Integrating informatics into the graduate community health nursing curriculum

Advanced practice of community health nursing is enhanced if the nurse is able to identify, create, and use databases to support nursing assessments of communities and to manage and evaluate community health programs. The College of Nursing, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, has revised its curriculum for community health nursing graduate students to include a strong focus on nursing informatics. This paper summarizes the integration of theoretical content and practice exercises into a pre-course workshop and four-course sequence. A focal point of this effort has been the "Healthy People 2000 Nursing Informatics Project," in which students develop an automated community-assessment tool and database related to the Year 2000 objectives. The use of this database and related national, state, and local databases to document community needs is emphasized. Students also evaluate nursing information systems and use information technologies to design and evaluate community health grant proposals. Curriculum development, evaluation, and modification are detailed in relation to student learning needs, faculty preparation, and equipment and consultation requirements.