Nursing

The provision of northern health care entails many unique challenges and circumstances that are rarely represented in mainstream health sciences education. This OpenEd Resource provides accessible content on health and health care from a northern perspective for the growing number of health professionals being educated in northern communities.

This textbook is an open educational resource with CC-BY licensing developed specifically for pre-licensure nursing students. Content is based on the St. David’s School of Nursing curriculum for the Community and Population Health Nursing course, the NCLEX-RN Test Plan, and the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Education Council’s Crosswalk Toolkit: Defining and Using Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Skills in Undergraduate Nursing Education. Mental health and community health concepts are discussed while emphasizing stress management techniques, healthy coping strategies, referrals to community resources, and other preventative interventions. Nursing care for individuals with specific mental health and substance use disorders is examined, and the nurse’s role in community health needs assessments and caring for vulnerable populations is introduced.

Population Health for Nurses prepares nurses to develop interventions, policies, and practices that promote health equity and improved health outcomes across the health care delivery continuum. The text emphasizes the social determinants of health and how nurses can plan and implement health promotion and disease prevention interventions. It takes a holistic perspective, connecting human health behavior to the dynamic, ongoing interactions of the person, social factors, and the physical environment in which people are born, live, learn, play, work, and age.