title: "Nursing Students Assaulted": Considering Student Safety in Community-Focused Experiences.
abstract: Community nursing experiences for undergraduate students have progressed beyond community-based home visits to a wide array of community-focused experiences in neighborhood-based centers, clinics, shelters, and schools. Our Bachelor of Science in Nursing program chose to use sites situated within neighborhoods close to campus in order to promote student and faculty engagement in the local community. These neighborhood sites provide opportunities for students to deliver nursing services to underserved and vulnerable populations experiencing poverty and health disparities. Some of these neighborhoods are designated as high crime areas that may potentially increase the risk of harm to students and faculty. There is a need to acknowledge the risk to personal safety and to proactively create policies and guidelines to reduce potential harm to students engaged in community-focused experiences. When a group of baccalaureate nursing students was assaulted while walking to a neighborhood clinic, the faculty was challenged as how to respond given the lack of policies and guidelines. Through our experience, we share strategies to promote personal safety for students and recommend transparency by administrators regarding potential safety risks to students engaged in community-focused fieldwork activities.
authors.affiliation: Director, Undergraduate Nursing Programs, Associate Professor, Nursing, Michigan State University, College of Nursing, East Lansing, MI 48824.. Electronic address: rhonda.maneval@hc.msu.edu.
authors.forename: Rhonda E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Maneval
authors.affiliation: Chair, Undergraduate Nursing Programs, LaSalle University, School of Nursing and Health Sciences, Philadelphia, PA 19141.. Electronic address: kurz@lasalle.edu.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kurz
mesh_terms: D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D000069581:Exposure to Violence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty; D012449:Safety; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Clinical education; Community health nursing; Nursing students; Safety