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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Mary Ellen Miller, MSN, RN and Sharon Starr, MSN, RN. School of Nursing, La Salle University, 1900 West Olney Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19141, 215-951-1489, millerm@lasalle.edu

In 1995, The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report described environmental competencies for nurses and recommended that environmental health be incorporated into all levels of nursing education. In 2000, a small urban liberal arts university offered incoming students who aspired to enter the nursing program a health science environmental course. The successful progression of students in this course and their summative evaluations validates the need for environmental health courses to be introduced to nursing students early in their collegiate experience. Over time, faculty teaching this environmental course have dialogued with faculty members from other university departments who also introduce their students to environmental issues. This includes members from the geology, education and biology departments. It quickly became apparent that other university departments were introducing similar themes to undergraduate students. A partnership to bring students together with faculty experts was proposed. The Geo-Health Initiative integrates the fields of earth sciences, health science, environmental science, and nursing, targeting several environmental health issues from a global and local perspective. Nursing faculty partner with faculty from other departments within the University, as well as the University's nurse managed health center, to provide students and the Philadelphia community with intra-organizational expertise related to environmental health threats. The goals of this initiative are to: 1) educate students regarding environmental health threats, 2)engage in meaningful environmental field experiences that meet course objectives, and 3) educate the Philadelphia community about environmental health threats via public service announcements (PSAs) The objectives are to: 1) host intra-organizational guest lecturers in the health science course during the academic year, 2) engage students in a field experience to enhance the state of the environment, 3)hold a “Geo-Health” Symposium at the start of the academic year for all participating departments, 4) produce and air a minimum of two PSAs per semester on cable television and 5) disseminate information about the Geo-Health Initiative to other public health professionals. This program also serves as a model for use in other urban schools of nursing with nurse-managed health centers as student public health experiences. A proposal has been sent to the EPA to support this initiative.

Learning Objectives: At the completion of the session, participants will be able to

• Descibe relationships necessary to initiate an educational partnership.
• Identify potential funding sources for a comparable initiative.
• Replicate similar strategies at their own institution.

Keywords: Environmental Health, Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No