Adaptation of a Best Practice Guideline to Strengthen Client-Centered Care in Public Health

Best practice guidelines (BPGs) were developed by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) to support evidence-based nursing practice. One Ontario public health unit chose to implement the BPG on client-centered care (CCC). A critical review of this BPG revealed issues that would hinder successful implementation within a public health setting. These included a focus on the client as an individual, the predominance of acute care exemplars and training resources that were not representative of public health nursing practice, and the need to reconcile the enforcement roles of public health with the BPG principles. The purpose of this article is to describe the process of adapting the CCC BPG to more accurately reflect the broad scope of public health nursing practice. A model for CCC in public health nursing context is presented and processes for implementing, evaluating, and sustaining CCC are described.