 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Mary H. Mundt, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, University of Louisville, 555 S. Floyd Street, Louisville, KY 40292, 502-852-8300, mhmund01@louisville.edu and Charles J. Mundt, MA, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Louisville, 555 S. Floyd Street, Louisville, KY 40292.
The Kentucky Department of Public Health initiated a strategic educational training program to transition the public health workforce to a population-based practice. A series of courses were incorporated into a “Transition Training” program and delivered across the state during 2000-2001. Public health nurses constitute the largest proportion of the workforce and were a primary target for the training. An educational needs assessment was conducted prior to the training and an outcomes evaluation following completion of the training.
In this study, 1104 public health nurses were surveyed to determine a) their participation in “Transition Training,” b) perception of change as a result of “Transition Training” for themselves, peers, supervisors, and the workplace, c) knowledge of community/public health content including core functions and essential services, and d) perception of barriers to implementation of “Transition Training” in local health departments. Responses were received from 533 (48.3%) public health nurses geographically distributed across all regions of the state.
Analysis of the findings show a high level of participation in the core courses of “Transition Training.” The mean scores on public health knowledge and participation in essential public health services were lower than the baseline survey. However, there were significant gains in knowledge of public health, experience with essential services, and perception of change as a result of “Transition Training” by the number of core courses completed. Barriers to implementation of “Transition Training” were identified and categorized.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Public Health Nursing, Education
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.