Development and testing of a practicum matching program for baccalaureate nursing education, a local public health unit.

This article describes a novel approach to nursing education, designed to improve the experience of both students in public health nursing, and the local public health unit where they affiliate. Students, faculty, and public health department staff developed a method for matching programs and needs of the local public health unit to the skills and learning needs of nursing students. We describe our experience articulating student competencies, program-specific functions, and an approach to matching student interests and learning opportunities to agency needs. Students, faculty, and staff rated the program moderately to very high in feasibility, satisfaction, and acceptability. Data suggest the novel program served to improve the quality of the practicum affiliation, to the satisfaction of both the school and agency, while contributing to a robust public health learning experience for emerging professional nurses.