A Shared Distance Learning Curriculum for Advance Public Health and Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nursing

The State of Michigan has been described by the CDC as an area having "deep pockets of needs". In response to the overwhelming needs of the underserved community, we sought an educational strategy to addressthis need. The overall purpose of this shared graduate nursing program was to:1) eliminate health barriers by increasing access to public health and psychatric nures educated at the graduate level through outreach and distance learning; 2) elminiatrte healthc are disparities by infusing the workforce with culurally competent nurses who can care for racially and ehtnically diverse minority populations;3) to improve public health and health care systems by graduating graduate level nurses in areas in Michigan facing critical nursing shortage. The sites for the distance learning progrms include Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Marquette, and the Detroit as the home-base. The collabrative role of the public health nurses and pyschiatric nurses stress how the impact of physical health and mental health can be met.At the end of the program we will graduate 36 nurses at the graduate level who are committed to living and working in under-served areas of the state. This is a unique education program offered to advancing nursing practice.