Conclusions
Due to fiscal constraints now recognized within Canada
and elsewhere and the escalating costs of hospital-based
curative care [43,44] decision makers within our health
systems are more primed than ever before to acknowledge
the value of health promotion, disease prevention.
To ensure a strong nursing presence within the forefront
of community health, it is imperative that decisionmakers
advocate for policies and allocation of resources
to support the learning needs of CHNs to enable their
continued response to the changing health needs of
Canadians. The results of this study also need to be seriously
considered by curriculum planners within schools
of nursing to ensure a future nursing workforce prepared
for the realignment of our health care system. In
addition, CHN practice leaders and educators need to
consider these results in determining where to strengthen
content in professional development programs. For practicing
CHNs, educational content needs to be tailored
based on learner’s years of experience working in the community
and their employment sector. Given ongoing curriculum
revisions in undergraduate educational nursing
programs, changing work contexts, as well as continued
renewal of standards and competencies, future research
should repeat such surveys to track changes in learning
needs. Using the validated tool used in this study [20],
modified to address any new competencies, will allow
tracking of changes over time and help ensure that curriculum
content is current and meeting CHNs’ learning
needs in the future. Lastly, nurses need to take responsibility
to identify and address their own learning needs
through performance reviews.