Developing Population Health Content in a Major Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum Redesign

Background: This presentation describes the use of a constructivist approach to develop community health coursework as part of a BSN nursing program’s curricular revision at a large public university. Framed within the Social Determinants of Health, a primary goal was to prepare students for practice in the changing healthcare environment by infusing population health concepts throughout the curriculum.

Description: The new courses focused on the healthcare delivery system and the impact on population-level outcomes.  In the initial year, students engaged in group learning activities including a campus initiative promoting bystander intervention to reduce health risks and an after school obesity prevention program.  In the subsequent year, students had clinical experiences still in groups but in more independent settings, such as a homeless day shelter and the local YMCA for cardiac rehabilitation. The senior year clinical learning experiences are more autonomous in specialized settings, such as home health care, hospice home care & occupational health.

Lessons Learned: Preliminary review of the first 2 years of students’ community health journals suggests that students felt empowered to reduce health risks with an increasing level of responsibility and autonomy. Scheduling and making clinical guidelines clear enough for beginning students to practice in more autonomous settings presented significant challenges.

Implications/recommendations:  Increasing levels of complexity helped students gain a comprehensive view of the nurse’s role beyond the acute care setting.