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AACN News Watch Weekly Edition

Published November 09, 2022

AACN Weekly News Watch
November 9, 2022
 
Weekly Digest
In the October 2022 issue of Health Affairs, Dr. Lisa Iezzoni from Harvard University and colleagues published an article titled Have Almost Fifty Years of Disability Civil Rights Laws Achieved Equitable Care? Despite laws prohibiting discrimination against disabled Americans, persons with disabilities continue to experience disparities in health and health care. This article highlights six areas where inequities persist as well as suggested remedies, including the need for more competency training across health professions. The groundbreaking work of the Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education to develop disability curriculum standards for preparing all healthcare professionals is noted.

On November 1, 2022, Julia Haynes with U.S. News & World Report published a data-rich analysis of The State of the Nation’s Nursing Shortage. Despite the growing need for registered nurses, many states are experiencing RN shortages fueled by an aging population, under-resourced schools of nursing, and an increasing number of younger nurses (aged 25-44) leaving the profession. “Many are hopeful that the effects of the nursing shortage on the healthcare system will be mitigated amid continued investment in nursing programs and attempts to establish effective retention incentives.”

AACN Updates

The Essential Update: The Latest on AACN's New Essentials
 
 Essentials Implementation Spotlight: Vanderbilt University 

Last summer, the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing hosted nursing educators from across the country for the three-day, intensive Vanderbilt Informatics Summer Teaching Academy (VISTA). Vanderbilt faculty experts developed the workshop to teach faculty how to integrate informatics competencies related to data, information, and technology from the new AACN Essentials – specifically Domain 8, Informatics and Healthcare Technologies – into their nursing programs. The VISTA team shared ideas for teaching strategies, resources, and assessments aligned with Essentials competencies and sub-competencies, using case studies, breakout groups, and other activities. Many attendees have since been asked to assist their institutions with Essentials implementation efforts around informatics and technology. For more details, view the full story here or contact Dr. Patricia Sengstack, senior associate dean for nursing informatics, at patricia.r.sengstack@vanderbilt.edu

Schools wishing to showcase their implementation efforts are encouraged to send a brief update or video profiling their work to rrosseter@aacnnursing.org.

Doctoral Education Conference
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Building Vaccine Confidence Campaign Spotlight
To increase vaccine confidence among nursing students and overcome vaccine hesitance in at-risk populations, AACN launched the Building COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Among Nurses and in Communities in spring 2022. As part of this project, AACN awarded funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to 10 schools of nursing nationwide to launch targeted campaigns to build confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines and dispel health misinformation. AACN is pleased to spotlight each school’s efforts, including curriculum resources developed and a project overview video produced by AACN-TV.
Loma Linda University Boosts Vaccine Confidence in
Diverse Communities
 
To address vaccine hesitancy, project leaders at Loma Linda University developed a Student Ambassadors for Vaccine Information (SAVI) group. SAVI includes all undergraduate nursing students enrolled in the Health Promotion course. Members of the group adapted reliable vaccine information to develop social media messages. SAVI disseminated these messages to the rest of the student body, faculty, affiliated community-based organizations, and nursing staff throughout Loma Linda University Hospital.
 
In addition, to share vaccine success stories, the school developed a mobile art installation titled Vaccination Dedication, which features a series of black and white portraits of a wide range of individuals affected by the pandemic, with quotes from personal interviews integrated into the artwork. The portraits are readily appreciated because most people have a deep understanding and literacy regarding reading faces. Throughout the mobile design, vaccine hesitancy is addressed through personal experiences and facts, such as CDC statistics, demographics of the disease, and hotspots related to vaccination rates.
 
Visit the AACN website to learn more about Loma Linda University's campaign success, their #BuildingVaxConfidence social media strategies, vaccine testimonials, podcast, roundtable discussion, and ways your school can adapt these efforts to boost vaccine confidence in your community. 

The Social Pulse
November is National Diabetes Month, a time when communities across the country team up to bring attention to diabetes. Diabetes affects more than 37 million Americans and can cause life-altering complications - and nurses play a major role in educating patients about prevention and management. Explore resources compiled by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for National Diabetes Month.
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Sigma Nursing will host an interactive webinar Thursday, November 17 at 8:00 am (ET) exploring bullying in the nursing profession and what nurses can do to combat this incivility. The content in this sharing session will remind nurses that they are not alone and give them the opportunity to share and discuss the challenges they face every day. Register to participate here.
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Washington Weekly
Inside this edition of Washington Weekly:
  • AACN’s Nursing Voices, Nursing Votes Garners Over 1,000 Pledges
  • HHS Invests $13 Million in the Nursing Workforce
  • U.S. Surgeon General Releases Framework for Addressing Workplace Mental Health
Washington Weekly

New Partnerships & Grant-funded Initiatives
  • A University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences partnership involving the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Centers on Aging, College of Nursing, and the Arkansas Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence has received $550,000 in awards for programs that address food insecurity and suicide among older adults. The Arkansas Nurse-Led Academic Community Partnership has a goal of identifying high rates of risk for food insecurity, suicide, and social isolation in the state, particularly among marginalized older adults. Read more >>
     
  • Texas Christian University (TCU) has received a $1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to prioritize research topics to advance racial health equity. Dr. Dru Riddle, associate professor of Professional Practice in Nurse Anesthesia and director of TCU’s Center for Translational Research, will lead a collaboration of investigators and institutions in a comprehensive effort to listen to stakeholders and communities, perform landscape analyses of existing resources, and prioritize next steps for systematic reviews with the goal of reducing health disparities. Read more >>
     
  • The state government of Hawai’i has released $1.75 million for 39 new instructor positions to help address that state’s severe nursing faculty shortage and to support University of Hawai'i (UH) nursing programs statewide. The initiative will help UH graduate more nurses to meet the workforce demands of the state. Read more >>
     
  • On October 13, the University of Maryland School of Nursing welcomed representatives from the Maryland Community Health Resources Commission (CHRC) and from the West Baltimore community to celebrate the awarding of a $2.4 million Pathways for Health Equity Grant from CHRC for the West Baltimore RICH (Reducing Isolation and Inequities in Cardiovascular Health) Collaborative. Read more >>
Share your News with AACN
 
AACN Members and related stakeholders are encouraged to submit articles of interest, research awards and opportunities, member school announcements, new partnerships or grant-funded initiatives, and resources to the AACN for inclusion on the AACN's website and AACN News Watch weekly newsletter

Submissions must be received Monday at 12:00 pm (ET) in order to be considered for that week’s issue. Send your news via email to Bill O’Connor, AACN’s Editorial Director, at boconnor@aacnnursing.org.

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