Collaborating With Community Partners to Address Population Health in an Online Advanced Nursing Practice Course

Abstract

Background: 

Engaging in effective community partnerships is a core competency for advanced nursing practice.

Purpose: 

To describe a semester-long population health project that involved collaboration with a community partner in an online and asynchronous advanced nursing practice course and to evaluate students' perceptions of their community partner collaboration.

Methods: 

At the beginning of the course, students selected health topics and community partners. Perceptions of the collaboration were evaluated in a survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis.

Results: 

Approximately 59% of the students found the community partnership was very valuable. Barriers for working with community partners included reluctancy, feeling like a burden, and challenges with scheduling. Facilitators for working with community partners included receiving support on the project, gaining new perspectives, and the collaborative relationship.

Conclusions: 

Community partnership assignments on population health projects can support students in obtaining skills on effective community partnerships while they are in their education programs.