This is the first course in the Rural Health Nursing Specialization. It is also recommended as an elective for students pursuing other graduate nursing options. Lectures relating to topics such as rurality and rural health, community assessment, health promotion, community organizing, planned change, empowerment, etc. are in RealMedia format on the course web site .
Students conduct a community health assessment of a small rural community in small groups.
This results in a poster and presentation and an intervention paper. Other learning experiences include a day at the Dakota Conference for Rural and Public Health, web discussion, web resources, a presentation involving the impact of rurality on a vulnerable population, and guest speakers. Students must have access to email, the internet and a computer with sound. This set of courses is the culmination of the Rural Health Nursing Specialization. N580 is the planning part of the course sequence.