Nurses as UN champions: Increasing nursing presence and influence at the United Nations.

BACKGROUND: Representing half of the global health workforce, nurses are critical to health promotion, disease prevention, and the economic and social needs of populations. However, nursing expertise is underutilized in the UN System, and nurses are underprepared for roles in policy to influence global health and sustainable development. Innovative education strategies are necessary to address the sidelining of nursing expertise in these spaces and build nursing literacy in shaping global policy. AIM: This quality improvement project aimed to develop and evaluate a model to build a USA-based school of nursing's literacy and engagement with the United Nations (UN) System. METHODS: A Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student developed an innovative educational model, the United Nations Essentials for Global Nursing Leadership, in partnership with a school of nursing (SON), to build faculty knowledge and skills on initiating and sustaining bidirectional engagement with the UN. In 2023, SON faculty piloted the model, and pre-/post-intervention survey data were utilized for improvement. RESULTS: Participants reported increased knowledge, awareness, and confidence related to the UN System and their ability to engage as policy influencers, health diplomats, and global citizens. In total, 100% of participants volunteered to hold the role of UN champion for the SON. DISCUSSION: This innovative model advances nursing knowledge and coherence in the UN System and key areas of policy, diplomacy, and global governance for meaningful UN engagement. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING, HEALTH, AND SOCIAL POLICY: Models that invest in closing the global nursing leadership preparation gap can raise the profession's visible UN presence and strategic policy influence at a critical time for people and the planet.

Policy brief on climate change and mental health/well-being.

Climate change has a significant global impact on individuals' mental health and well-being. However, global health systems are inadequately prepared to address this issue. Studies indicate that climate events such as floods, droughts, tornados, earthquakes, and fires not only exacerbate chronic mental illness, but also impact well-being causing anxiety, stress, and in the worst case, suicide. The World Health Organization estimates that 12.6 million preventable deaths per year can be attributed to environmental factors, all of which are exacerbated by climate change, and an additional 250,000 deaths per year are projected between 2030 and 2050. Nurses must advocate for research, education, and policies that support disaster-resilient infrastructure and human services that allow communities across the globe to effectively mitigate the impact of climate change on human health.

Developing a Medical School Curriculum on Racism: Multidisciplinary, Multiracial Conversations Informed by Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP).

Background: To fight racism and its potential influence on health, health care professionals must recognize, name, understand and talk about racism. These conversations are difficult, particularly when stakes feel high-in the workplace and in interracial groups. We convened a multidisciplinary, multi-racial group of professionals in two phases of this exploratory project to develop and pilot an intervention to promote effective dialogues on racism for first year medical students at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Methods: Informed by a Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) methodology in Phase I, initial content was developed by a group of seven women primarily from racial and ethnic minority groups. In a later phase, they joined with five White (primarily male) colleagues to discuss racism and race. Participants met monthly for 12 months from Jan 2016-Dec 2016. All participants were recruited by study PI. An inductive approach was used to analyze meeting notes and post intervention reflections to describe lessons learned from the process of employing a PHCRP methodology to develop the aforementioned curriculum with a multidisciplinary and multi-racial group of professionals dedicated to advancing conversations on racial equity. Results: Participants from Phase I described the early meetings as "powerful," allowing them to "bring their full selves" to a project that convened individuals who are often marginalized in their professional environments. In Phase II, which included White colleagues, the dynamics shifted: "…the voices from Phase I became quieter…"; "I had to put on my armor and fight in those later meetings…". Conclusions: The process of employing PHCRP in the development of an intervention about racism led to new insights on what it means to discuss racism among those marginalized and those with privilege. Conversations in each phase yielded new insights and strategies to advance a conversation about racism in health care.

Shifting the Paradigm: Educating Nurse Administrators to be Full Partners.

In this month's CGEAN column, leaders discuss the current complexities of healthcare requiring nurses to practice competently in interprofessional partnerships. Nurse administrators and executives play a key role in leading culture change so the benefits of full partnership are realized.

Partnership Nursing: Recovering Lost Threads of the Nursing Story.

Nursing has been challenged to claim full partnership with other health care providers. To reach this goal nurse educators must ensure that curriculum and textbooks provide appropriate content on the nature and use of power, how to collaborate, and how to develop partnerships.

Communication With Patients and Families as a Global Determinant of Health: Lessons From Care of Children With Special Health Care Needs.

Until recently, patients and families were not considered by all providers to be valued members of the health care team. Many providers made decisions away from the bedside and then told the patient and family what they could expect from the plan of care. This top-down approach is not limited to one country or culture but reflects an attitude prevalent in biomedicine around the globe. However, the paradigm is beginning to shift. Skyrocketing health care costs have prompted value-based purchasing, in which third-party payment is linked to patient outcomes and satisfaction. Providers and health care organizations are scrambling for evidence-based models to improve communication and other satisfaction-related criteria. This article proposes that teaching patients and families use of the Situation/Background/Assessment/Recommendations (SBAR) tool, traditionally used among health care professionals, will improve communication, enhance patient and family satisfaction, and potentially improve patient outcomes overall. The SBAR4Patients project demonstrates the positive impact SBAR can have on parents of chronically ill children.

