Undergraduate community health in the first semester: opportunities and challenges

In the current health care environment, there is a trend for care to move from acute hospital settings to community settings. The Pew Health Professions Commission and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing identified a need to modify health care professional education to meet the needs of the changing health care system and diverse demographics in the United States. In traditional baccalaureate nursing programs, the community health nursing course typically is taken in the last year, after students have completed medical-surgical nursing courses. This article describes a curriculum that begins with the community health nursing course. Many opportunities and challenges related to this placement are described.