Nursing outlook
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Despite wide disparities of political support, material resources, and systems of initial education, there exists an increasing global recognition that the level of nursing education has a close relationship with access to and quality of care. Still, individual nations also maintain alternative ways of educating nurses that are rooted in strong traditions. This paper explores the systems in China and Egypt. ⋯ Education in China, for example, has been more heavily influenced by models from the United States, whereas Egypt has looked to those from Britain and France. Most striking, however, is what they now share. Both countries' systems of nursing education are now clearly located in an increasingly global world of health, and health care that recognizes that a more educated nursing workforce remains the critical component of any initiative to better meet health care needs.
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This article traces the funding priorities of the John A. Hartford Foundation--the largest private philanthropy in the United States dedicated to aging and health--to increase the competence of the health care workforce (physicians, nurses, and social workers) to care for our aging society. ⋯ The evolution of Hartford's strategic goal to ensure that all nurses are skilled to care for older adults is shared to illustrate why the Foundation now funds nursing efforts in the primary areas of faculty development and curricular change. This article also underscores the importance of establishing a network of diverse partnerships and collaborations to maximize impact and create synergies.
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The call for interdisciplinary research, education, and practice is heightened by the recognition of the potential it holds in generating creative solutions to complex problems in health care and to improving quality and effectiveness of care. With the aging of the population and the complex issues in caring for older adults, interdisciplinary collaboration is particularly salient to the field of geriatrics. However, despite interest in this approach for several decades, adoption has been slow and dissemination is not widespread. This article provides examples of recent initiatives and presents driving and restraining forces involved in adoption of interdisciplinary approaches.
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Health literacy continues to experience the normal growing pains of an emerging field of inquiry and practice. The evolving concept of health literacy requires the development of new measurement tools to adequately study interventions and identify best practices. This article describes a multistage process of engaging the largest known international group of health literacy professionals in an online discussion about health literacy measurement. The goal was to gather input and identify important themes in the discussion using both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods to gauge the strength of any consensus about health literacy measurement and start to identify topics that should be considered and addressed by those working to develop new tools to measure health literacy.
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The Institute of Medicine (IOM) published Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health Care System for the 21st Century nearly 10 years ago. Nursing societies are in a unique position to promote evidence-based practice (EBP). ⋯ The Oncology Nursing Society will be discussed as an exemplar of developing EBP programs and increasing knowledge of EBP and practice change resources for its members. The discussion stresses the importance of nursing society members and leaders in guiding their societies to contribute to the closing of the US health care quality chasm.