Contemporary Curriculum Design And Development

Contemporary Curriculum Design And Development
Course Description

A. Course Overview

Community health nursing is a holistic approach to patient care whereby interventions aim at promoting the health of individuals, families, and groups. This course provides a platform for learners to acquire and develop skills in community health nursing with the utilization of the nursing process. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the community by studying the fundamentals of community health nursing, health promotion, population health, disease prevention, interprofessional collaboration, and health education across the lifespan. Basing its roots on the essentials of baccalaureate education for nursing practice, the course will inform students on aspects of patient-centered care, critical thinking, decision making, evidence-based practice use, respect for culture, professionalism in nursing, and interprofessional collaboration for health promotion (American Association of Colleges of Nursing(AACN), 2008). Upon completion of the course, the students will appreciate the importance of community health nursing and the role of nurses in managing population health in today’s complex healthcare system.

B. Title of module	The Fundamentals of Community Health Nursing
C. Course Objectives	Upon completion of the course, the learner should be able to: 1) Identify the unique roles of nurses in the community. 2) Develop appreciation for the impact of historical and theoretical concepts that form the foundation of community health nursing. 3) Utilize nursing knowledge to provide effective interventions while caring for populations, families and groups.
D. Student learning outcomes	Upon completion of the module, students should be able to: 1) Explain the preventive, promotive and curative roles of nurses in the community. 2) Describe the relationship between community health and public health.
E. Content overview	This module is all about the fundamentals of community health nursing focusing on the history of community health and the role of nurses in the community. The students will learn about the history of community health, how community and public health relate and the ethics that apply to healthcare delivery at the community level. The module also provides students with knowledge on healthcare policy and the relationship between healthcare delivery at the national, state, local, and the community level. While analyzing the history and foundations of nursing, the topic will explain in detail the various roles of community health nurses meeting the first student learning outcome. Throughout the module, students will connect how public health formed the foundation to community health allowing them to identify similarities and differences between the two divisions.
F. Learning resources	Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2014). Community/Public Health Nursing-E-Book: Promoting the Health of Populations. Elsevier Health Sciences.
G. Scenario based learning activity	Overview: Nursing provides several avenues of specialization and community health nursing is one of those avenues. Community health nurses work to ensure the health of populations, families, and groups as opposed to individual patient care observed in many institutions. Therefore, community health nursing is an integral part of the modern healthcare system and it should be taken seriously. Scenario: Recently, there was a motion in your institution about scrapping off the community health nursing course for BSN programs. The newly joined first-year students who have not learned about community health nursing are in support of the motion with an argument that degree nurses cannot work in the community. You have been selected to briefly enlighten these students on the importance of community health, why the BSN programs are best suited for the course, and what it takes to be a community health nurse. As you prepare for the presentation, ensure to describe the following: I. What do community health nurses do? II. What skills do community health nurses need? III. The American Public Health Association (APHA) considers a bachelor’s degree as an entry-level education needed for public health nurses. Explain your support for this. Post your response in the online discussion board and be sure to reply to at least one response from your peers.

B: Title of module

Population Health and Disease Prevention

C. Course objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

1) Perform thorough community assessment based on its understanding through utilization of available resources.

2) Identify the needs of a community and design projects to meet the identified needs.

3) Integrate evidence-based strategies to care for individuals, families and populations in a variety of community health settings.

D. Student

learning

outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

1. Identify common communicable diseases in the community and their management.

2. Describe community needs assessment and the role of interprofessional collaboration in meeting population health concerns.

E. Content overview

The population health and disease prevention topic introduces students to common communicable diseases and how they can be prevented. The students will be introduced to diseases like TB, cholera, tetanus, Hepatitis A, influenza, ebola, and HIV/AIDS. Additionally, the module will discuss sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and common health concerns of adolescents. Upon understanding the common diseases in the community, the module will discuss community health assessment and the use of tools such as a windshield survey to identify resources available to manage diseases. The students will learn various strategies such as community mobilization and community social action together with multidisciplinary collaboration and their use in promoting population health.

F. Learning

resources

Public Health Centers for Excellence. (2015, April 7). Community Health Assessment Process: Six Common Phases

. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKNHzb-ww-M

G. Scenario

based learning activity

Overview: More emphasis is being put on healthier communities as the healthcare industry transforms. As discussed earlier, one of the primary roles of a community nurse is to assess the health of communities to determine its status and resources available to achieve health. Through systematic and comprehensive data collection, health assessment identifies key health concerns in the community using various tools such as the windshield survey. In this task, you will engage in a community health simulation to gather information about a virtual community. While taking a bus trip or walk around the city, you will observe and gather information about potential health issues and risks within the community.

