Core Curriculum for Master's‐Level Community Health Nursing Education: A Comparison of the Views of Leaders in Service and Education

Abstract

This study identified core components of the curriculum for master's-level community health nurses (CHNs) and assessed whether leaders in service agreed with leaders in education on the importance of these components. Through a mailed survey, 588 leaders in CHN service and education identified the following as the most important to include in the core CHN curriculum: a practicum experience; epidemiology; community health assessment and diagnosis; administration and management, including public health administration, management theory, program planning and evaluation, financial management and budgeting, and quality assurance; research methods and biostatistics; health promotion and disease prevention; intervention at the aggregate level; and leadership theory. These leaders also indicated that skills in both administration and direct care are essential for CHN practice. While there was remarkable agreement between service and education leaders in many areas, notable disagreements were seen in the importance accorded administrative skills. Service leaders rated these skills much more highly than did leaders in education.

Integrating Informatics into the Graduate Community Health Nursing Curriculum

“…Rutger's Community Health Nursing Advisory Committee, composed of nursing leaders from a variety of service agencies, identified the need to integrate nursing informatics as it relates to community health program development, management, and evaluation. This direction was confirmed by national studies of the essential content of graduate programs in community/public health nursing (Anderson, 1989;Selby, Riportella-Muller, Quade, Legault, & Salmon, 1990). Review of the nursing informatics literature guided faculty in organizing content to provide students with an understanding of the interrelationships among data, information, and knowledge (Arnold & Bauer, 1985).…”

Toward Redefining Public Health Nursing in Canada: Challenges for Education

“…Discrepancies exist between contemporary nursing theories and public health theories. Thus, nurse educators are challenged to assist students to apply only the relevant content of models and theories to public health nursing practice (Hanchett & Clarke, 1988;Rogers, 1984;Selby et al, 1990).…”

“…velop programs to assist students and practicing public health nurses to acquire new knowledge and skills and effectively implement new roles and functions (Black et al, 1989;Kerner, 1985;Zink, 1989). Collaborative team work between education and practice will provide the cornerstone on which mechanisms for continued professional development may be built (Selby et al, 1990). The merging of these two forces will strengthen both education and practice, and sensitize public health nursing students and practitioners to the needs of the profession.…”

Clinical Specialist in Community Health Nursing: Advanced Practice Fit or Misfit?

“…Titling of the examination as both public and community health was used so that nurses would recognize the examination as their specialty. The original content areas of the certification examination closely approximated the essential content areas identified in the authoritative documents at that time, for example, epidemiology, biostatistics, community assessment and diagnosis, nursing theory, management theory, and research (American Nurses Association, Council of Community Health Nurses, 1986;Consensus Conference, 1985;Selby et al, 1990). The committee that developed the first certification examination was chaired by the author who was appointed to represent the Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association.…”