title: Community assessment: an innovative approach.
abstract: Conducting a community health assessment and analysis is an essential skill for baccalaureate nursing students. Repetitive assignments in the same locale can negatively affect the community, students, and instructors. The authors discuss how a distant community can be successfully used for skill development by utilizing the Internet, communicating with key informants via telephone, and reading resource materials collected from the area. Key elements are prior visitation to the community by the instructor and collaboration with the university reference librarian.
authors.affiliation: Nursing Department, California State University, Stanislaus, 801 W. Monte Vista Avenue, Turlock, CA 95382, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buell
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education*; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D020375:Education, Distance / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004518:Education, Professional, Retraining / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D020407:Internet / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D010414:Pennsylvania; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012423:Rural Health