The link to the virtual community for the study is available in the community assessment section of the course outline. Additionally, download the demographic assessment and windshield survey tools available in the attachment section. Complete the downloaded tools and use the information to address the following questions

1) Identify two health problems for the virtual city as observed during the windshield survey.

2) Identify and elaborate on the available community resources to address the problems identified above.

3) How can community health nurses in the virtual community work collaboratively to solve the identified health risks?

B: Title of module	Special Populations and Disaster Nursing
C. Course objectives	After completing the course, the student will be able to: 1. Identify and discuss the unique needs of vulnerable populations in the community. 2. Apply knowledge gained to mobilize and strengthen community action against identified health priorities. 3. Describe how nurses collaborate with individuals, groups and authorities to manage diseases and disaster in the community.
D. Student learning outcomes	After completing the module, the student should: 1) Discuss the health needs of vulnerable groups in the community including children and the elderly. 2) Explain the role of a community health nurse in each phase of the disaster management process.
E. Content overview	Within the populations in our communities, some groups run a disproportionately greater risk of poor health than others. These populations have some characteristics that increase their vulnerability. This module identifies groups at risk including children, the elderly, migrants, the homeless, prisoner populations, and the uninsured. The students will be able to learn characteristics that predispose these populations to poor health and the services available for vulnerable groups. Additionally, the module highlights the nursing considerations for vulnerable populations including advocacy, primary and secondary prevention, and partnership with groups. The last aspect touches on disaster management with an emphasis on the phases of disaster management and the role of the nurse in each phase of the cycle. The topic on vulnerable populations connects with the student learning outcome one which requires discussion of various needs of vulnerable groups in the community.
F. Learning resources	Clark, M. J. (2008). Community Health Nursing: Advocacy for Population Health. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
G. Scenario based learning activity	Overview: There are approximately 1.6 million people who are homeless in a given year in the United States. The growing shortage of affordable housing, an increase in poverty levels and a decline in public assistance are among the few causes of homelessness. While homelessness is not a permanent issue, affected individuals are at greater risk of diseases and mental illnesses. Community health nurses have the responsibility to assess and plan for the management of vulnerable populations. In this task, you will identify one or two homeless individuals in your community. While observing the behavior and health risks of the individual, gather information on the causes of homelessness and potential health risks for the identified individual. In the online discussion forum, post your findings while addressing the following 1. How can you define homelessness and what makes the population vulnerable? 2. What were the reasons for homelessness for the identified individual/individuals? 3. Discuss three characteristics of homelessness that were observed in the identified individual/individuals? 4. How can community health nurses work to assist this special group?

Course-Related Information

Learning Environment
Learning environments have a huge impact on a student’s acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies. Active learning environments ensure the engagement of students in meaning learning activities and interactions that activate higher levels of thinking (Davis, 2017). Module one of the course discusses the fundamentals of community health nursing including historical perspectives, relationship with public health, and the role of nurses in the community. By using the identified learning resource, students will gain more insight into the preventive, promotive, and curative roles of nurses in the community. Secondly, the student’s learning activity provided will enable the development of critical thinking and decision making skills as they grow to be professional nurses. Upon completion of the module, the students will be able to practice with communities, populations, and groups which is part of the baccalaureate generalist nursing practice competency.

The second module of the course focuses on population health, disease prevention, and how nurses can utilize the nursing process to prevent illness. Using the provided learning resource, students will gain knowledge of the community assessment process and the role of nurses in preventing common communicable diseases in the community. The students will actively engage in a community assessment of a virtual community using the windshield survey. This activity will enable students to acquire assessment, decision making, and interpersonal skills as they interact with community members. Upon completion of the module, the students will meet clinical prevention and population health competency as well as interprofessional communication and collaboration (AACN, 2008). It will enable the students to work with other professional teams to promote health while acquiring effective communication skills.

