Search

Nurses play a crucial role in addressing human health influenced by global forces such as pandemics, and political conflicts that displace millions; in leading efforts to promote planetary health; and in achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Agenda. Academic nursing programs have a significant role in actualizing nursing's impact on global health (GH) and planetary health (PH). This paper describes how nursing programs can actualize their GH and PH nursing perspectives to benefit students and society, thereby increasing nursing's effectiveness and improving health outcomes in local and global settings. Numerous strategies to actualize GH and PH perspectives were derived from current literature and an assessment of eleven nursing program websites. Nursing programs may adopt program-wide strategies such as reflecting GH and PH in their mission statement; through education, in courses; and through faculty or student scholarship, policy endeavors, and/or partnerships. Now is the time to take such action, recommitting to GH and PH nursing and deepening nursing's impact. Academic nursing programs' leadership role in society, and their role in preparing nurses to lead, educate, discover, and advocate is essential for the health of populations and the planet long into the future. • Nurses play a crucial role in addressing global and planetary health. • Emphasizing global and planetary health is imperative for academic nursing programs. • Cultivating global and planetary health perspectives strengthens nursing's impact. • Programs have numerous strategies to enact global and planetary health perspectives. • Nursing leadership for global and planetary health is essential for our future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The U.S. needs advanced practice nurses focused on the health of whole populations. • DNP specialty preparation in public health is essential to the nursing profession. • Investments are needed for graduate nursing education in this specialty practice. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for nurse leaders who "embrace the interconnection" between medicine and public health. The inequitable impact of COVID-19 on people of color demonstrates the importance of applying expertise from nursing practice and public health systems to work with communities and other professions on complex health issues. Yet, despite a clear need for improved population health, educational programs designed to produce Advanced Public Health Nurses, with skills to address complex system changes, have become increasingly scarce. We put forward the perspective that the nation needs more advanced practice nurses prepared for leadership roles focused on the health of whole populations, marginalized communities, and the systems and policies that promote their health. We argue that opportunities should be expanded for nurses to attain education for these roles through increased investments in the Doctor of Nursing Practice model to prepare nurses for advanced public health specialty practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background A strong public health infrastructure is necessary to assure that every community is capable of carrying out core public health functions (assessment of population health, assurance of accessible and equitable health resources, and development of policies to address population health) to create healthy conditions. Yet, due to budget cuts and inconsistent approaches to base funding, communities are losing critical prevention and health promotion services and staff that deliver them. Purpose This article describes key components of and current threats to our public health infrastructure and suggests actions necessary to strengthen public health systems and improve population health. Discussion National nursing and public health organizations have a duty to advocate for policies supporting strong prevention systems, which are crucial for well-functioning health care systems and are fundamental goals of the nursing profession. Conclusion We propose strengthening alliances between nursing organizations and public health systems to assure that promises of a reformed health system are achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]