Undergraduate community assessment incorporating Omaha System community-level descriptors

Purpose: To develop student fluency in standardized terminology at the community level. Background: The Omaha System, a standardized nursing vocabulary, is used in public health for individual-level assessments, and increasingly for community-level assessments. By incorporating community-level descriptors into clinical assessments, both the students and the hosting Public Health department increase knowledge and familiarity of this tool at the community and systems level. Method: We included Omaha System community-level descriptors in an undergraduate community assessment assignment based on the Community Assessment Instrument for Baccalaureate Learners (CAIBL). To incorporate the Omaha System, students were asked to restate the community's identified “opportunities for improvement” using the Omaha System Problem Classification Scheme prior to developing an intervention plan. In preparation for this assignment, students completed an Omaha System on-line learning module that included a community-level case study and three individual-level case studies. Results: Students were successful in completing the on-line community-level case study independently. Students completed the adapted CAIBL assignment in 5 communities in the Twin Cities metro area in fall 2006. Problems identified included communicating with community resources (13), neighborhood/workplace safety (7), income (5), health care supervision (2), residence (2), spirituality (2), interpersonal relationships, nutrition, and substance use. The assessments identified priority areas for each community and served as a basis for the students to develop interventions. Conclusion: Adding Omaha System descriptors to the CAIBL project offers an opportunity to standardize student community assessments. It reinforces learning from the on-line Omaha System learning activity and encourages students to apply it in practice. The future public health nursing workforce can experience using standardized terminology in describing community assessments, the first step towards measuring community-level outcomes.