Recorded presentation

Kathleen A Baldwin, PhD, RN¹, Michele Issel, PhD², Veronica M. Aberle, MSN, RN³, Wanda Aberle, MS, RN³, Advancing Public Health Nursing Education Project¹, and Illinois Public Health Nursing Roundtable³. (1) University of Illinois at Chicago, Peoria Campus, Advancing Public Health Nursing Education Project, College of Nursing, One Illinois Drive, Peoria, IL 61656-1649, 309-671-8467, kbaldwin@uic.edu, (2) School of Public Health/Division of Community Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Rm 619, Chicago, IL 60612, (3) Nursing, Peoria City/County Health Department, 2116 N. Sheridan Road, Peoria, IL 61604-3492

As we look to the future, the Illinois public health nursing eduction-practice partnership has recently committed ourselves to an agenda that includes a) plans to address the nursing shortage in PHN, b) garnering evidence-based solutions to practice problems, and c) developing standardized guidelines for practicum placements and precepting experiences. The current PHN nurse shortage in Illinois is compounded by under-representation of ethnic and racial minorities and a shortage of nurse faculty. The nursing faculty shortage is likely to increase as current faculty members retire in the next 10 years. Our plans to address the PHN nursing shortage have been funded recently by HRSA and we are in the process of developing a mentored BSN program for both rural and urban community outreach workers and home health aides, a PHN graduate entry program for public health workers with baccalaureate degrees in fields other than nursing, and a distance-based practice doctorate in public health nursing. As we have begun to find our voice, we wish to both use and discover more evidenced-based practice PHN interventions. Therefore, we have begun education on collaborative research strategies and nominal group identification of statewide researchable questions. Finally, after coming to agreement on our PHN knowledge base, we wish to become more efficient and effective in our mutual interactions with students. Toward that end, a task force of educators and practice leaders is at work on a preceptor handbook and training for use throughout the state.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate one state’s PHN practice-education partnership plan to address the public health nursing shortage.
• Discuss a collaborative approach to identifying a state agenda for public health nursing research.
• Describe the process and results of an education-practice collaborative to develop statewide standardized preceptor guidelines and training.

Keywords: Public Health Nursing, Collaboration

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.

Recorded presentation