With grant funding from HRSA, the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Nursing collaborated with rural public health nurses (PHNs) to prepare undergraduate students for careers in rural public health nursing. The goal of the project was to build a future public health nursing workforce prepared to implement the core public health functions in rural settings. Expert rural public health nurses were identified from selected counties to serve as preceptors. A total of 16 students were assigned to one of four rural Colorado public health nursing services during two six-week clinical blocks. Each student completed 120 clinical hours, an increase of 24 hours over the basic course requirements. The collaborative educational model included content review and online participation by the expert rural preceptors. This presentation will describe the implementation, evaluation, and outcomes of the project. Provocative findings include students’ growing awareness of immigration into rural areas, creating hidden pockets of poverty. Students also recognized that rural public health agencies do have the benefit of multidisciplinary teams characteristic of effective, well-staffed urban agencies. They also identified the challenge of identifying and preventing social problems—such as drug abuse and risky sexual practices—in the rural environment. Beyond these challenges, student evaluation data highlighted a satisfaction with the experience and respect for the nurse’s role in health policy development. Overall, students were able to identify and describe the core public health functions as implemented in rural settings. Some students anticipate pursuing new career goals as a result of this experience.
Learning Objectives: 1. Construct a collaborative educational model of online instruction and clinical experiences in core public health functions with expert rural public health nurses. 2. Evaluate student learning in core public health functions as implemented in rural public health nursing agencies.
Keywords: Public Health Nursing, Rural Health Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.