Explore Careers Beyond Bedside Nursing in UIC RN to BSN Course

Professor Mary Girardi brings decades of experience in community health nursing, from developing pediatric and obstetric home care programs to serving as a maternal-child care coordinator. For the past 25 years, she has worked as an Illinois Certified School Nurse, directly serving communities and families to improve health outcomes. Her passion for education and advocacy drives her work in UIC’s online Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Her NURS 352: Population Focused Nursing Care, helps students transition from an individual patient-care mindset to a broader, population-based approach to healthcare.

This course challenges students to think beyond traditional nursing roles, exploring the larger societal and systemic factors that impact health. It’s not just about communicable diseases and vaccines. It’s about how nurses can create meaningful change in healthcare and society. With an understanding of how social determinants, cultural factors, access to healthcare, and health laws and policies, nurses can apply these insights to their practice, whether in hospitals or ultimately improving outcomes for entire populations.

How does the Population Focused Nursing Care course in the online RN-BSN program help nurses shift nurses’ perspectives?

This course is designed to reframe how nurses think about patient care, moving from focusing on individual treatment to a broader understanding of public health nursing. Instead of relying solely on traditional learning materials like videos and articles, I designed a custom learning experience incorporating the latest research and population-oriented health trends.

One of the most transformative parts of the course is the reflective journal assignments. Students must apply what they’ve learned to their practice from an individual patient and to the population perspective in their work setting each week. Even those working in ICU settings begin to notice patterns like specific aggregate patterns they encounter routinely. Through this process, they begin to ask bigger questions: What can I do to improve outcomes for this entire group? How can I go beyond treating the patient in front of me?

One of the most rewarding aspects of this course is the shift in the students’ perspectives. They often arrive with the preconceived notion that community health nursing is merely about vaccines or creating pamphlets on disease prevention. By the end, they grasp the potential of nursing beyond acute care, and their role in creating change beyond a one patient at a time approach. Some even switch to alternative careers for nurses. At least one student per semester lets me know they have been encouraged to volunteer within their community, showing me that this course does more than teach about concepts; it promotes action.

How does this course equip nurses with the leadership skills to drive public health initiatives?

A key idea in this course is nursing leadership from both the formal and informal perspectives. Many students have an “Aha!” moment when they realize leadership isn’t just about job titles. I emphasize that all nurses are leaders, whether managing a team, advocating for patients, or leading organizational change. They are already leading when they are responsible for a group of patients. This recognition is transformational because it shifts their mindset from being passive participants in healthcare to being active drivers of change.

In practice, many public health nurses work independently to a large extent and are not always under a physician’s or manager’s oversight. They must make decisions, set plans, and create policies that serve entire populations.  Leadership building is therefore an essential component integrated into course activities. NURS 352 introduces students to that responsibility by immersing them in real-world applications, such as developing public health programs, evaluating ethical considerations in population care, and learning how to navigate the political landscape of healthcare.

Ultimately, the course doesn’t just teach leadership; it instills the confidence, and skills nurses need to pursue formal leadership roles and act as informal nurse leaders every day, within any setting they want to practice, whether in bedside nursing or non-bedside nursing jobs.

Is there an assignment or project in your Population Focused Nursing Care course that helps students apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios?

A significant component of the course is its experiential learning aspect, which aligns with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) clinical engagement requirement. Instead of traditional clinical rotations, students collaborate with a community health nurse to address a population health concern.

For example, one student worked with a school nurse to address the lack of prenatal education for pregnant teens. After researching barriers to care, she connected with a hospital system and a community mental health center to bring age-specific prenatal classes into the school district. The initiative addressed the teens’ developmental level, cultural considerations, and accessibility issues.

Another major hands-on project is the cultural humility interview, in which students select a prevalent culture in their community or nursing practice. They then interview a member from that culture and explore how cultural beliefs impact healthcare decisions and how they deliberate health information. Students reflect on their assumptions and biases using the Five R’s of Cultural Humility (respect, regard, reflection, relevance, and resiliency). This experience often leads to profound insights as students recognize the importance of listening to and understanding cultural perspectives in nursing care.

What role does data play in population-focused nursing, and how do students learn to use it effectively?

Data is foundational to population-focused nursing because it guides decision-making, policy, and nursing interventions. It ensures that healthcare initiatives are evidence-based and not just well-intentioned ideas. One of the core functions of a public health nurse is to analyze data to identify health priorities within a population. For example, if a nurse identifies teen pregnancy as a concern in a community, they can’t just assume it’s a significant issue. They need to gather and assess data such as teen pregnancy rates in the district and community, high school graduation rates of pregnant teens, access to prenatal care and support services, and health outcomes for teen mothers and their children.

This data-driven approach allows nurses to prioritize issues effectively and develop targeted interventions. Throughout NURS 352, students begin to learn to apply data from various sources, including local health departments, government reports, national databases, and community surveys.

Data is incorporated into every assignment in this course. Students cannot simply state opinions regarding health disparities or propose interventions based on personal experiences alone. They must support their ideas with credible evidence, reinforcing the BSN-level expectation that nursing practice should always be grounded in research and data. Ultimately, students leave this course with a strong ability to use data to drive real-world nursing initiatives, ensuring that their work has a measurable impact on the health of populations.

What advice would you give prospective students considering this course and wanting to make a meaningful impact in nursing?

For those considering taking NURS 352, my biggest advice is to approach this course with an open mind and a willingness to explore. Many students who have taken this course describe it as one of UIC’s RN to BSN program’s most interesting and meaningful courses, not only because of the content but because of how it reshapes their understanding of what a public health nurse does.

However, it’s essential to recognize that this course does have a clinical component, not in the traditional sense of hospital-based clinical hours, but through experiential, real-world assignments. These projects get students engaged in their communities. Many find they get the most out of this course by taking it independently without one or two other demanding courses.

For those who genuinely want to make a difference in nursing, this course serves as the basis for initiating meaningful public health programs and advocating for population-based wellness plans.