The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #60804

MarySue V. Heilemann, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, University of California, Los Angeles, Factor Bldg, Room 5-946, Box 956919, Los Angeles, CA 90095-6919, 310-206-4735, mheilema@sonnet.ucla.edu and Noël Bazini-Barakat, RN, MPH, Public Health Nursing Administration, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 241 North Figueroa St., Rm 347, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Many schools of nursing are placing a greater emphasis on population-focused public health nursing practice within community health nursing curricula. An Institute of Medicine report in 2002 further emphasizes the need for schools of nursing to foster an understanding of methods to improve community health through a population focus. However, little research had been done to demonstrate effective methods to increase student nurses’ competency in working with patients at the population-level rather than at the individual-level. In an effort to strengthen population-focused education for registered nurses in the baccalaureate program at UCLA, we incorporated the new Los Angeles County Public Health Nursing Practice Model into our community/public health nursing curriculum. The model emphasizes population-focused practice and integrates leading national components impacting public health nursing practice. The new curriculum emphasizes thorough population assessment, adequate objective development prior to action, and the importance of evaluating impact on health outcomes. Curriculum changes at UCLA were made in 2002 and further refined in 2003. Pretests of students’ baseline knowledge in areas such as nursing and public health, students’ interests in topics such as politics and public health, and students’ competence in population based practice were completed at the beginning of the course using a developed questionnaire. Matched posttests were given to the students at the completion of the 10-week quarter. The results of the study and recommended curricula changes for education of nurses or nursing students will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to:
• identify teaching-learning strategies for use with nursing students that are enhanced by a step-by-step approach to population-focused community/public health nursing practice
• describe the role of students' interests in politics and public health in relation to their subsequent ability to comprehend and value a population-focused approach to community/public health nursing
• list areas of students' baseline nursing and public health knowledge that are related to subsequent competence for operationalizing a population-focused approach to community/public health.

Keywords: Education, Public Health Nursing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.