Building Community Partnerships in Public Health Nursing

Community health leaders are often tasked with building partnerships. Strong community relationships can significantly impact health and healthcare. The Minnesota Department of Health identified the following benefits of building partnerships between nurses and communities:

• social justice advocacy
• culturally competent services
• increased community trust
• improved outreach
• expanded distribution of resources
• supportive leadership development
• effective adjustments based on lessons learned

To achieve these benefits, the American Hospital Association indicates basic steps to create successful partnerships:

• identifying shared populations and services
• uniting a common vision, values and goals
• presenting a clear mission and scope
• leveraging each partner's strengths
• evaluating the effort requirements for goals
• demonstrating a commitment to the mission

Graduates of Radford University's Registered Nurse (RN) to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program are equipped with the foundational knowledge and advanced abilities to build community partnerships in public health roles and settings. In particular, the Community Health Nursing course emphasizes the importance of a nurse's relationship with individuals, families and wider communities.

The Importance of Community Input

Addressing the health and social needs of a community is a priority for community health leaders, but they also need the community's input on what is important. The Center for Health Care Strategies Community Partnership led with that insight through its Community Partnership Pilot. The pilot sought to include those with lived experience to build trusting community partnerships with the purpose of creating effective health interventions and improving the health of populations with substantial health disparities.

This was achieved by improving the collaboration between healthcare organizations and communities. Outcomes found that including the community's perspective in strategies to address social determinants of health, involving the community in leadership roles, and adapting to the changes in the community's needs all improve community relations and health outcomes.

Utilizing Community Resources

Collaborating with community resources has also proven to make for successful initiatives. Community Access to Child Health lists a handful of examples of successful community partnership projects. Examples include additional prevention recovery groups, animal care groups, anti-crime groups, mentoring groups, heritage recognition efforts and more.

The initiative addressed a significant social determinant of health and contributed to the overall health and well-being of a community. When looking for potential community partners, organizations might consider the following:

• Community leaders and advocates
• Local government agencies
• Nonprofit organizations
• Education facilities
• Community organizations
• Healthcare providers and facilities
• Local businesses
• Faith-based organizations
• Community residents

By collaborating with community resources, healthcare leaders are better equipped to improve the health of the population.

Preparation for the Community Health Nurse Role

Many elements go to make up an effective community leadership. Radford University's online RN to BSN program prepares graduates for various roles in community and home health such as public health/community nurse, charge nurse/team leader, hospice nurse, nursing manager and nursing case manager. The program's curriculum helps nursing graduates gain insight into the role of a community leader and provides the skills to develop effective community partnerships.

Furthermore, the program's courses highlight the importance of cultural competence, advocacy and communication among community members and health systems. It equips graduates with the knowledge necessary to examine the needs of the community, involve diverse populations and collaborate with various community stakeholders. In this program, students also learn to identify and examine the social determinants of health and how to develop strategies to address community disparities.

Understanding the components of community health and the value of community relationships is critical to building a resilient, healthier community. Nursing professionals seeking ways to expand their impact and support populations develop the necessary skills to do so in Radford's program.