Nurses who serve students, geriatric patients and pregnant women convened to discuss ways to improve U.S. healthcare at a panel held July 24 at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia, according to PhillyVoice.com.
The panel was part of a larger town hall meeting focused on caring for patients with complex health and social needs, hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. It was the second of three planned town halls that are part of a committee effort to identify strategies for improving health in the U.S. by 2030.
Three areas nurses can expand and improve care, according to the panel:
1. Expand the presence of school nurses. Less than 40 percent of U.S. schools have a full-time nurse, and one in four have no nurse, according to Robin Cogan, RN, legislative chair for the New Jersey State School Nurses Association. Yet school nurses play a crucial role, Ms. Cogan said, caring for and preventing disease among children as young as three and as old as the late teens.
2. Increase nurses' preparation to care for the growing number of elderly patients. Less than 1 percent of registered nurses and less than 3 percent of advanced practice registered nurses have a geriatrics certification, said C. Alicia Georges, RN, chair of Lehman College's nursing department in New York City and national volunteer president of the American Association of Retired Persons.
3. Expand and enhance nursing care in rural communities. Poverty is more prevalent in rural areas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and nurses can help improve these areas' health disparities. The rural shortage of primary care providers will allow advanced practice nurses to step into that role, said Cheri Rinehart, BSN, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers.