KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES FOR COMMUNITY-HEALTH NURSING PRACTICE - THE PERCEPTIONS OF COMMUNITY NURSES, ADMINISTRATORS AND EDUCATORS

Nursing in Canada is committed to preparing all new graduates at the b accalaureate level for entry to nursing practice by the year 2000. Thi s goal has major implications for community health nursing education a nd practice. Health care reform is also expected to move care out of t he hospital and into the community. It was against this backdrop that the researchers mounted a study on the educational preparation needed for graduates to begin to practice community health nursing. In this p aper, the knowledge, professional and personal skills, and experiences that graduates need to begin community practice are reported. The stu dy was carried out within an action-research framework. All major grou ps of stakeholders involved in community health nursing throughout the study province were involved in the project. This included nurses and administrators from two public health agencies (provincial and munici pal), home care nurses, home health nurses (i.e. non-governmental visi ting nurses), community health centres, provincial health care and nur sing consultants, and faculty from two universities. In addition to th e generation of relevant research findings for use by the educational institutions, the study was initiated to set the stage for future and ongoing interactions between the researchers and community experts to implement the findings from the project, Data were collected from 118 participants by means of 27 focus groups of community nurses, administ rators and educators. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and a nalysed using latent content analysis and constant comparison techniqu es. Findings indicated that qualified nurses from university programme s need a wide range of knowledge, skills and experiences to begin to p ractice community health nursing. Detailed accounts of these requireme nts are outlined and the implications for practice and education put f orward.