Community health nurses deal with different population groups including those at risk as discussed in the third-course module. Using the course textbook provided, the students will gain knowledge on categories of special populations in the community, factors that put the groups at risk, and resources available to cater to their needs. While interacting with the learning resource and engaging in the identified learning activity, the students will acquire effective communication, collaboration, and assessment skills. Additionally, the student will gain cultural competency skills through interaction with different populations to identify their health concerns. Completion of the course will see the students acquire clinical prevention and population health competencies as well as a scholarship for evidence-based practice. The student will also be able to work with other teams to make decisions that can impact healthcare policy to address special population groups in the community.

Learning Theory

Learning is a process that brings together personal and environmental experiences while influencing the acquisition or modification of skills, values attitudes, and behavior (Tharayil et al., 2018). Various learning theories are available to explain this process and the community health nursing course portrays the use of constructivism learning theory. This theory suggests that learners are not passive recipients of information but rather construct their knowledge through interaction with the environment (Gunduz & Hursen, 2015). The learners in this theory are viewed as sense makers who record and interpret information. During learning, the instructor uses the learner-centered approach where the teacher is observed to be a guide to the learner rather than a knowledge transmitter.

One of the student learning outcomes in module 2 of the course is to describe community needs assessment and the role of interprofessional collaboration in meeting population health concerns. In this outcome, the instructor will provide basic information about community assessment and various health concerns of populations. The students are further required to use this knowledge to conduct a learning activity that involves the use of a windshield survey to identify actual health problems of a virtual community. This activity allows for social interaction and utilization of past knowledge to inform on new ideas as described in the constructivism learning theory. The constructivism theory applies to an online learning environment because of their promotion of social interaction. The students engage in online discussions and give a response to their peers based on learned knowledge. Additionally, the instructor can provide online material for reference which allows students to understand on their own.

Learning Resource Justification

The fundamentals of the community health nursing course utilize a course textbook as the learning resource. This material is best suited for students because it provides detailed information on factors that are precursors to poor health in the community. The book emphasizes community aspects in all steps of the nursing process and provides a detailed history of nursing and its relationship with public health (Nies & McEwen, 2014). Additionally, the book contains key terms, objectives, and chapter outlines to introduce important community concepts to the students. The second module utilizes an online video presented by the Public Health Centers for Excellence explaining steps for community health assessment. This material is part of the flipped classroom learning strategy that gives students an opportunity to learn individually to promote active learning. The third module uses a book as a learning resource. The population and community health nursing book emphasizes the application of community health nursing as it relates to specific populations (Clark, 2008). Unit IV of the book will provide detailed information about special population groups and resources available to address their health concerns.

Scenario-Based Learning Activity

The selected scenario-based learning activity is from module 2 of the course which deals with population health and disease prevention. In the student’s activity, I present links to a virtual community where students are supposed to conduct a windshield survey to identify the health concerns of the community. The activity is more engaging because it requires the students to navigate through the community and observe through a window available resources that can be used to manage an identified health problem. The activity enhances learning because it helps students to ask questions that affect populations. It allows students to appreciate complex determinants, roles of team partners, and community strengths and capacities (Thomas, 2017). The students will be able to develop different skills including communication, decision making, interprofessional collaboration, and reflective skills upon completion of the module. The scenario will promote reflective practice for students because they will be required to write a narrative paper on their findings and discuss identified health problems in an online discussion platform. Students will be able to reflect on community resources available for addressing population health concerns, and the role of nurses and other professional teams in improving the health of the community.

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Retrieved from

http://www.aacnnursing.org/portals/42/publications/baccessentials08.pdf

Clark, M. J. (2008). Community Health Nursing: Advocacy for Population Health. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Davis, K. (2017). Curriculum Development and Faculty Perceptions of an RN to BSN Program Development at a Community College. Wilmington University (Delaware).

Gunduz, N., & Hursen, C. (2015). Constructivism in teaching and learning: Content analysis evaluation. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 191(392), 526-533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.640

Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2014). Community/Public Health Nursing-E-Book: Promoting the Health of Populations. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Public Health Centers for Excellence. (2015, April 7). Community Health Assessment Process: Six Common Phases

. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKNHzb-ww-M

Tharayil, S., Borrego, M., Prince, M., Nguyen, K. A., Shekhar, P., Finelli, C. J., & Waters, C. (2018). Strategies to mitigate student resistance to active learning. International Journal of STEM Education, 5(1), 7. DOI: 10.1186/s40594-018-0102-y

Thomas, E. C. (2017). Teaching RN-BSN students community health using an immersive virtual environment. International Journal on Innovations in Online Education, 1(1). doi: 10.1615/intjinnovonlineedu.2016015326

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