Nurses See "The Big Picture": Addressing Climate Change as a Social Determinant of Global Health.

Although it is well known that health is influenced by social determinants, climate change is an underrepresented determinant of health within nursing and health care literature, curriculum, and practice. There is urgent need to recognize climate change as a current and future threat to human and environmental health. This article describes the role of nursing in taking action on climate change now and in the future. The profession of nursing, with its ongoing commitment to social justice and its unique position to collaborate with patients and other health care professionals, is particularly well situated to activate change to protect and promote the health of individuals, populations, and future generations.

To Move Health Care to Health Caring: A Conversation With Julie Kennedy Oehlert, DNP, RN.

The complex nature of health care requires a culture of interprofessionality that supports high-functioning interprofessional teams. Wolf and Prince (2014) wrote, "Culture is the foundation on which any healthcare encounter is delivered" (p. 3). It is therefore important for nursing to elevate thought leaders who can address the culture of health care organizations and how culture can be transformed. Julie Kennedy Oehlert is one of these leaders.

To move health care to health caring: a conversation with Julie Kennedy Oehlert, DNP, RN.

The complex nature of health care requires a culture of interprofessionality that supports high-functioning interprofessional teams. Wolf and Prince (2014) wrote, "Culture is the foundation on which any healthcare encounter is delivered" (p. 3). It is therefore important for nursing to elevate thought leaders who can address the culture of health care organizations and how culture can be transformed. Julie Kennedy Oehlert is one of these leaders.

Breaking down the hierarchies.

ALL TOO often teamwork and collaboration are just words. What is needed is a new theoretical framework and practical tools to shift healthcare relationships from hierarchies of domination and isolated professions to high-functioning, collaborative teams prepared to be full partners with patients, families, communities and one another. Such a move is especially important for nurses, who are often at the bottom of the old hierarchies.

Ways of knowing: a nurse and a physician discuss clinical decisions, actions, and lessons.

The authors, both experienced clinicians, met to discuss multiple and diverse ways of knowing in the clinical setting. How do we know what we know? Can we tease out the lessons we have learned from our experience in a sufficiently creative way so that we can apply them to new clinical situations and nurture the next generations of nurses and physicians- and our colleagues-with those insights? This article is a record of that discussion.

Transdisciplinarity: an innovative approach to nursing knowledge.

A common complaint heard in many quarters is, "Things are moving so fast that it's hard to keep up." A natural response is to narrow our field of expertise to a smaller and smaller sphere. Even then, the rate of knowledge expansion necessitates regular modification; thus, our spheres continue to shrink. What we gain in a semblance of control, we lose in a grasp of the whole. Transdisciplinarity offers an alternative solution to ever-increasing complexity. This article is an exploration of transdisciplinarity and its potential benefits for the profession of nursing.

Partnership nursing: recovering lost threads of the nursing story.

Nursing has been challenged to claim full partnership with other health care providers. To reach this goal nurse educators must ensure that curriculum and textbooks provide appropriate content on the nature and use of power, how to collaborate, and how to develop partnerships.

The Way of Nursing: Leading Disruptive Change for All.

Conceptual frameworks in nursing help shape the thinking and behavior of nursing practice. They also facilitate understanding about nursing's unique contributions that complement the way of medicine. Current health crises illuminate the need for disruptive change, and consequently the need for new conceptual frameworks to guide disruptive practice. The Way of Nursing conceptual framework moves nursing beyond the nursing metaparadigm and the nursing process toward the necessary thinking to address the complex health challenges of individual patients, families, communities, and the planet. The Way of Nursing affirms nurses' capacity to lead change and disrupt systems for the benefit of all.

Planetary Health Nursing.

ABSTRACT: Planetary health is focused on the interconnectedness of the health of humans, other species, and the physical environment. Disruption of the Earth's natural ecosystems due to human overconsumption; disregard for sustainable practices; and the domination of other humans, species, and natural systems has led to an urgent moment in which humans must act to preserve these ecosystems, which support life on this planet. Restoring planetary health requires new directions for nursing. The pragmatic implications for nursing research, education, advocacy, and practice are explored in this article.

Planetary Health: An Essential Framework for Nursing Education and Practice.

Traditionally, we would have considered biodiversity loss, increasing severity and frequency of natural disasters, more frequent infectious disease outbreaks, and increased human migration around the world as disparate issues requiring unique solutions. We are now realizing that the health of humans and the health of the planet are interconnected, and that the Earth's natural systems that support life are in critical jeopardy. Planetary health needs to be a core component of nursing education and practice. Several conditions make this the perfect time for transformative change. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the deep connection between the human health and the health of the planet and illuminated the need for global solutions that are both sustainable and equitable. The Future of Nursing 2020 - 2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity report acknowledged the urgent need to address climate change. The new American Association of Colleges of Nursing essentials for nursing education supports transformation of nursing curricula. Finally, the recent publication of a global transdisciplinary framework for planetary health education offers nursing a blueprint for education and practice.