School: A Clinical Placement for Community Health Nursing

Abstract

Community health nursing courses in baccalaureate nursing programs generally focus on the broad scope of community health nursing practice as defined by the American Nurses' Association. Demographic changes and changes in federal funding of health care and reimbursement practices have resulted in a decreased number of clinical practice sites that can provide nursing students with the broad range of community health nursing experiences compatible with the ANA's definition. Instituting a school health screening and health promotion program can reduce the discontinuity between community health nursing theory and the students' clinical experiences. The School of Nursing, University of Kansas, has developed a school health screening and health promotion program to provide a comprehensive setting for clinical practice and service to parochial schools in low-income urban areas. The authors here describe this program.