BREAKING GROUND - COMBINING COMMUNITY-SERVICE, CRITICAL THINKING, ANDWRITING IN A MENTAL-HEALTH CLINICAL COURSE

This article describes the experience of a team of nursing educators w ho, over the course of 2 years, redesigned the delivery of an undergra duate nursing clinical course to reflect the changing face of mental h ealth care near the turn of this century, Case studies of student lear ning experiences show the value of nontraditional clinical settings su ch as homeless shelters to the professional growth and training of nur sing students, Recommendations offer practical advice for combining no ntraditional community-based clinical experiences with critical thinki ng exercises as key components of the mental health clinical course de livery. Copyright (C) 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company.