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Sue Randall and Tonia Crawford describe a programme in Sydney, Australia, that helps to recruit and retain community health nursing students.
Many countries, including Britain and Australia, face an increasing incidence of chronic conditions (WHO, 2017). In line with other governments, including the UK's, successive Australian governments have placed increasing emphasis on primary healthcare (PHC) approaches that prioritise illness prevention and health promotion, typically based in community settings (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014; Department of Health, 2012).
Despite this emphasis, there has been a tendency for undergraduate nursing programmes in both Australia and the UK to focus on the education needs of the acute care sector, with patchy preparation for nurses working in PHC, illness prevention and health promotion (Ali et al, 2012; Keleher et al, 2010). This consequently impacts on the recruitment of registered nurses into the community setting.
The retention of nurses in PHC is also a pressing issue in both countries. In the UK, more nurses and midwives are leaving the register than joining it (NMC, 2017), and in Australia, high exit rates and low numbers of entrants mean the largest shortfall of nurses in 2030 will be in the PHC sector (Health Workforce Australia, 2014).
PREPARING FOR PRACTICE
Given the increasing focus on PHC, Day et al (2014) argue that it is important for university programmes to adequately prepare nursing students for practice in community settings, and to have a sound understanding of PHC principles. However, as Woods (2010) points out, there are many challenges in aligning PHC principles to practice, ensuring students are able to synthesise and apply these principles to community nursing practice when they have a tendency to focus on and prioritise psychomotor skills relevant to the acute care setting.
Addressing these issues and preparing undergraduate nurses for a career in PHC may, in turn, help with retaining staff in PHC settings. This article describes an assessment process in an undergraduate nursing programme in Australia that aims to engage and prepare students for practice in community settings, giving learning experiences that are authentic and relevant to community health.
BACKGROUND
PHC is based on a social model of health and is...