04/28/2023

Education Committee

Quinn Jacobs R.N. and Brett Kaae R.N.
Under Instructions from Mary Canales PhD
Department of Nursing
University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire

This February, the Association of Community Health Nurse Educators (ACHNE) welcomed two students -Quinn Jacobs and Brett Kaae- and their professor -Dr. Mary Canales- from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC) BSN completion program to collaborate during Spring semester 2023. The bachelor's completion program at UWEC is offered through an online format, which allows students with associate degrees in nursing to work as registered nurses while furthering their education. This online format also allows students from all over the country to collaborate and further their knowledge and skills in public and community health nursing. In this program, students are required to dedicate 90 hours over the course of the semester to their clinical projects. The UWEC students were invited to join the ACHNE Education Committee and the ACHNE-Association of Public Health Nurses (APHN) task force, to work on a project for each group. This academic-practice partnership supports the students in completing the required clinical hours for their bachelor’s program and further their knowledge and skills in public health nursing education, research, and practice. For the ACHNE Education Committee, the UWEC students were tasked with developing an assessment tool to perform a full review of the ACHNE website- members' and non-members’ pages- and to assist the ACHNE-APHN Task Force in developing a toolkit for this newly formed public health nursing academic-practice partnership.

The partnership between ACHNE and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire allows students the opportunity to critically analyze organizational and practice issues that professional public health nurses and educators experience. The students can practice nursing clinical decision-making and critical thinking through the lens of a professional public health nursing organization. Students were welcomed to participate in the education committee meetings and the task force meetings for the academic-practice partnership for public health nursing. These committee meetings were especially valuable, as the students observed and participated in decisions for how to move the projects forward as well as offering insights as student registered nurses, currently in the field, to inform the organization’s efforts.

For the website review project, the students have been given opportunities to express their preliminary observations, including the suggestion for ACHNE to add a tab to the website navigation bar to highlight the partnerships the organization has and the good work they are doing together with these partners. Another suggestion was to create opportunities via the website for ACHNE members to become mentors for newer public health nursing practitioners in the field. This public health mentoring opportunity could also be a marketing tool for the organization to promote to potential new members, who may be seeking mentoring as well as for nurses who want to become mentors. For the ACHNE-APHN Task Force project, the students are reviewing and collating data collected from the 2022 Annual Institute to identify categories for the academic-practice partnership toolkit.

These ACHNE projects provide real-world experience for BSN completion students, introduce them to the value of being part of a professional nursing organization, and instill a sense of professionalism that builds upon their education. Since the first collaborative effort happened in 2021, the relationship between ACHNE and the UWEC College of Nursing and Health Sciences has been formalized, providing ongoing opportunities for BSN completion students. Based on the students’ positive experiences, ACHNE members with BSN completion programs are encouraged to participate in this wonderful opportunity!