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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

M. Susan Grinslade, PhD, APRN, BC, Dept. of Chronic Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Mail Code 7950, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr., San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, 210-567-5839, grinslade@uthscsa.edu, Linda Hook, RN, MSHP, San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Nursing Program Manager, 332 W. Commerce #303, San Antonio, TX 78205, Michelle M. Marshall, MSN, MPH, RN, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Clinical Instructor, Department of Chronic Nursing Care, School of Nursing, M/C 7950, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr., San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, and Linda M. Kaufman, MSN, RN, CS, Environmental Health & Wellness Center, San Antonio Metroplitan Health District, 911 Castroville Rd., San Antonio, TX 78237.

Community partnerships are essential to public health nursing education. In the State of Texas, it is estimated that 2% or fewer registered nurses are employed in either state or city/county health departments. And, similar to other RN workforce populations, the average age in 2000 for nurses employed in public/community health was 45.2. However, the most alarming statistic is that 55% of the RN workforce in the State of Texas employed in public/community health is prepared at the diploma or associate degree level. The Institute of Medicine (2002) recommended to prepare a public health system workforce academia needs to create “integrated learning opportunities for students in public health” (IOM, p. 6). To meet this recommendation and to prepare a baccalaureate RN workforce to practice in the public health system, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) School of Nursing community health nursing faculty has created a partnership with San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (SAMHD) to develop and pilot a public health nursing preceptorship for senior level nursing students. The preceptorship has been developed to provide students with a relevant and meaningful clinical experience in population focused health practice within a city/county health department. Working together, the faculty and nurses from SAMHD are: 1) developing a preceptor manual to guide clinical experiences for the preceptor and student, 2) selecting specific clinical experiences to provide the student an opportunity to practice population focused health care, 3) developing evaluation tools to evaluate the program process and outcome, and 4) have created a logic model to guide program implementation. Institutional grant funding to support the project is pending. Components integrated into the project which are important to the success of the preceptor program is inclusion of extrinsic rewards for the preceptor. These rewards will include tuition waiver for the preceptors' dependent children at Texas Universities (SB 1232) and a CE voucher system for nurse preceptors who don't have college age dependent children. Together the partnership members hope to prepare graduates who have a “real world” public health clinical experience and are more willing to entertain employment in the public health system.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe partnership activities to improve public health nursing education.
• Articulate the steps in developing a public health nursing student preceptor program.
• Compare and contrast the benefits and barriers to the preceptor program for both partners.

Keywords: Nursing Education, Public Health Nursing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered