration and coordination are more difficult and costly, but all the more important. The aforementioned skills and competences represent an essential expansion of nursing education in Austria.

Addressing Cultural Competency and Primary Palliative Care Needs in Community Health Nursing Education.

To meet the primary palliative care needs of older adults, especially the underserved and those of color, a qualitative descriptive study was conducted among nursing students (n = 34) in community health nursing whose clinical rotations included independent living facilities for low-income populations. Two themes were identified that influence student nurse confidence and self-efficacy in initiating conversations with seriously ill clients and assessing their primary palliative care needs: (1) emotional assessment skills and cultural competency and (2) an assessment guide to primary palliative care needs that provides structure and guidance to conduct such conversations. Two major categories were identified that influence student nurse confidence and self-efficacy in initiating conversations with seriously ill clients: (1) educational needs and desired experience and (2) cultural impact. Two major categories were identified that facilitated the assessment of primary palliative care needs: (1) a guide that provided structure and guidance in initiating and conducting conversations about serious illness and (2) insight into the primary palliative care needs of clients in the community.

A Sisyphean task: Developing and revising public health nursing competencies.

BackgroundCompetencies are intended to enhance the public health workforce's skills. Competencies used to evaluate public health nursing (PHN) practice and education have been promoted by several nursing organizations. Having multiple sets of competencies raises questions about redundancies and their usefulness in evaluating PHN, as well as the central question about the value of the competencies themselves.MethodsA literature review of psychometric evaluation research of the competencies was performed. Qualitative content analyses were conducted of seven documents: Association of Community Health Nursing Educators’, 2000 and 2010 essentials; Quad Council Coalition's 2004, 2011, and 2018 competencies; and the American Nurses Association's, 2013 and the 2021 draft of PHN scope and standards of practice with respect to competency definition, conceptual basis, and use of an established taxonomy.ResultsNo psychometric evaluations of the competency sets were found. Textual content analysis revealed inconsistent and or missing competency definitions and theoretical frameworks with competencies proliferating over time. Taxonomy analysis identified minimal competencies at higher complexity levels according to Bloom's revised taxonomy.ConclusionsAnalyzed competencies lack reliability and validity testing, making assessment difficult for PHN educators and practitioners. Multiple and competing competencies further erode PHN's visibility, even among public health nurses. With unending revisions of PHN competencies and lack of supporting evidence regarding their effect and their integration into education or practice, recommendations for future efforts are offered.

Interprofessional education and collaboration in public health: a multidisciplinary health professions IPE project

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an interprofessional education (IPE) intervention on undergraduate health professions students’ current interprofessional awareness and understanding, and intent to interprofessionally collaborate. This mixed methods study (N = 50) consisted of undergraduate community health nursing (n = 42) and health education (n = 8) students at a Midwestern, urban, public university. Undergraduate health professions students were invited to the IPE event co-hosted by the researchers. The session began with introductions, after which students completed a consent form and then watched a series of six brief videos, which were created by the researchers, illustrating how various disciplines collaborate in a public health department. The videos were followed by discussion, after which participants were divided into groups and given one of two case studies to work on, followed by large group discussion, after which participants completed the evaluation. Quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS); qualitative data underwent thematic analysis. The results showed that the majority of participants felt that their interprofessional awareness, understanding, and intent to collaborate increased. The findings also revealed what they learned, misconceptions they had about the disciplines that were clarified, and what they felt was most helpful. This research provides support for the effectiveness of a brief, collaborative IPE intervention in increasing health professions students’ interprofessional awareness, understanding, and intent to interprofessionally collaborate.

Association of Community Health Nursing Educators 2020 Research Priorities and Research in Action Model

The Association of Community/Public Health Nurse Educators (ACHNE) Research Priorities Subcommittee presents a report on the state of the science of public health nursing education. Whittemore and Knafl's (Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2005, 52, 546) five-step integrative review was used. Fifty-two articles were reviewed. Braun et al's. (Handbook of research methods in health social sciences, 2019, 843) thematic analysis methods were used. Four themes emerged: (a) Community/Public Health Nursing Education and teaching strategies/modalities; (b) Clinical teaching and learning partnerships; (c) Environmental health and emergency response; and, (d) Cultural competence and awareness. Themes informed the following research priorities: (a) a need for rigorous scientific studies highlighting the impact and effectiveness of Community/Public Health Nursing Education; (b) a need for evidence on faculty development, support and training related to community/public health activities; (c) a need for evidence on impact of Community/Public Health Nursing teaching on communities and students, and (d) a need for evidence on impact of C/PHNE strategies on long-term student knowledge, attitudes or behavior (competencies). Finally, a Research in Action Model is proposed as a means for continued forward movement of the discipline, connecting the three fundamental driving mechanisms.

