Strategies for academic nursing to advance global and planetary health: A call to action.

Nurses play a crucial role in addressing human health influenced by global forces such as pandemics, and political conflicts that displace millions; in leading efforts to promote planetary health; and in achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Agenda. Academic nursing programs have a significant role in actualizing nursing's impact on global health (GH) and planetary health (PH). This paper describes how nursing programs can actualize their GH and PH nursing perspectives to benefit students and society, thereby increasing nursing's effectiveness and improving health outcomes in local and global settings.

Evaluation of a multischool collaborative COVID-19 vaccination project.

To describe experiences of student nurses and faculty who participated in COVID-19 vaccine delivery through a multischool collaboration. Cross-sectional survey. Student nurses and faculty members from five university schools and colleges of nursing who participated in one or more COVID-19 vaccination or education events in 2021.

A critical gap: Advanced practice nurses focused on the public's health.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for nurse leaders who "embrace the interconnection" between medicine and public health. The inequitable impact of COVID-19 on people of color demonstrates the importance of applying expertise from nursing practice and public health systems to work with communities and other professions on complex health issues. Yet, despite a clear need for improved population health, educational programs designed to produce Advanced Public Health Nurses, with skills to address complex system changes, have become increasingly scarce.

Meningococcal serogroup B outbreak response University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Unlabelled: A meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) outbreak at a large public university prompted an emergency response to immunize undergraduates.

Objective: To report on a successful meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) vaccine clinic response at a large public university.

Methods: We assembled the team leaders to write this case report.

Assuring a strong foundation for our nation's public health systems.

Background: A strong public health infrastructure is necessary to assure that every community is capable of carrying out core public health functions (assessment of population health, assurance of accessible and equitable health resources, and development of policies to address population health) to create healthy conditions. Yet, due to budget cuts and inconsistent approaches to base funding, communities are losing critical prevention and health promotion services and staff that deliver them.

Purpose: This article describes key components of and current threats to our public health infrastructure and suggests actions necessary to strengthen public health systems and improve population health.

Public health practice competency improvement among nurses.

Background: Recommendations for improving public health workforce competency led to an academic-practice partnership project conducted to improve competency for providing essential public health services among public health nurses.

Purpose: To measure competency for public health practice at baseline, identify factors associated with higher competency, document change in competency over 4 years, and assess differential effects associated with project participation.

Methods: Perceived competency was assessed using a validated instrument administered through online surveys at baseline (2007) and 4-year follow-up (2011).

Updating the definition and role of public health nursing to advance and guide the specialty.

National changes in the context for public health services are influencing the nature of public health nursing practice. Despite this, the document that defines public health nursing as a specialty--The Definition and Role of Public Health Nursing--has remained in wide use since its publication in 1996 without a review or update. With support from the American Public Health Association (APHA) Public Health Nursing Section, a national Task Force, was formed in November 2012 to update the definition of public health nursing, using processes that reflected deliberative democratic principles.

The mobilizing action toward community health partnership study: multisector partnerships in US counties with improving health metrics.

Introduction: Multisector partnerships are promoted as a mechanism to improve population health. This study explored the types and salient features of multisector partnerships in US counties with improving population health metrics.

Methods: We used the "Framework for Understanding Cross-Sector Collaborations" proposed by Bryson, Crosby, and Stone to guide data collection and interpretation.

Forecasting the Revenues of Local Public Health Departments in the Shadows of the "Great Recession".

Context: The ability of local health departments (LHD) to provide core public health services depends on a reliable stream of revenue from federal, state, and local governments. This study investigates the impact of the "Great Recession" on major sources of LHD revenues and develops a fiscal forecasting model to predict revenues to LHDs in one state over the period 2012 to 2014. Economic forecasting offers a new financial planning tool for LHD administrators and local government policy makers.

Interest in public health careers among undergraduate student nurses.

Context: Public health workforce trends demonstrate threats to a vital national resource. The current shortage of public health nurses is due to a variety of factors. One route to addressing the public health nursing shortage is to increase the level of interest in public health as a career option for nurses.

The impact of Web-delivered education on preceptor role self-efficacy and knowledge in public health nurses.

Objective: Preceptors are an essential component in preparing student nurses to become practicing public health nurses. Preparation for the preceptor role is important for achieving a quality learning experience for students. This study was conducted to explore the relationship between completion of a Web-delivered preceptor education program and both knowledge of the preceptor role and self-efficacy to perform in the preceptor role.

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING IN MISSISSIPPI: CHANGES IN CONTEXT AND PRACTICE.

Current standards and competencies guiding public health nursing (PHN) practice promote population-focused practice, but few studies have examined the extent to which change toward this type of practice has occurred. A cross-sectional, mail-back survey was conducted among public health nurses in Mississippi to examine recent changes in their practice, contextual factors related to population-focused practice, and recommendations for improving practice and educational preparation for practice. The survey response rate was 54% (n=150 [of 277]).

