Teaching population-focused practice to baccalaureate nursing students: a clinical model.

As the future of healthcare changes, there will be an increased demand for community-focused care, especially in the areas of health promotion and disease prevention. However, to meet these future demands, nurses must develop a population-focused, wellness-oriented approach to practice. This article briefly describes why many nurses may lack this focus, and then presents a model for teaching these essential community health principles to baccalaureate nursing students. The model uses a secondary school as the setting for the community health clinical experience.