261259 Community and University Partnerships with Schools: A Win-Win Best-Practice Model

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 12:45 PM - 1:00 PM

Laurel Janssen Breen, PhD, RN, CNE , Department of Nursing, Saint Joseph's College, Patchogue, NY
Anne Little, MPH, AE-C , Asthma Coalition of Long Island, American Lung Association in New York, Hauppauge, NY
Monica Diamond-Caravella, MSN, RN, PMC , Division of Nursing, Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY
Claudia Guglielmo, MPA, AE-C , American Lung Association of New York, Regional Asthma Coalition - Queens, Hauppauge, NY
Geraldine Moore, EdD, RN, BC, AE-C , Division of Nursing, Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY
Michelle Wruck, RN, MSN, PNP-BC , Department of Nursing, St. Joseph's College, Patchogue, NY
BACKGROUND There are 73,521 children on Long Island with asthma missing approximately 120,000 school days annually. To reduce absences and improve academic performance, a partnership formed between the Asthma Coalition of Long Island (ACLI) (community-based organization), college nursing programs and high-needs school districts. PURPOSE Identify a best practice community academic-service partnership model to improve the burden of asthma for school-aged children. SIGNIFICANCE Children spend one-third of their day at school, providing an optimal setting for self-management education. Empowering children to take charge of chronic conditions can result in reduced absenteeism, increased active learning and improved health outcomes. Nursing students who deliver self-management education in school settings learn to appreciate the complexities of community partnerships – with shared goals of positively impacting health outcomes through collaborative team approaches. METHODOLOGY Over the course of seven years, ACLI collaborated with college nursing programs and school districts to deliver age-appropriate evidence-based asthma self-management to school-aged children. FINDINGS/RESULTS A best-practice partnership emerged. The community partner gained a workforce. Nursing faculty found meaningful ways to connect theory to real-life community experience. Nursing students reported acquiring expanded asthma knowledge, developing cultural competence and understanding social justice. Children with asthma were the real winners. Data demonstrated increased self-management skills, reduction in absenteeism and increased availability of rescue asthma medications in schools. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS Six hundred nursing students provided asthma education to 1500 asthmatic children. Partnership sustainability was closely linked to ongoing attainment of individual/shared goals. The success of this best practice prototype is a win-win model for all stakeholders.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Describe and evaluate a sustainable program utilizing a partnership between a community-based organization and college nursing programs to improve health outcomes for children located in high-needs school districts.

Keywords: Community Collaboration, Health Education Strategies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: As a nurse educator for more than twenty years and as Professor of Public Health Nursing I have extensive experience collaborating with community partners. I have been in partnership with the Asthma Coalition of Long Island for more than ten years collaborating on community clinical placements for nursing students.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3268.0: Community and University Partnerships with Schools