Abstract
The White paper from the AACN on practice experiences in post licensure nursing programs states Nursing faces new and different challenges and there is a need to strengthen nursing for provide high quality care. Practice experiences in Community health online RN to BSN programs support and create critical learning. In a post licensure community health course, faculty designed 2 experiential assignments introducing the student to community assessment and health teaching with vulnerable populations.
Community assessment provides the basis and rationale for clinical interventions in community health nursing. Assessing and developing a plan of care for an aggregate is an essential part of providing that the practice of Community/Public health nursing ( Anderson & McFarlane, 2019). The 2021AACN Essentials identify population health as a specific competence domain.
An online community health course created 2 practice experience for students to address and manage population health for a specific community. The experience addresses course and program outcomes to apply public health nursing competencies. The first assignment is a group project to complete a community assessment of a specific geographical are and provide a plan of care based on the findings of the assessment. Based on the findings of the community assessment the group will (a) determine the vulnerable population (b) using secondary data and windshields survey examine the population-based health needs of the identified vulnerable population, to include available health care services within the geographical area; (c) develop a nursing care plan for two of the priority community needs.
The second assignment is a teaching project focused on a vulnerable population. The purpose of the experience is to demonstrate knowledge and skill in planning, implementing, and evaluating a community education presentation. This is an opportunity to apply public health nursing competencies in the delivery of essential public health services and to identify and assist in solving health problems in communities. The student selects a target population for their health teaching. Steps of the project include (a) developing a teaching plan containing measurable outcomes and objectives. (b) identifying obstacles for teaching the specific group, (c) describe teaching strategies to for implementation; and (d) evaluate education program providing an over as well as strengths, challenge and how to improve the health teaching.
Notes
References:
Anderson, E. T., & McFarlane, J. M. (2010). Community as partner: Theory and practice in nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). The Essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. Accessible online at
https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2021.pdf
Campbell, L. A., Harmon, M. J., Joyce, B. L., & Little, S. H. (2020). Quad Council Coalition community/public health nursing competencies: Building consensus through collaboration. Public Health Nursing, 37(1), 96-112.. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.12666
Pullis, B. C., & Hekel, B. E. (2021). Adapting a community health nursing course to an online format. Public Health Nursing, 38(3), 439-444. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.12868
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2017). Foundations of Nursing in the Community:
Community-Oriented Practice (5th Ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby (ISBN 978-0-323-10094-6)
Sigma Membership
Nu Omega
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Public and Community Health, Curriculum Development, Teaching and Learning Strategies, Clinical Practice, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Competence, RN to BSN Program
Recommended Citation
Isibel, Denise, "Creating Practice Experiences in Online RN-BSN Community Health Class" (2025). Biennial Convention (CONV). 65.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/convention/2025/posters_2025/65
Conference Name
48th Biennial Convention
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2025-12-05
Creating Practice Experiences in Online RN-BSN Community Health Class
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
The White paper from the AACN on practice experiences in post licensure nursing programs states Nursing faces new and different challenges and there is a need to strengthen nursing for provide high quality care. Practice experiences in Community health online RN to BSN programs support and create critical learning. In a post licensure community health course, faculty designed 2 experiential assignments introducing the student to community assessment and health teaching with vulnerable populations.
Community assessment provides the basis and rationale for clinical interventions in community health nursing. Assessing and developing a plan of care for an aggregate is an essential part of providing that the practice of Community/Public health nursing ( Anderson & McFarlane, 2019). The 2021AACN Essentials identify population health as a specific competence domain.
An online community health course created 2 practice experience for students to address and manage population health for a specific community. The experience addresses course and program outcomes to apply public health nursing competencies. The first assignment is a group project to complete a community assessment of a specific geographical are and provide a plan of care based on the findings of the assessment. Based on the findings of the community assessment the group will (a) determine the vulnerable population (b) using secondary data and windshields survey examine the population-based health needs of the identified vulnerable population, to include available health care services within the geographical area; (c) develop a nursing care plan for two of the priority community needs.
The second assignment is a teaching project focused on a vulnerable population. The purpose of the experience is to demonstrate knowledge and skill in planning, implementing, and evaluating a community education presentation. This is an opportunity to apply public health nursing competencies in the delivery of essential public health services and to identify and assist in solving health problems in communities. The student selects a target population for their health teaching. Steps of the project include (a) developing a teaching plan containing measurable outcomes and objectives. (b) identifying obstacles for teaching the specific group, (c) describe teaching strategies to for implementation; and (d) evaluate education program providing an over as well as strengths, challenge and how to improve the health teaching.
Description
In an online RN-BSN program, gaining practical experience to apply public health nursing competencies in the delivery of essential public health services is a critical outcome. The practice experiences provide students knowledge on the process of community assessment and health education to improve health outcomes in their own communities.