Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Postpartum Nurse Home Visit Service to Improve Health Equity.

Objective: To describe how a college of nursing and urban academic medical center partnered with the local health department to plan, implement, and evaluate a universal nurse home visit service to improve health equity in the postpartum period.

Design: Evidence-based practice.

Setting/local Problem: Wide health disparity in rates of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality in Chicago, Illinois.

Development and Validation of an Operational Model for Nursing Academic-Practice Partnerships.

Background: Several definitions and guiding principles for nursing academic-practice partnerships exist.

Problem: There remains a gap between academic-practice partnership definitions and practical operational models, thereby limiting schools of nursing ability to engage in productive partnerships. This article describes the development and validation of a novel Operational Model for Nursing Academic-Practice Partnerships.

Collaborating to Advance Health Equity for Families with Newborns Through Public-Private Partnerships.

This paper describes a health equity-focused partnership between an academic health center and a large metro public health department aimed at improving health care delivery in the postpartum period to reduce maternal-infant mortality. We describe our experience launching Family Connects Chicago at one of four Chicago pilot hospitals across the planning, implementation, and evaluation phases. Key sustainability factors are discussed including cooperative data-sharing, shared funding mechanisms, ongoing engagement strategies across teams, shared leadership, and interprofessional collaboration models.

A Lifestyle Intervention Program to Improve Knowledge and Health Behaviors in Women.

Objective: To improve health knowledge, facilitate healthy behaviors, and provide social support for a high-risk population of women by implementing a culturally tailored, gender-specific lifestyle intervention program.

Design: Evidence-based practice project.

Setting/local Problem: A Chicago neighborhood in Cook County, Illinois, where there are increased rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, hypertension, obesity, preterm birth, and violent crime.