Paper
Friday, July 13, 2007
Using evidence: Best practices for preparing undergraduate students for community nursing
Barbara J. Olinzock, RN, EdD, School of Nursing, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA
The purpose of this session is to present key strategies that have been identified as essential for initiating and sustaining a homebase practice for preparing undergraduate nursing students for community nursing. Having institutional support, an empowered faculty, a solid integrated community-based curriculum, and willing community partners have all been overwhelmingly identified as critical factors in the evolution of the UNF Community Homebase Model. A faculty well versed in collaborative skills and consensus building is considered to at the heart of homebase practice. The role of community health faculty,as co-leaders mentoring and working directly along side of faulty transitioning from acute care settings to community work, is credited as a unique and invaluable part of homebase curriculum practice. Establishing a community-based curriculum team (CBCT) has proven an effective forum for group problem-solving, trouble-shooting, and the working through of logistical debacles. Involving community partners as co-educators has also been identified as a key strategy. Professional development activities, faculty-partner retreats, faculty–partner luncheons, and formal recognition of community service-learning projects are a few examples of strategies that have proven to be successful in building relationships and cultivating long-term community partnerships. Examples of practices that have proven successful in facilitating student engagement include on-going orientation, faculty and community partner support, and continuity of student homebase assignment over time. The contributions of homebase service-learning teams are well documented from its inception and the Community Homebase model is offered as a best practice for preparing nurses to participate in community-based care.