The Capstone College of Nursing has seized the opportunity to partner with the College of Communication and Information Sciences public radio station, WUAL, in an initiative to provide outstanding quality health education to the students, staff, and faculty of the University of Alabama. The program, Capstone Nurses Know, involves nursing students partnering with WVUA, a NPR supported radio station known as “The Capstone” in a unique learning experience. Clinical groups will provide a series of hour long health education programs as partial fulfillment of course work for the senior level clinical rotation in Community Health Nursing.
Each semester clinical groups of senior level nursing students complete a community assessment as part of their required course work for Community Health Nursing. Data collection guides the group to a nursing diagnosis and the creation of interventions used to improve the health of aggregate populations. Health education, a primary level of intervention tool, is the first step in creating positive health behaviors in the community of concern. The Capstone Nurses Know radio program provides an avenue to improve the health of large numbers of people at the University.
Upon completion of the required needs assessment, each clinical group consults with their Community Health faculty to provide guidance in program and intervention planning. The health education programs are prerecorded and therefore are not limited to a one time use, increasing the potential impact in the community. Topics currently in production include alcohol and tobacco awareness. Future subject matter will address positive health behaviors, such as daily hygiene and sleep hygiene, and negative health behaviors, such as risky sexual practices. Other topics will be identified depending on the needs and interests of the UA community. Students are very excited about the opportunity and have many other topics in mind for production for future semesters. Ultimately this program will provide the WUAL Capstone Radio, the voice of the University of Alabama, a library of health topics available to be aired in conjunction with newly identified needs or specific health awareness topics.
- WUAL Broadcast of Capstone Nurses Know (mp3 format)