2019 Volume 68 Issue 1 Pages 31-44
As social conditions change, public health nurses with extensive practical skills should ideally be trained to meet social needs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate educational methods for public health nursing at Nursing School A from student self-evaluations using the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's “Practical Competencies for Public Health Nurses and Achievement Level at Graduation” (hereinafter, “Practical Competencies assessment”) as well as other measures selected by the researchers. Students completed a questionnaire comprising 71 questions from the Practical Competencies and 3 questions on their' aspirations as a public health nurse before and after a public health nursing practicum course, and the results were compared. After the course, students were also asked to answer 8 questions related to group topic reports that were selected independently by researchers. The purpose of the study was explained to the participants in writing and their consent to participate was obtained. Responses were obtained from 53 students who selected the public health nursing track at Nursing School A (response rate and valid response rate both 100.0%). Achievement of competencies according to the Practical Competencies assessment did not differ significantly after the course, and the competency that was achieved by less than 70% of students was “III. Health crisis management”. Going forward, it will be necessary to examine curriculum and teaching methods used at the school to further enrich public health nursing education. The results also showed that students' aspirations as public health nurses after their practicum were to develop a nursing perspective and techniques unique to public health nursing and to expand the career options for public health nurses in the future, rather than simply to obtain the professional qualification. The results also suggested that preparing group topic reports greatly influences students by promoting group dynamics between students and proactive engagement with faculty and leadership.
