Understanding the Current State of Community Health Nursing Education in Canada: An Exploration of the Erosion and Devaluation of Community Health Theoretical and Practice Education in Canadian Nursing Programs

Baccalaureate nursing education in Canada must prepare nurses to identify and address health inequities and transform systems to meet the needs of diverse populations. The COVID-19 pandemic clearly exposed an inequitable distribution in the burden of illness and mortality across certain populations and communities in Canada. The importance of community health nursing has been recognized nationally and internationally since its inception. In Canada, the National Nursing Education Framework outlines the essential elements for excellence in baccalaureate nursing education and highlights that all nurses be able to provide care not only to individuals but also to communities and populations. The goals of this research were (a) to identify methods of teaching theory and practice in community/population health nursing; (b) to identify models being used in practice education placements (including timing of practice opportunities in the program, types and sizes of practice groups, student supervision models, and types of placement sites).