Nurses for America: Addressing Public Health and Primary Care Needs of Vulnerable Populations

This paper will present a description of and interim (one-year) findings related to Nurses for America (NFA), a national program initiated in 2004 by the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies and partially funded by AmeriCorps. The goals of Nurses for America are 1) to increase access to nursing care for underserved, vulnerable populations; and 2) improve the quality of health care services delivered by community health centers and state and local public health agencies. The paper will describe the planning activities that included recruiting and selecting the nurse members and their clinic sites; the design and conduct of the two-week intensive training; the roles and responsibilities of the nurse members, their mentors and preceptors; and the preliminary evaluation findings. The first group of 18 nurse members received intensive training in the summer of 2006 and was assigned to 14 health centers, faith-based neighborhood clinics, and public health departments in six states and Washington, D.C. as of September. Nurse members, who are employees of the health programs in which they work, receive ongoing mentoring from Georgetown University or other faculty, support from a preceptor at their clinic site, and access to CNE opportunities. The 18 nurse members are providing urgently needed outreach, primary care and public health services to hundreds of patients, and are engaged in civic activities beyond their working hours. An intensive, multi-method evaluation tracks indicators related to the public health, primary care, civic engagement, and other activities of the nurse members.