An innovative placement in mental health for baccalaureate nursing students

To summarize the whole experience, I will simply say that the problem of finding a clinical placement in mental health was successfully resolved. Drawing on past experience, fitting together the goals of our nursing program with an unmet health care need in the community, developing a plan, negotiating for an opportunity to implement the plan and evaluating the effectiveness of that plan have all taken place. The outcome was positive for all involved. Nursing students in our program will continue to have an experience in Adult Foster Care Homes because we all grew from the experience. As a result of this experience I can say that a clinical placement in Adult Foster Care Homes provides not only service to the community, but also a valuable learning experience for baccalaureate nursing students. My students left their experience with an increased awareness of the multiple health needs of the chronically mentally ill. And more importantly, they left the experience with increased skills toward meeting the health care needs of that population. This awareness and skill will be invaluable as they continue to work with clients in all community and institutional settings.