Postgraduate Specialization Degree in Community Nursing

 1. PURPOSE OF THE DEGREE

The development of healthy communities requires the involvement of individuals, families, and society through health strategies that support better health care, planning, health education, and health promotion and disease prevention, supported by multidisciplinary and intersectoral participation, to promote responsible citizenship.

To meet this demand, nurses must have a dynamic vision to further their activity planning and identify their areas of intervention. Thus, it is necessary to train nurse specialists in this area, seeking to develop professional practice knowledge, skills, and competencies to respond to the current human, social, cultural, and environmental challenges inherent to health needs.

The Study Plan of the Postgraduate Specialization Degree in Community Nursing implemented at the Nursing School of Coimbra intends to respond to Order No. 268/2002 of 13th March, and the aspects previously mentioned, based on several legal documents of which we highlight the following

·          Law no. 156/2015 of 16th September. Statute of the Portuguese Nursing Regulator (Ordem dos Enfermeiros).

·          Portuguese Nursing Regulator (Ordem dos Enfermeiros). Matrix for the Analysis Matrix of the CPLEE/Masters' study plans.

·          Regulation no. 128/2011 of 18th February, Portuguese Nursing Regulator (Ordem dos Enfermeiros), Regulation of the Specific Competencies of the Nurse Specialist in Community and Public Health Nursing.

·          Decree-Law no. 60/2003, 1st April. Primary Health Care Network.

Curricular Objectives

·          To reflect on Community Nursing and its responsibility considering its applicability in the exercise of the profession;

·          To develop the trainee's knowledge and provide the integrated acquisition of knowledge for a proactive and multidisciplinary intervention in the community;

·          To encourage the trainee to develop research and epidemiological studies, aiming at the best community health and professional excellence levels.

Learning objectives

The Postgraduate Specialization Degree in Community Nursing aims to train specialists able to:

·          Design specialized nursing care, inserted in a multidisciplinary team, to help the individual, the family, and the community in the promotion and maintenance of health, in the treatment of disease, or social reintegration, mobilizing the resources at their disposal;

·          Plan, implement and evaluate intervention projects with the community aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles

·          Ensure or assume the management of nursing care or health units;

·          Design, carry out and participate in studies/research in the area of health;

·          Assume the training of nurses and collaborate in the training of other health professionals.

PROFILE OF COMPETENCIES TO BE DEVELOPED

The specific competency profile to be developed is defined by Regulation no. 128/2011 of 18th February of the Portuguese Nursing Regulator (Ordem dos Enfermeiros) - Regulation of the Specific Competencies of the Nurse Specialist in Community and Public Health Nursing - particularly article 4:

A.     To assess, based on the methodology of health planning, the health status of a community:

1) to prepare the health diagnosis of a community;

2) to establish the health priorities of a community;

3) to develop objectives and strategies considering the prioritization of health needs established;

4) to develop intervention programs and projects to solve the problems identified

5) to evaluate intervention programs and projects to solve the identified problems.

B.     To contribute to the empowerment process of groups and communities:

1) to lead community processes aimed at empowering groups and communities in the achievement of health projects and the exercise of citizenship;

2) to integrate, into the processes of community mobilization and participation, knowledge from different disciplines: nursing, education, communication, and human and social sciences

3) to manage health information to groups and the community.

C.     To integrate the coordination of community range health programs and the achievement of the objectives of the National Health Plan:

1) to participate in coordinating, promoting, implementing, and monitoring the activities contained in the health programs leading to the objectives of the National Health Plan.

D.     To conduct and cooperate in geodemographic epidemiological surveillances:

1) To conduct epidemiological surveillance of health-disease phenomena occurring in a given geodemographic area.

CURRICULAR STRUCTURE

The Postgraduate Specialization Degree in Community Nursing has the duration of three curricular semesters:

·          The first semester of theoretical and theoretical-practical nature includes course units common to other postgraduate degrees in Nursing, having a workload of about 18 hours per week.

·          The second semester includes theoretical-practical components, practices, and internships in Health Care Centers and internships in the optional area if applicable.

·          The third semester is a practical unit in continuity with the previous semester and includes the internship component for three full-time days a week, with 25 hours.

The study plan is outlined to prepare the Nurse Specialist in Community Nursing for local and regional development with Health Sciences and Education course units, mainly those with the community as a field of observation, analysis, planning, and intervention.

DEGREE ORGANIZATION

The Scientific-Pedagogical Unit (SPU) of Public Health, Family and Community Nursing is responsible for the organization and development of this degree. The course units shared with other degrees are taught by ESEnfC faculty. The specific course units are conducted by the Public Health, Family, and Community Nursing SPU faculty, and outside specialists invited to teach particular topics.