DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 17, 2014) – "What we do every day is about helping our communities live healthful lives; outreach like this puts a powerful focus on that mission." Such comments echoed from tabletop to tabletop as students in Daytona State College's Bachelor of Science in Nursing's benchmark Community Health Nursing course gave their inaugural project reports in the last week of class.Inaugural BSN Community Health Nursing class and faculty

Judith Valloze, assistant chair for the RN to BSN program, said, "This first community health class performed beyond our expectations," reaching hundreds of people with important needs-based messaging. The mandatory course focuses on students assessing a community to determine healthcare needs, then developing and delivering an outreach project which addresses the issue, all while working with a BSN-prepared nurse.

Projects included students working on smoking cessation in their community; developing programs and brochures on breast-cancer awareness, heart health and prevention of falls; working with vulnerable populations related to substance abuse; addressing needs of medically fragile children by creating an electronic Volusia County Resource Guide; putting on a health fair with patient education for parishioners in three local churches; developing a No Texting and Driving campaign; using parts of the CREATION healthcare acronym to help medical staff with stress; and educating a rehab-center community on Ebola. All projects involved an interdisciplinary approach to care, where the students worked with other members of the healthcare team to develop well-rounded projects.

The community health class of 41 students, all registered nurses working at healthcare institutions, are part of the first BSN cohort that concluded its first year this semester, with some students expected to graduate in May 2015.

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MORE: Offering more than 100 certificate, associate and bachelor’s degree programs, Daytona State College is the leader in education and workforce training needs of Volusia and Flagler counties and beyond for more than 60 years. The College enrolls nearly 25,000 students a year at its seven instructional sites, with graduates serving in critical fields including healthcare, emergency services/public safety, business, education, hospitality, engineering, technology, digital media, and more. 

Daytona State has been recognized as a leader in higher education numerous times, consistently by U.S. News & World Report, which ranks the College among the Top Tier Best Online Bachelor’s Programs. The U.S. Department of Education’s College Affordability and Transparency Center has ranked DSC among the top 50 most affordable public four-year institutions in the country, with less than half the tuition of the national average. Community College Week, a leading publication in higher education, annually continues to feature the college in its list of Top 100 Associate Degree Producers. And U.S. News & World Report has ranked DSC among its Top Online Bachelor’s Programs for Veterans multiple times.

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