Biomedical subjects

Gwendolyn F Foss

Publications and source records attributed to Gwendolyn F Foss.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Using professional specialty competencies to guide course development.

This article describes how an RN-to-BSN community health nursing (CHN) course was reconceptualized from a traditional model to a competency-based model. The traditional course assigned students to CHN preceptors and required a set number of clinical contact hours. As clinical preceptor placement opportunities diminished, students and faculty became increasingly dissatisfied with the course structure and requirements. Faculty endorsed the use of professional competencies to measure course learning outcomes and selected competencies identified by the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators. These competencies were clustered into units, with learning activities and grading criteria based on the critical knowledge, values, and clinical skills needed to demonstrate mastery of specific competencies. Course faculty, rather than agency preceptors, assessed student learning outcomes and mastery of competencies. The students demonstrated mastery of competencies and liked the degree of self-directed learning that built on their professional status as RNs.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2003

Using Polvika's model to create a service-learning partnership.

Collaboration can maximize limited resources of universities, school systems, and public health departments by offering learning from experience. Polvika's theoretical model and principles from Community-Campus Partnerships for Health guided development of a service-learning partnership among a university, a county health department, and an alternative school in a large public school district. Of three commonly identified patterns of service-learning, this partnership demonstrated the pattern that equally emphasizes service to a community or agency, and mutual learning by all participants. All organizations in the partnership share a common goal to optimize the health of children in schools, and to provide quality learning for professional students. The partnership is in its fourth year. Formal interagency agreements now exist among all partners. Individuals continue to demonstrate flexibility and mutual awareness of strengths and limitations of respective organizations. Public school students receive more services, many high-risk children achieve better learning outcomes, school nurses offer expanded services in many schools with the help of nursing students, and undergraduate and graduate nursing students gain meaningful learning experiences. Some nursing students state that school nursing has become a career goal. The partnership continues to evolve to meet changing needs of the partners. Members remain satisfied with the collaboration.

Education, Nursing↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Maternal depression and anxiety and infant development: a comparison of foreign-born and native-born mothers.

Studies that investigate infant and/or child development in families of depressed or anxious mothers do not include samples of foreign-born non-English-speaking mothers. This article describes a pilot study investigating infant development, maternal depression, and anxiety in comparison samples of native-born and foreign-born mothers and children from Vietnam, Laos (Hmong), and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Maternal depression and anxiety were measured with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25, and the developmental status of children 0-25 months of age was measured with the Denver II. Foreign-born mothers were more anxious than native-born mothers. Non-English-speaking foreign-born mothers were clinically depressed (1.83) and moderately anxious (1.62). Infants of native-born mothers and English-speaking foreign-born mothers performed better on the Denver II than children of foreign-born non-English-speaking mothers. Infants and toddlers of non-English-speaking mothers appear to be at high risk for delays during their first 25 months of life. Public health nurses need to advocate for appropriate interpreter services and mental health resources for non-English-speaking mothers of young children. Developmental screening should reflect cultural variations in parental expectations of how and when children meet developmental milestones. Replication studies and investigation about the long-term development of this high-risk group of children are needed.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Modifications of graduate public/community health nursing internships to facilitate compliance with Institutional Review Board and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations.

This paper describes the changes that were made to a two-semester graduate internship course to facilitate student compliance with Institutional Review Board (IRB) and agency requirements for compliance with the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Students now spend the first semester of the internship developing collaborative relationships with the agency and conceptualizing, planning, and developing all aspects of the project, including preparing materials for an IRB review. A series of workshops about the IRB process, the Privacy Rule of HIPAA, and on-line resources have been developed. A password-protected web site and other resources were developed for preceptors. The result of the changes has been primarily positive. By having to conceptualize and develop the entire project at the beginning, students demonstrate a better understanding of program development and evaluation. Their writing has markedly improved. Preceptors like the course revisions, the convenience of on-line resources, and the enhanced course focus on the protection of health care information and of potential participants in health education programs or program evaluation projects.

Community Health Nursing↗