Multisector partnerships in population health improvement.

Many new initiatives for population health improvement feature partnerships of leaders and organizations across multiple sectors of society. The purpose of this article is to review 1) the rationale for such partnerships as an important, if not essential, tool for population health improvement; 2) key organizational and contextual factors that appear to be associated with effective multisector partnerships; and 3) the limited evidence regarding the effect of such partnerships on population health outcomes. We conclude that systems thinking - accounting for the collective effect of many actors and actions - is essential to organizing and sustaining efforts to improve population health, and to evaluating them.

Supporting nurse preceptors through online continuing education.

Background: A pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility of using an online continuing education course to increase knowledge and self-efficacy in nurse preceptors who work with student nurses in acute and primary care settings.

Methods: A one-group pre- and posttest repeated measures design was used. Pre-course knowledge and self-efficacy were assessed with an electronic survey.

Providers' experiences with young people's cognitive representations and emotions related to the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.

Objective: The Common Sense Model (CSM) was used as the organizing framework to examine providers' experiences with young people's cognitive representations and emotions related to the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This study was conducted to develop insights into potential avenues for enhancing the effectiveness of STI education and counseling for young people.

Design: This was a qualitative investigation using semi-structured focus group interviews.

Local public health department funding: trends over time and relationship to health outcomes.

Background: Local health departments contribute to population health improvement through the core functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance. Their capacity to perform these functions may be affected by funding and staffing.

Objective: To describe local health department funding and staffing levels and determine the relationship between these measures and county-level health outcomes.

Partnerships for learning population-based public health nursing: Web-delivered continuing education for public health nurse preceptors.

Public health and other community health nurses frequently serve as preceptors to undergraduate student nurses learning population-based nursing in community/public health practicum courses. The extent of preparation and support for the preceptor role provided by schools of nursing is often limited. One strategy to address this problem is to provide targeted, Web-delivered continuing education (CE) to preceptors.

The road to population health: using Healthy People 2010 in nursing education.

Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health and corresponding state health improvement plans provide roadmaps for planning, monitoring, and evaluating population health improvement in the United States. These documents offer relevant guidance for nursing education because they address health workforce education specifically, use a population perspective, and include evidence-based action priorities. However, information about how these documents are used in nursing education is limited.

Improving public health nursing education: recommendations of local public health nurses.

Objectives: This paper reports recommendations for improving public health nursing (PHN) undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education (CE) made by staff-level public health nurses working in local health departments (LHDs). Implications for academia and practice are discussed.

Design: A cross-sectional written survey was used to collect data from 424 public health nurses in 76 LHDs in Wisconsin (68% response rate) in 2003.

Public health nursing practice change and recommendations for improvement.

Objectives: This paper reports the characteristics of recent public health nursing (PHN) practice change experienced by staff-level public health nurses. Recommendations for improving PHN practice offered by study participants are reported and discussed.

Design: A cross-sectional written survey was used to collect data from 424 public health nurses in 76 local health departments (LHDs) in Wisconsin (68% response rate) in 2003.

Local partnerships for community assessment and planning.

Purpose: Community assessment is a core function of public health. National and state policies encourage local health departments (LHDs) to engage local partners in conducting community assessments. This study examined the prevalence, characteristics, and effectiveness of community assessment partnerships between LHDs and other organizations.

Local public health system partnerships.

Objectives: Interorganizational collaboration aimed at community health improvement is an expectation of local public health systems. This study assessed the extent to which such collaboration occurred within one state (Wisconsin), described the characteristics of existing partnerships, and identified factors associated with partnership effectiveness.

Methods: In Stage 1, local health department (LHD) directors in Wisconsin were surveyed (93% response rate).

Local health department partnerships with faith-based organizations.

Collaboration between public health and faith communities is encouraged by national and state policies. The study in this article examined the prevalence, characteristics, and effectiveness of partnerships between faith-based organizations and local health departments in Wisconsin. Data were collected from local health departments using a 2-stage, cross-sectional survey.

Evaluation of mandated memoranda of understanding between local health departments and Medicaid managed care plans.

The success of mandating memoranda of understanding (MOU) in promoting collaboration between Medicaid managed care (MCMC) plans and local health departments (LHDs) was examined in this research project. The mandate resulted in MOUs that contributed to increases in collaborative activities, increased perceived quality of health care, and successful management of reimbursement to LHDs. Factors associated with success included a local initiative type of health plan, longer length of time that the MOUs were in place, and higher interorganizational collaborativeness.

Local health department performance: compliance with state statutes and rules.

Compliance with statutes and rules is a measure of local health department (LHD) performance. This study analyzed compliance rates in one state. High overall compliance rates were found, although gaps existed between measured and expected compliance.