The Confidence of New Nurse Graduates in the Application of Environmental Health in the Nursing Process.

The purpose of this chapter is to report the findings gathered in an author-designed survey of new nurse graduates in Connecticut of their confidence in the application of environmental health in their nursing practice. An invitation to the survey was included in newsletters of Connecticut Nurses Association sent to all practicing nurses in Connecticut. New nurse graduates' confidence level regarding incorporation of environmental health vary substantially among the aspects of environmental health and this confidence decreases as they progress through the steps of the nursing process.

Integrating Climate Change Into Nursing Curricula.

Climate change is a significant threat to human health across the life cycle. Nurses play an important role in mitigation, adaptation, and resilience to climate change. The use of health care resources, air quality and extreme heat, mental health, and natural disasters are major content areas across undergraduate nursing curricula that influence or are influenced by climate change.

Developing curriculum recommendations for environmental health in nursing.

In 2010, the American Nurses Association (ANA) added an environmental health standard to the ANA Scope and Standards of Practice requiring that nurses implement environmental health strategies in nursing practice. To prepare nurse educators to integrate environmental health at all educational levels, nursing faculty members from the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments developed environmental health competencies and curricular recommendations that address this need. Internet URLs are included for environmental health curricula for each level of nursing education.