Transforming learning: Applying community and systems level interventions through a poster project

Background Public health nursing practice is population-focused with a goal of improving health outcomes. Nurse educators are challenged to identify teaching-learning strategies to transform students' perspectives and knowledge of public health concepts. Purpose The purpose of the poster project was to evaluate students' ability to meet Quad Council Coalition Competency Review Task Force competencies for public health nursing. Methods Teams of students identified an issue, investigated epidemiological data, searched literature, linked the issue to a Healthy People 2020 objective, defined the societal health construct, identified evidence-based interdisciplinary actions, and drew a conclusion based on the synthesis of evidence. The Quad Council Public Health Nursing domains and competencies provided a crosswalk design for faculty to evaluate teams' ability to plan and implement population-focused actions within the poster project. Results Teams met one or more competencies in six out of eight domains. Domains I-IV, VI, and VIII were met by 100%, domain V was met by 60%, and domain VII was met by 25% of the teams. Discussion Ownership of the poster translated into teams demonstrating creative approaches and expertise in identifying actions to address societal health outcomes. Conclusion The societal health construct poster is an effective pedagogical approach that encourages teams to become change agents at the community and systems level.