Marilyn G. King, DNSc and Elizabeth A. Erkel, PhD, RN. College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina, 99 Jonathan Lucas Street, PO Box 250160, Charleston, SC 29425, (843)792-9237, kingmg@musc.edu

At the Medical University of South Carolina, all coursework for the RN-to-BSN completion program is now offered online. NURSU-409: Population Focused Nursing is one of three required clinical courses for the RN students. To facilitate appropriate experiences for students enrolled in this course, faculty began the work of developing partnerships with the Area Health Education Consortium (AHEC) student coordinators and local health departments in rural and urban areas of the state during the summer prior to the fall class. The goal was to provide practicum experiences in the students’ home communities. The purpose of this presentation is to share lessons learned in developing and implementing this partnership. What worked well and what changes were needed? The presentation will focus on this question as it relates to the experiences of students, PHN preceptors, AHEC student coordinators, and faculty. Evaluation data indicate two broad issues to improve the partnership. These are clear lines of communication and development of clear and specific guidelines for student and preceptor expectations. Implementation of changes to enhance the partnership will be shared.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the process of building community-campus partnerships to enhance educational opportunities for undergraduate RN to BSN students.
• Articulate 2 lessons learned from the experience of one program that has implemented on-line education.
• Analyze the implications of the lessons learned with regard to future efforts to create community-campus partnerships.

Keywords: Nursing Education, Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.