N419 Clinical III:
Community Health Nursing Program
Karen Solheim, Ph.D., R.N.
Course Professor
Fall 2008
(The Clinical Site Schedule
is PDF format – Therefore, this link requires Adobe Acrobat
to open.
You can get Acrobat for free by going to www.adobe.com)
Welcome
Welcome to N419, the Community Health Nursing Clinical. In the coming semester, we look forward to assisting you in fulfilling the objectives for this course and in facilitating the continuing development of your nursing expertise.
Focus of N419
You will notice that N419 is different from previous clinical experiences in several ways. Though you will care for individuals, families, and communities, community health nurses consistently focus on the health of the aggregate/population. Community health nurses focus on health promotion (in all aspects of life: physical, mental, social, spiritual, and environmental) and protection (workplace, community, and environmental safety), and disease prevention (primary, secondary, and tertiary). As a community health student nurse, you will be providing services to clients in the community. For example you may see clients through a county health department, in their homes, at school, or in other sites designed to meet the needs of specific clients. You will also be conducting a site-specific community assessment to better understand you’re the community in which you are working. You will have a preceptor at your community health site that will provide support for you to meet the course objectives and who will be evaluating your progress. We are fortunate to have a wide variety of clinical sites, ranging from schools to community-based care programs for people with mental illness, in Dane and several other surrounding counties.
This 4-credit, graded course builds on the principles and content introduced in your previous clinicals: the nursing process from assessment to intervention and evaluation; critical thinking; psychomotore skills, and clinical judgment. Yet your knowledge and skills will be expanded by applying nursing knowledge and skills unique to community health nursing. For example, you may be a part of screening a particular population for health issues (vision and hearing in school children) or work with a community coalition toward a common health goal (immunization coalition) or participate in community health education through a health fair. The emphasis in N419 is on (1) increasing your nursing knowledge and (2) integrating this knowledge into the nursing care of clients and aggregates within the community. The integration of knowledge with practice is intended to lead to a more holistic approach to health care and illness management, enabling you to provide nursing care in increasingly complex situations outside of the institution. Previous coursework has prepared you for this next step in the learning process and will serve as the foundation upon which you will build expertise in addressing both new situations and new populations.
Specifics of N419
As a four credit clinical course, 419 involves 180 hours of clinical/class time. Your main clinical assignment accounts for 120 hours. For your main clinical assignment you will select either a Tuesday or Thursday clinical session (a few of the sites have clinicals half days on both Tues and Thurs). Directions for applying for a site are below. Students are expected to be at clinical every session throughout the entire semester. Be sure to arrange your schedule accordingly. Travel time to the site is not part of the clinical time. An additional 40 hours of clinical time is self-directed. You will be using part of the 40 hours for course assignments. In addition you may use the time for extra sessions at your clinical site and/or participate in service learning type activities. These different ways of using the self-directed time (the 40 hours) will be explained in the first weeks of class. All students will also participate in discussion sections on specific Friday mornings during the semester. This accounts for last 20 hours of the required time.
Since N419 requires travel to and from an agency, as well as to and from homes, schools, and other sites, you will need a car for your clinical day each week during the semester. Even if your clinical is in Madison, you will need a car because home visits can be in another part of the city.
You will not need to wear a uniform as each agency has its own dress code. You are expected to look professional and follow the dress code of the agency in which you are assigned. You will need your name badge and a stethoscope. Please contact me if I can answer specific questions as you rank your sites. I look forward to working with you in N419!
Course Orientation
Please call your preceptor the week before your orientation at the site to confirm your orientation place, date, time, and dress code. Thank you.
ON CAMPUS CLINICAL ORIENTATION will be on Tuesday, September 2 from 9:30 – 10:30 in HSLC 1306 for the Tuesday clinical group; and Thursday September 4th for the Thursday clinical group from 9:30-10:30 in HSLC 1306.
For most students ON SITE ORIENTATION will be the same day as the campus orientation. For the site orientations you may car pool with other students assigned to that site, as no home visits will be made. Please wear clothes to the AM orientation that will be appropriate for wearing to the agency.
The first COURSE SEMINAR takes place from 8:20 to 11:20 on September 5th in HSCL 1345.
Ranking Process
You must complete all of the following steps in order to be enrolled
for N419:
You were instructed to go ahead and enroll in N419 when you were eligible to enroll in your Fall 2008 courses. At that time,
you will not enroll for a specific clinical site. The following instructions
describe the ranking process, to select your N419 site.
- The ranking process will take place on-line via Learn@UW.
This means that the clinical ranking information and the priority
ranking form that you need to complete will be available to you
anywhere at anytime beginning Monday, April 7 through April
14.
- Once you have logged into Learn@UW,
you will see a box labeled My Madison Courses,
in that box, click open the show box labeled ONGOING. A link labeled N419 Clinical Site
Ranking Information - Fall 2008 will be displayed. Click
on that link and it will take you to the information regarding
the ranking process and the ranking form.
- Carefully read all the instructions regarding the ranking process
located on the Learn@UW web site.
- Students must submit their completed form
no later than Monday, April 14, 2008. If you have not
submitted your completed form by April 14, you will be assigned
to whatever clinical sites remain open after the ranking process
is completed. Your clinical site assignment will be posted on
Learn@UW sometime in April. An email notification will be sent as
soon as assignments are posted.
- If you have course-related questions, please contact the N419
course professor, Karen Solheim, course professor; K6/352, 263-5176
(office), or kdsolheim@wisc.edu (email).
- If you need assistance with the ranking process, please contact
Deb Hopke at dbhopke@wisc.edu,
or call 608-263-9109.
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