AACN's Partnership with CDC Yields Opportunities in Population and Public Health

AACN’s Parnership with the CDC Yields Multiple Opportunities
to Fortify the Population Health and Public Health Nursing Workforce

Two New Workforce Improvement Projects Awarded; Call for Proposals Issued for 
New Fellowship; Impact Grants Initiative Seeks Applications

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 9, 2014 – The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is pleased to announce that new funding opportunities are now available through its partnership with theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was created to help build capacity in the population health and public health nursing workforce. With a focus on workforce development, faculty enrichment, and student engagement, the AACN-CDC collaboration recently awarded funding to two large Workforce Improvement Projects, has issued a call for proposals for a new fellowship opportunity at the CDC in Atlanta, and is seeking grant applications for impact evaluation measures.

“AACN applauds the CDC for its work to strengthen the nation’s population health and public health infrastructure through a strategic focus on academic-practice partnerships with schools of nursing,” said AACN President Eileen T. Breslin. “We are committed to collaborating with our colleagues at the CDC to advance workforce development projects, faculty enrichment opportunities, and student learning experiences that champion nursing’s role in population health and public health.” 

First Workforce Improvement Projects (WIPS) Awarded

WIPs are designed to promote excellence in the population health and public health workforce in a myriad of ways, including projects focused on curriculum development, training programs, student recruitment, faculty development, community-level engagement, program evaluation, and quality improvement, among others. Following a competitive process, AACN and the CDC are delighted to announce the awarding of its first two WIPs, both funded at the $250,000 level, which will advance the CDC initiative on Advancing Nurses’ Knowledge, Practice and Implementation of Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI). The selected schools are:

• Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing whose project will increase the number of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) serving as preceptors with the knowledge and competency needed to teach alcohol screening and intervention to graduate students. These APRNs also will serve as champions promoting the adoption of SBI protocols in their own practice settings.
• University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing whose project, titled SBI: Workforce Expansion for Nurse Leaders, will prepare students in Clinical Nurse Leader, nursing administration, and nursing informatics programs to have the leadership and authority to promote the implementation of SBI in their practice settings.

Call for Applications Issued for New CDC Fellowship, Due October 17

AACN and the CDC are currently seeking applications for a fellowship opportunity focused on Managing Chronic Conditions in Schools. Funded by the Division of Population Health located within the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease and Health Promotion, this program provides support to master’s or doctorally prepared nurses looking to develop a framework for addressing chronic conditions in school settings. Nurse fellowships are funded for 12 months and have the option of being renewed for a second year. This fellowship will begin January 2015 and will be located at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, GA. Applications must be submitted by 5:00 pm (ET) on October 17, 2014. 

Since the collaboration was formed, AACN has placed two outstanding nurses in one-year fellowship programs hosted on-site at the CDC in Atlanta:

• In December 2013, Robin Wallin, CRNP, a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Nationally Certified School Nurse from Virginia, was selected for the Managing Chronic Conditions in Schools fellowship.
• In June 2014, Tessa Walker Linderman, DNP, was selected as a Medical Countermeasure Program Development Nurse Fellow for the CDC. Dr. Linderman is an RN with board certification in Advanced Public Health Nursing. 

To read more about these fellows and their projects at the CDC, view this page.

Applications Needed for Impact Evaluation Grants

AACN and the CDC are pleased to announce that new funding is available for three small evaluation projects focused on expanding the evidence base related to the impact of academic-practice partnerships on population health and public health. These grants are intended to support primary and/or secondary data analysis on the impact of selected interventions undertaken as a partnership involving an academic institution and a community agency and/or a local health department. Eligible applicants should be current members of AACN involved in an existing graduate or undergraduate academic/practice partnership that has been functional for at least two years. Three grants in the amount of $5,000 each will be awarded through this program. The application deadline is November 15, 2014, and awards will be announced on November 30, 2014.  
 
Two previous Academic-Public Health Impact Evaluation Program grants were awarded earlier this year to the University of North Florida School of Nursing and Texas Christian University School of Nursing. 

New Resources and Information Available

Since its formation in 2012, AACN’s partnership with the CDC has yielded a number of resources that are available for faculty and students interested in population health and public health nursing.  Among the resources currently available are the following.

• Prepared by an expert panel, the Recommended Baccalaureate Competencies and Curricular Guidelines for Public Health Nursing highlights public/population health as critical to improving the nation’s health, emphasizes nursing’s role in addressing this priority, and provides strategies for faculty to integrate related content and experiences into the curriculum. This document should be used in tandem with AACN’s Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice (2008) and features suggested content and teaching strategies for each Essential. 
• Six Webinars on population health and public health nursing have been presented to faculty and students and are available on-demand through the AACN Web site. Topics include Linking Education and Practice for Excellence in Public Health Nursing; Population Health in Baccalaureate Nursing Education; Incorporating Population Health into Graduate Nursing Education; and Professional Opportunities in Public Health Nursing, among others. 
• To showcase efforts underway at schools of nursing to enhance undergraduate and graduate nursing content related to public and population health, AACN has compiled a list of exemplars on the website, including curriculum best practices, developed courses, and service-learning opportunities. 
• To facilitate communication and the exchange of ideas among population health and public health nursing educators, practitioners, and students, AACN has merged the Public Health Nursing Education (PHNE) Community with the Academic-Practice Partnership Community, which is accessible through the AACN Web site.  

These resources, available funding opportunities, and additional information related to population health and public health nursing may be accessed on the AACN website.