Association of Community Health Nursing Educators', 2020 evidence-based project priorities: A national blueprint for unifying research and evidence-based practice priorities.

The Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) Research Committee Subcommittee on Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) presents a paper on the state of translation of science into public health nursing education practice. The paper builds from the integrative research review completed by the ACHNE Research Priorities Subcommittee (McElroy et al., Public Health Nursing, 2020) offering updated research priorities and a Research in Action model. Four EBP Project Priorities were established using the Johns Hopkins EBP Model guided by Dang and Dearholt's (Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice: Model and guidelines, 2018) 19-step process. The EBP Project Priorities emphasize the need for EBP projects to align ACHNE strategic plans and research priorities. The authors recommend that the Research in Action model guide deliberate unification of both the Research and EBP Project Priorities. Standards and criteria for essential effort unifying collaborative effort between PhD and Doctorate in Nursing Practice scholars, coordination of research efforts, and innovative practice partnerships is provided.

Interprofessional Collaboration in Public Health.

Public health departments exemplify interprofessional collaboration. Nursing and public health education students are required to complete practicum hours or an internship respectively in community health, yet placements at health departments are limited and competitive. This study evaluated the effects of an interprofessional education intervention on community health nursing and health education students' current interprofessional awareness and understanding, and intent to collaborate interprofessionally. Results showed that the majority of participants felt that their interprofessional awareness, understanding, and intent to collaborate increased. This intervention helped bring an example of the health department experience to students and demonstrate its interprofessional nature.

Conceptual framework of the nursing centre for the integration of community health nursing practice, education, and research.

To develop a conceptual framework that can be used for the integration of community health nursing (CHN) practice, education, and research within a Nursing Centre (NC) model. New forms of training and support are needed to equip nurses to manage the complex and costly challenges facing health care systems. The NC model provides scope to address these challenges by integrating nursing practice, education, and research. However, there is little information about how these constructs are integrated or how education is constituted within the model. This study used an embedded single case study design across three Nursing Centres (NCs) in West Java Indonesia. Semi-structured interviews and a review of relevant documents were conducted. Interview participants were recruited purposively to select stakeholders with rich information, including clients, nurses, nursing students and lecturers who have been using the NC model, as well as the head of the co-located Community Health Centres. Data was analysed using thematic analysis, pattern matching and cross-unit synthesis. Four components relevant to integration in the NC were identified, namely (1) client-centred care as the shared common ground for integration in the NC; (2) nursing education using a service learning approach; (3) the NC as a model for reviving CHN services; and (4) service improvement through research and community service activities. The service learning approach was identified as appropriate because it links services with the learning process and this serves to address the interests of both practice and education institutions. The conceptual framework identified in this study can be used to improve the functionality of NCs in Indonesia and be considered for use internationally.

An Innovative Exchange Model for Global and Community Health Nursing Education

Understanding different cultures is important in the education of nursing students who will become the health care workforce of our future interdependent and globalized societies. International practicum courses help students and nurses understand different cultures. This article describes an innovative approach to nursing education and understanding diverse cultures, in the context of a hybrid course (online course coupled with face-to-face practicum experiences), which enrolled nursing students from opposite hemispheres.

Using International Videoconferencing to Extend the Global Reach of Community Health Nursing Education.

Travel abroad provides college students with a unique learning experience. When plans to take undergraduate community health nursing students from the United States to Haiti were cancelled due to health and safety concerns, faculty piloted international videoconferencing with a nursing program in Haiti as an alternative. During this semester-long course, students in both countries assessed a local community using the Community as Partner framework and compared findings during videoconferences with their international peers. Despite communication challenges such as language barriers and limited internet access in Haiti, evaluative data suggests that all students valued learning with their nursing student peers in another country. For future international videoconferencing endeavors, especially with under-resourced communities, we provide recommendations in the following categories: 1) Building relationships with a partner school, 2) Technology, 3) Pedagogy, and 4) Facilitating interactions between students.

