Quest for a Healthy City: Partnership with a Stakeholder Consortium to build DNP PHN Core Competencies

PROBLEM: PHN Core Competencies describe domains and performance measures for graduate public health nurses (PHN). Distance learning and a lack of graduate PHN preceptors presents challenges to locating quality complex clinical student experiences. DNP PHN students are expected to complete clinical hours and faculties are expected to perform service hours. Community agencies are challenged to implement evidence based outcomes, but they lack finances and staff. Partnerships between academic institutions and community agencies can minimize the challenges that each face and meet each other's needs. PROJECT: A community agency director and board member proposed a PHN DNP student project to assess the stakeholders current perception of health in their community. The project included a review of the literature, pilot survey review (previously completed), development/implementation of a larger evidenced-based survey of the organization's stakeholders. DNP PHN students met with the organization's director and board member where a strategy to expand the survey to identify perceptions about the health of the community was developed. The literature review informed “healthy cities” criteria and students expanded the survey to reflect the evidence and case studies. The survey was reviewed by the director who suggested an additional question, which was incorporated. The students built the electronic survey, received and analyzed the raw data, and created a 52-page report, a presentation, an executive summary and an expanded evidence-based survey. RESULTS: The expanded survey identified criteria for healthy cities, provided specific information about perceptions of stakeholders, and identified a gap between stakeholders and the community that resulted in a sample expansion recommendation. The collaboration provided additional workers to implement, analyze, and report the results of the survey and helped the agency's administration plan future goals. It provided complex clinical hours and laid foundation for additional activities and interventions by future PHN DNP students. CONCLUSION: Partnerships between academic institutions and community agencies can minimize the challenges that each face and meet each other's needs. The project met all domains and many performance measures in the PHN Core Competencies and the agency is planning the distribution of the full report to the agency's Board of Directors for further action.