Inspiring the future PHN workforce: Assessing undergraduate nursing students Introduction to PHN

Previous research identified a need for improvements in undergraduate public health nursing education including more “hands on” clinical experience, and increased hours in official public health agencies. This project was initiated to describe the extent and type student nurse participation in population based public health nursing field experiences and interest in future work in public health across multiple schools of nursing (n=18) within one state over a three year period. The study was approved by IRB. Undergraduate students completing their community/public health nursing didactic and clinical courses were invited to participate in an online survey. Students were recruited through information provided to instructors. The anonymous surveys were conducted each semester for a total of 6 semesters, from fall 2008 to spring 2010. The survey consisted of three questions: the name of the nursing school they attended, the setting of their population based public health field experience, and their interest level towards working in public health nursing measured on a Likert-type scale. Survey results will be presented including trends related to student interest in work in public health nursing, exposure to public health settings, number and types of clinical sites accessed during field experiences, and variations in results by school of nursing characteristics including regional differences, public or private, and on-line versus traditional program settings. This research may inform efforts to strengthen population based field experiences in nursing curricula and inspire students to seek public health careers.