The Nursing Centre as a Collaborative Approach to Integrate Community Health Service and Nursing Education in Indonesia

The Nursing Centre as a Collaborative Approach to Integrate Community Health Service and Nursing Education in Indonesia

Nursing student perceptions of a community-based home visit experienced by a role-play simulation.

doi: 10.5480/12-932.1Faculty teaching community health nursing are challenged by increas- ing student enrollments, faculty shortages, and diminishing availabil- ity of clinical sites, as well as student safety and security while in the community. These challenges are fueling the exploration of simulation as a viable option for providing community-based education within a safe environment.The study purpose was to describe perceptions of pre-licensure nursing students about the design and effectiveness of a communi- ty-based home visit simulation. The aims of the study were twofold: 1) to evaluate the design and effectiveness of a role-play simulation of a home visit experience as a teaching tool, and 2) to examine how nurs- ing students perceive the learning opportunities from a community home visit simulation.LIterAture revIeWThe nursing literature reflects persistent difficulties faced by faculty in their efforts to establish community health clinical placements and clinical supervision. In a survey of nurse faculty whose expertise was community-based education, Frank, Adams, Edelstein, Speakman, and Shelton (2005) found that with educational experiences taking place in a multitude of different community settings, it was difficult for faculty to provide consistency in the types of clinical experiences. Lack of quality clinical sites also contributes to the challenge of facili- tating these learning experiences (McNelis & Ironside, 2009). The use of role-play simulation provides an option to address these issues.Since nursing first introduced the use of simulation in education, studies have focused on using simulations for learning high-technical skills, acute care interventions, and critical decision-making. It is only recently that studies examining the use of simulation for community health nursing (CHN) education have appeared in the literature. Role- play, standardized clients, interactive gaming, and the use of high-fi- delity patient simulators are all documented as effective teaching strategies for nursing students in CHN (Hogan, Kapralos, Cristancho, Finney, & Dubrowski, 2011; Unsworth, Tuffnell, & Platt, 2011; Yeager & Gotwals, 2010).methodThis descriptive mixed-method study used both quantitative and qual- itative methods for data collection. A convenience sample (N = 144) of traditional baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in two schools of nursing in the Midwest participated in the study. The Jeffries Simulation Model (Jeffries, 2005) provided the foundational frame- work for this study.Procedure and Description of SimulationClinical groups of 8 to 10 students participated in a standard home visit simulation. The simulation was developed by CHN faculty from multiple schools of nursing in collaboration with three community health nurse experts. Learning objectives included application of the nursing process to initiate care of the family in the home setting, and demonstration of therapeutic communication in the care of the client and family.The scenario was set in a living room and kitchen of a family with limited English language proficiency. Various props, such as portable electric heaters, cigarettes, unlabeled medication bottles, and assorted vermin artifacts, were purposefully used to establish unsafe living con- ditions. Students assumed roles (actors) of family members or nurses or served as observers. Actors were given a script with detailed required behaviors and cues to exhibit.A semistructured debriefing protocol, which included a set of 11 standard questions based on Jeffries' model (2005) and concepts from Billings and Halstead (2009), allowed for further probing. Data were collected by the primary researcher immediately following debriefing. Only students who volunteered and signed an informed consent par- ticipated in the study, and confidentiality of participants was main- tained. Approval for the study was obtained from each university insti- tutional review board involved in the study. …

The Quad Council Practice Competencies for Public Health Nursing

This article describes the most recent efforts by the Quad Council of Public Health Nursing organizations to review and revise the competencies for PHN practice, and highlights the implications of these competencies for practice, education, and research. The Quad Council is a coalition of four nursing organizations with a focus on public health nursing and includes the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators; the Association of Public Health Nursing (known prior to July 1, 2012 as the Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing); the Public Health Nursing section of the American Public Health Association; and the Council on Economics and Practice of the American Nurses' Association. The Quad Council competencies are based on the Council on Linkages competencies for public health professionals and were designed to ensure that public health nursing fits in the domain of public health science and practice.

Promoting Colorectal Cancer Awareness in Undergraduate Community Health Nursing Education: A Community–Academic Collaboration

An innovative collaborative partnership between bachelor of science nursing (BSN) students and local public schools was developed in response to a call for increasing awareness of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in Michigan's underserved populations; through this partnership, community health nursing students provide health education for middle- and high-school aged students who became colon health ambassadors and delivered important messages about the importance of colorectal cancer screenings for their significant others age 50 and older. At the completion, the program reached approximately 1,800 school-age students and their family members. The program provides nursing students with unique service-learning experience while improving their theoretical knowledge and clinical skills in health disparities and community health nursing. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and implementation of this community-academic collaboration and discuss the evaluation of educational outcomes as community health nursing experience.

