Facilitating nursing students’ acquisition of knowledge about the public health perspective in nursing: Experiences from a pilot project

Knowledge about public health and public health work is important for meeting current and future health challenges. A group of nursing students in a cohort participated in a practicum programme pertaining to the study of the academic subject ‘Nursing and Society’. The municipality’s public healthcare services were the learning arena. The purpose of this pilot project was to explore whether participation in the municipality’s public healthcare services is a pedagogical approach that enhances nursing students’ acquisition of knowledge about the public health perspective in nursing. Combined methods were used in the evaluation. Data were collected through focus-group interviews and questionnaire surveys. The results reveal that participation in the municipality’s public healthcare services while studying the subject contributed towards enabling the students enrolled in the practical study to visualize the public health perspective in nursing