NRSG371 - Building Healthy Communities

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

NRSG264 Integrating Practice 3 AND NRSG267 Integrating Practice 4

Unit rationale, description and aim

To function effectively as a graduate nurse, a working knowledge of the larger context of health is essential. This unit is required by students to assist them to understand the role of the nurse in health promotion, community settings and community engagement, as well as how nurses work with other disciplines and key stakeholders.

This unit will assist students to understand that the care they provide as graduates across a variety of clinical settings is contextualized within the larger context of health. Using ACU’s community engagement principles and values, students will examine key issues in working in community settings as well as reflect on participating in community engagement. The creation of healthy communities will be examined by focusing on the role of health promotion and self–management in illness prevention. The role of the nurse in health promotion program planning and evaluation will be examined. A particular emphasis will be on how nurses work with other disciplines and key community stakeholders in partnership to promote healthy communities. Further, the changing role of health care and how the nurse might evolve to function optimally in a changing environment will also be addressed.

The aim of this unit is to assist students to function optimally as a graduate nurse in meeting diverse health and well–being needs of individuals and communities across a range of local and global settings.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

NMBA Registered Nurse Standards for Practice

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s Registered Nurse Standards for Practice developed in this unit are:

Content

Topics will include:

• Defining individuals, communities and populations
• individuals across the lifespan
• communities of place; communities of interest; rural and underserved communities
• populations – local and global
• Historical context of health promotion
• Alma Ata
• Ottawa Charter
• Sustainable Development Goals
• The Australian context of Primary Health Care (PHC)
•  Health for all
• Health for all and health in all policies
• Local and global challenges
• Healthy cities and communities
• Future directions and the changing role of health care and nursing
• Health promotion in action
• Individual, community and population development approaches
• The planning cycle – assess, design, implement, evaluate
• Community development approaches to health and healthcare
• Community participation, empowerment, engagement and cultural competence
• Partnerships, collaboration, engaging stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams
• Communication and consultation
• Community organisations and volunteer settings

CASE STUDIES

Case studies for this unit focus on the role of the nurse and the multidisciplinary team, curriculum threads, exploration of and engagement with unit content.

• 10-year-old male (lower socioeconomic): childhood obesity.
• 34-year-old female (high socioeconomic): domestic violence.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Modes of delivery in this unit include lectures, tutorials, online activies and self-directed study. Consistent with adult learning principles, the teaching and learning strategy used within these modes of delivery will provide students with foundational knowledge and skills relevant to professional nursing practice. This unit’s emphasis on community engagement requires students to scaffold this content with other content delivered across the program to analyse and reflect on approaches to, and impact of, engagement with community to improve health and prevent illness. These strategies will also support students in meeting the aim, learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit and the broader course learning outcomes. Learning and teaching strategies will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to participate actively with peers. 

Students will apply the content from this unit to reflect on their community engagement experience, which may include:

• International community engagement experience;
• Community engagement experience during this semester;
• Ongoing community engagement activity over the course of study.

Students exiting university need significant life-long learning skills to deliver sound, ongoing, evidence-based graduate practice as a member of the professional workforce. To embed life-long learning skills, students must demonstrate increasing reflective capacity to identify what is being done well and what requires additional work in progressing toward required learning outcomes. Located in the third year of the programme, this theory unit includes some face-to-face teaching hours and an increased online component of learning. Online recorded lectures are utilised to convey content and central principles while tutorials provide an opportunity to consolidate students’ understanding of content through collaboration and discussion. Tutorials deliver interactive and student-driven learning sessions to extend the community of learners, and increase their self-reliance, critical reflection and debate. Online materials provide students with the opportunity to undertake directed, self-motivated study and continue to transition to  independent study and life-long learning. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment items consistent with University assessment requirements and policy will be used to ensure students achieve the unit learning outcomes and attain the graduate attributes.

Third year sees students continue their transition towards independent learning. In this unit, there are two 50% assessment items, therefore the importance of each item is higher in terms of achievement of unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes. The 'project' assessment requires students to examine a community health issue and identify key points where changes can be made. An understanding of what is possible is required by any health care professional when approaching an issue if they are to plan for a genuine outcome. The written assignment addresses health problems as a societal issue. It requires students to integrate the role of the nurse with the building of healthy communities in order to meet the demands of a shift in care delivery and to expose students to the reality that the nursing practice environment reaches beyond the health care facility toward a broader context. Skills necessary for graduate practice include an understanding that the role of a nurse can extend beyond the health care facility and into the wider community.

These assessments are required to build student knowledge and skills which, by the conclusion of this program, will enable the student to graduate as a safe and effective nurse. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

This reference list was finalised in 2021 for internal curriculum approval; it will be revised prior to unit delivery to ensure the most current representative text and reference list for students.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2020). Australia’s health 2020. Australia’s health series no.17. Cat. no. AUS 231. AIHW https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/be95235d-fd4d-4824-9ade-34b7491dd66f/aihw-aus-231.pdf?v=20230605163144&inline=true

Clendon, J. & Munns, A. (2019). Community health and wellness: Principles of primary health care (6th ed.). Elsevier Australia.

Fleming, M. L., Parker, E., Correa-Velez, I. (2019). Introduction to public health (4th ed.). Elsevier Australia.

Guzys, E., Brown, R., Halcomb, E. & Whitehead, D. (2021). An introduction to community and primary health care (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Talbot, L., & Verrinder, G. (2018). Promoting health: The primary health care approach (6th ed.). Elsevier Australia.

World Health Organisation (WHO). (1986). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/349652