Community health nursing: essential education elements

Community health nursing has undergone significant reform over recent decades in response to ongoing advances in medical technology and increasing national living standards. Taiwan's nursing manpower projections indicate a strong and growing demand for nurses working in primary and tertiary settings. Can our nurses address social trends and face the new challenges of the 21st century? The baccalaureate nursing degree is the minimum preparation for entry-level professionals working in community health nursing in most advanced countries. Significant improvements are necessary in this degree track to improve the quality and quantity of community health nurses. This article introduces the Essentials of Baccalaureate Nursing Education for Entry Level Community / Public Health Nursing proposed by the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE). It is hoped that nursing schools and community health nurses responsible for professional training in Taiwan will reference the ACHNE proposal and develop appropriate domestic curricula that will form an effective professional development consensus and further advance community care.

Intraprofessional Practice Education Using a Community Partnership Model

The Intraprofessional Practice Education (IPE) pilot project was designed to increase the number of high-quality practice education settings and to develop intraprofessional learning opportunities for nursing students from three different prelicensure programs. Students from the licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, and registered psychiatric nurse programs shared their practice education experience concurrently in a rural First Nations community. This project's framework, the Partnership Model for Community Health Nursing Education (PMCHNE), is described and includes an explanation of the planning and coordination that occurred prior to implementation of the pilot project. Various student practice education and cultural experiences are highlighted, and the results from the project's evaluation are discussed, including the utility of the PMCHNE and the benefits and challenges associated with implementing an IPE experience.

Bringing Community Health Nursing Education to Life with Serious Games

The ever changing needs of society have created a much needed shift in health care delivery from that of hospital to community. However, the role and process of community health nursing is foreign to most nursing students as the majority of nursing curricula continue to relate experiences and examples of nursing to the more familiar role of “nurse clinician.” In contrast to undergraduate nursing programs where the use of simulation and technology has been widely adopted to emphasize the role of the nurse clinician, the use of such technology hasn’t been widely used to address the learning needs of community health nursing students. Here, we present a descriptive paper on the development of an interactive, virtual learning environment (serious game) for acquisition of community health nursing skills. The serious game primarily presents a learner-centered, experiential learning and problem-based learning approach, addressing the learning needs of today’s students.

Special Features: Education: Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Preceptored Community Health Clinical Experiences

Preceptored community experiences present challenges different from those of preceptored experiences in the acute care setting. Instead of focusing on psychomotor skills, faculty must address population-based skills and assess students' abilities to practice these skills. Faculty and preceptors' lack of knowledge to teach these skills further complicate the experiences, an issue indirectly related to faculty and nursing shortages. Although preceptors guide students, faculty are responsible for evaluating students in community preceptored experiences. The Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) Essentials of Baccalaureate Education (Essentials) offers opportunities for guiding and evaluating community health preceptored clinical experiences. Assignments and activities that reflect the ACHNE Essentials provide a firm foundation for the population focus of the course. This focus is validated through faculty visits to students in a variety of community settings. To plan successful community experiences and evaluate students, faculty must be knowledgeable about the population focus of community courses, apply this knowledge to students in a variety of settings, and ask challenging questions to assess student learning.

Essentials of Baccalaureate Nursing Education for Entry-Level Community/Public Health Nursing

Community/public health nursing (C/PHN) educators and practitioners need a framework from which to plan, implement, and evaluate curriculum and community-based practice. The Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) periodically updates the Essentials of Baccalaureate Nursing Education for Entry Level Community/Public Health Nursing to reflect changes in core knowledge, basic competencies, and practice. This update reflects relevance to 21st-century health care and to national trends influencing nursing education. The 2009 revision is based on critical analysis of key C/PHN literature and input from public health nursing educators and practitioners. A key assumption is that a baccalaureate nursing degree is the minimum requirement for professional C/PHN. Fifteen essential concepts for baccalaureate nursing education are delineated along with related competencies. Newly defined essentials include communication, social justice, and emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. Issues related to didactic and clinical experiences are addressed. The ACHNE Essentials is an important guide for baccalaureate education curriculum planning and evaluation. The Essentials may be useful as a baseline from which to develop competencies of graduate nursing programs. The document is also useful for guiding practice setting orientation and professional development.