N419 Clinical III:
Community Health Nursing Program
Karen Solheim, Ph.D., R.N.
Course Professor
Spring 2008
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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 your previous clinicals in several ways. The focus of N419 is providing nursing care to diverse populations by focusing on aggregates as well individuals and families. Key objectives in community nursing include health promotion (physical, mental health, social and environmental), health protection (workplace safety, food and drug safety, swimming pools and beaches, restaurants), health balance (healthy interaction between body, mind, spirit and environment), and disease prevention. We are fortunate to have clinical sites in Dane and several other surrounding counties. As a community health student nurse, you will be providing services to clients in the community. For example you may see clients in 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.
This 4-credit, graded course builds on the principles and content introduced in your previous clinicals: the nursing process, critical thinking, patient assessments, psychomotor skills, and clinical judgment, but also aims to expand your skills in population-based practice at the individual, community and systems levels. 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 caseloads and 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.
Course Orientation
ORIENTATION will be on Tuesday, January 22nd from 9:30 – 10:30 in HSLC 1345 for the Tuesday clinical group and Thursday January 24th for the Thursday clinical group from 9:30-10:30 in HSLC 1345. You can clarify the address of your assigned agency/site at that time.
Most students will be going to their site on this day for orientation. For the site orientations you may car pool with other students assigned to that site, as no home visits will be made. Kindly wear clothes to the AM orientation that will be appropriate for wearing to the agency.
Ranking Process
You must complete the following steps in order to be enrolled
for N419:
As soon as you are eligible to enroll in your Spring 2008 courses,
go ahead and enroll into N419. At that time, you will be enrolling
into the Lecture, but not for a specific lab. The following instructions
describe the ranking process, to select your N419 Lab.
- 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 Friday, November 16 through Monday,
November 26.
- Once you have logged in to 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 - Spring 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, November 26, 2007. If you have
not submitted your completed form by November 26, 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 late-November, 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 Learn@UW website, please contact
Deb Hopke at dbhopke@wisc.edu,
or call 608-263-9109.
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