Educational preparation for public health nursing practice of RN students returning to school for a baccalaureate degree

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of faculty and RN students about the extent to which competencies and content areas identified as essential for beginning public health nursing practice are included in the curriculum for RN students returning to school for a baccalaureate degree. A survey was conducted of three groups: faculty who taught community health nursing to RN students in baccalaureate programs in North Carolina (NC); RN students who graduated in May, 1991 from a baccalaureate nursing program in NC; and generic students who graduated from a baccalaureate nursing program in NC in May, 1991. Eleven of the 14 baccalaureate nursing programs in NC participated in the study. The researcher-developed instrument included a set of 130 competency statements adopted by the North Carolina Association of Public Health Nurses Administrators and 17 content areas identified in a national study conducted by the Division of Nursing, United States Public Health Service. The independent variable had three levels: faculty, RN students, and generic students. The dependent variable consisted of the 130 competency statements and 17 content areas.;Faculty perceived that they were teaching in the community health component of the curriculum 36.2% (n = 47) of the competencies and 70.6% (n = 12) of the content areas. RN students perceived that they were taught 31.5% (n = 41) of the competencies and 47.1% (n = 8) of the content areas in community health. There was less agreement over competencies and content areas included elsewhere in the baccalaureate curriculum or in the basic nursing education program. More than 50% of RN students identified 30.8% (n = 40) of the competencies as being included in their basic nursing education program. More than 50% of faculty agreed on only 11.5% (n = 15) of the competencies as being included in the basic program. Using Chi square, only eight of the differences between faculty and RN students were significant.;More than 50% of all three groups identified 24 competencies and 7 content areas as being included in the community health component. These items may represent a common core of the community health component as it exists in baccalaureate nursing programs in North Carolina.