The community hospital--an underused resource for learner education

Only a small number of learners in this country spend any of their training period working with patients in Community Hospital despite their importance as an element of local Primary Care. This article describes how one School of Nursing and the associated Community Hospitals, situated in a predominantly rural area, were involved in the preparation for learner placements for Parts 1 and 5 of the Professional Register. It then continues with the aims of the placements and some of the evaluations by the trained staff, and the learners involved. Finally, the author discusses the programme and suggests that with some modifications the Community Hospital scheme has a unique contribution to offer learners as a resource in Nurse Education both now and in the implementation of Project 2000.