Giving Life to Learning Through Rural Maternal Health Immersion Experiences

Abstract

Background: Recruiting, retaining, and educating nursing students is essential to meet the growing need for nurses in rural communities. A nursing school enhanced its prelicensure education in rural and public health nursing, and interprofessional care by expanding experiential learning opportunities. Purpose: To describe longitudinal community health-based rural immersion experiences for prelicensure nursing students. Methods: A prospective, correlational design evaluated students' knowledge and confidence in understanding rural characteristics, confidence in achieving public health nursing, and interprofessional education competencies. Results: Fourteen prelicensure nursing students participated in rural maternal health immersion experiences and reported being more confident (21/27 items) than knowledgeable (18/27) in understanding rural characteristics. Over 85% reported competency in interprofessional interactions, and there was a significant difference in confidence in achieving public health nursing competencies between the beginning and end of the immersion. Conclusion: Using immersion experiences may be effective in enhancing students' knowledge, confidence, and competency in rural and public health, and interprofessional care.