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Enhancing the Environmental Health Content in Community Health Nursing

Enhancing the Environmental Health Content in Community Health Nursing. Sharon Burt, RN, PHN, DNSc Nancy Sweeney, RN, PHN, DNSc.

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Enhancing the Environmental Health Content in Community Health Nursing

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  1. Enhancing the Environmental Health Content in Community Health Nursing Sharon Burt, RN, PHN, DNSc Nancy Sweeney, RN, PHN, DNSc

  2. This project was funded by a grant from the Association of Schools of Public Health under a cooperative agreement with the Health Resources and Services AdministrationGrant #H094-04104

  3. Description of SDSU’s Nursing Program • Part of the College of Health and Human Services along with the Graduate School of Public Health • Community Health Nursing is a 6 unit course offered every semester to about 50 traditional and RN to BS students. • Content in that course is carefully planned to meet the requirements for PHN certification. • The course is comprised of 3 hours of lecture and 9 hours of clinical each week. Clinical is in groups of 10 students to 1 faculty member.

  4. Traditional Community Health Nursing Course • Content heavy in public health nursing with additional information about occupational health nursing, home health nursing, school nursing and epidemiology. • Written assignments included a Family Analysis, a Community Assessment with presentation to the class, and a Teaching Project.

  5. SDSU Proposal Included: • Environmental content to be incorporated in the Community Health Nursing class • Increased lecture content regarding environmental issues • Clinical experience in environmental health area • Environmental health risk appraisal form developed to be includedin family analysis

  6. Project Objectives for the Grant • Public Health and Nursing faculty revise the course to include substantial environmental health content including an understanding of the statutory mandates of environmental health agencies. • The course is revised to include environmental health field experiences for all nursing students. • Nursing faculty knowledge of environmental health is enhanced.

  7. Achieving the Objectives • Nursing faculty member enrolls in a graduate level environmental health course. • Nursing faculty revise the course content with assistance from the Public Health Faculty. • More modules are added to the course thus necessitating some of the former live class sessions to be converted to online modules.

  8. Achieving the Objectives • Public health faculty make initial contacts with environmental health professionals throughout the County seeking field placements. • Nursing faculty plan and implement the placing of 54 nursing students in environmental health field placements. • Nursing faculty author the Environmental Health Risk Appraisal Instrument which is then included in the Family Analysis assignment.

  9. Achieving the Objectives • Nursing faculty alter the Community Assessment to enhance environmental health concerns. • The Community Assessment assignment is converted from a term paper format to a poster presentation. • Evaluation data about the E.H. field placements is collected from students and environmental health preceptors.

  10. The Details…. • Blackboard software was used to create a web site for the course. Course materials placed there. • Class schedule included a “map” of content to be presented live versus content to be learned from the Blackboard modules. • Many external links for data collection provided. • This year more external links were provided to environmental health web sites.

  11. The Details…. Class content we added: • An overview of Environmental Health • Statutory mandates of E.H. • Laws pertaining to E.H. and their evolution • Content on air pollution, etc. • Guest speakers so that students could meet faculty and staff from the other discipline

  12. Details of the New Instrument Environmental Health Risk Appraisal: • Gave life to the genogram assignment • Conveyed the concept of genetic predisposition • Demonstrated applicability of E.H. issues across the spectrum of nursing practice. • Enhanced student observational skills. • Made environmental health concerns real in student lives. • Significantly enriched the Family Analysis.

  13. Details of the E.H. Field Placements • Difficult to arrange for vast numbers • E.H. professionals tend to be in the public sector and terribly underfunded. They have tiny offices thus fitting few students. • E.H. professionals eager to educate new nurses about their discipline. • E.H. professionals eager to lecture in class

  14. More Details for Field Placements Look for placements at the big agencies first: • EPA, FDA, Air & Water Quality Control • County Environmental Health • E.H. professionals at your college and other local institutions • Private companies doing inspections

  15. Class surveys regarding Environmental Health

  16. Recommendations • Add E.H. content to all Community Health Nursing courses. • Make E.H. CEUs available to practicing RNs • Permanent strong relationships among SONs, Schools of Public Health, and E.H. professionals

  17. For more information: • Dr. Sharon Burt: sburt@mail.sdsu.edu • Dr. Nancy Sweeney: nsweeney@mail.sdsu.edu

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