Published August 12, 2020 
Weekly Digest
On July 31, 2020, Dr. Michael Cary and colleagues from the Duke University School of Nursing published a new success story in Nursing Forum titled Creating a Culture that Values Diversity and Inclusion: An Action‐Oriented Framework for Schools of Nursing. Using Duke as an exemplar, the article outlines specific steps that schools can take to develop and nurture a culture that values diversity and inclusion. The authors credit this framework with the school’s ability to “acknowledge and address the urgency and validity of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on racial and ethnic minority groups.”
In the August 2020 issue of the Journal of Nursing Education, a writing team led by Dr. Ashley Darcy Mahoney from The George Washington University School of Nursing published Advancing Social Mission in Nursing Education: Recommendations from an Expert Advisory Board. This article clarifies the role of social mission in nursing education, offers current applications, and identifies future opportunities to maximize social mission within nursing to foster a more just culture of health.
AACN Updates
Register Now for the Considerations for Reopening U.S. Schools of Nursing During COVID-19 Webinar, August 18
Call for Nominations for AACN 2021 Election
2020 IPEC Virtual Institute: Early-Bird Registration Ends September 4
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Teaching Disaster Nursing in the COVID Era: A Talk with Dr. Tener Goodwin Veenema
While nurses receive some disaster training, many likely weren't prepared to care for patients in a pandemic. Remedying this problem is a key concern for nurses, and nurse educators are already taking steps to add pandemic coverage to disaster nursing curricula. Dr. Tener Goodwin Veenema, who recently led some of AACN's COVID-19 Response webinars and contributed to AACN's Considerations for Reopening U.S. Schools of Nursing During COVID-19 recently spoke to DailyNurse about her role in the effort to update disaster training and education for the COVID-19 era. Read or listen to the story here.
National Immunization Awareness Month: Tools and Resources on Vaccination
August is National Immunization Awareness Month. We invite the academic nursing community to share information highlighting the importance of vaccinations.
Explore IRUN Committee Resources
Advancements in teaching methods for health professional education and the practice of nursing have resulted in the need to enhance immunization resources for educating future nurses. In response, the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center on Immunization and Respiratory Diseases convened the Immunization Resources for Undergraduate Nursing (IRUN) committee to improve the integration of immunization content in undergraduate nursing education. This committee of experts, which AACN has actively participated in since its inception, has developed the IRUN framework to serve as a guide for nursing faculty on integrating immunization content into a curriculum.
Join the Webinar - Strengthening Vaccine Confidence in Pediatric and Family Practice Offices During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases is offering a webinar on August 19 from 3:00-4:00 pm (ET) that focuses on how to build vaccine confidence and ensure safe well visits in pediatric practices during these challenging times. AACN members are encouraged to check out the digital media toolkits, which include key messages, social content, social graphics, and educational resources. Post to Twitter throughout the month using the hashtag #ivax2protect.

Washington Weekly
Inside this edition of Washington Weekly: Continued Support for Future Advancement of Academic Nursing (FAAN) Act; COVID-19 Legislative Update: AACN’S Coalition Activity; and AACN Attends Virtual Event on Advancing Racial Equity by Promoting Health.
Read AACN's Washington Weekly >>
New Partnerships & Grant-funded Initiatives
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The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis has announced a new Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) program. Funded by a $2.6 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the program provides tuition support to disadvantaged students in the school’s entry-level nursing program. The SDS tailors recruitment activities to the needs of disadvantaged and underrepresented minority students, enhances retention activities for all students, provides specialized services to disadvantaged students, and increases student exposure to primary care and community health settings and careers while increasing graduate employment in medically underserved communities. Read more >>
- The School of Nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center recently was awarded a $1.5 million HRSA grant that will help to sustain school-based clinics that the school operates in the Jackson metro and Mississippi South Delta regions. These clinics have established themselves as vital to the communities they serve and provide care to vulnerable populations. Read more >>
- University of Maryland School of Nursing faculty members have been awarded six Nurse Support Program (NSP) II grants totaling more than $9.6 million. NSP II grants aid in increasing nursing capacity in Maryland by implementing statewide initiatives to grow the number of nurses prepared to serve effectively in faculty roles and by strengthening nursing education programs at Maryland institutions. Read more >>
- Dr. Stacey Crane, assistant professor in the Department of Research at Cizik School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), will use a new grant from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to pilot test a web-based interface designed to make it easier for kids with cancer and their parents to report symptoms in real time with the ultimate goal of improving kids’ outcomes. Dr. Crane is the first nurse scientist to be awarded this two-year, $220,000 St. Baldrick’s Foundation Scholar award. Read more >>
Coronavirus Resources for Nurse Educators

To support the information needs of nursing school deans, faculty, students, and other stakeholders, AACN has developed a resource center to highlight key information sources found on the Web regarding COVID-19. This section will be updated regularly to include details about new informational events and webinars, the latest news from the CDC, educational events and webinars, and work underway at our nation's nursing schools to raise awareness on prevention and preparedness efforts.
See Past Issues of AACN News Watch