News Briefs

"News Briefs." Journal of Community Health Nursing, 33(2), p. 117

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently featured its free online Worksite Health ScoreCard. The CDC ScoreCard is designed to assist employers in measuring the health of their workforces and in evaluating the results of employee health promotion programs. Specifically, the Worksite Health ScoreCard can be used to evaluate the results of employer-sponsored strategies to promote employee health, according to the CDC. Examples of these strategies are lifestyle counseling, policies creating tobacco-free workplaces, health plan benefits, and worksite health promotion programs such as walking clubs. According to the CDC feature, employers from forty states have submitted more than 1200 ScoreCards to the CDC, over eighty percent of the employers using ScoreCards have 100 employees or less, and most participating employers are private, for-profit businesses. Several employers reported innovative workplace health programs such as building an employee vegetable garden and offering fun challenges together with physical activities through a corporate Olympics, according to the CDC report. The “Using the CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard” feature was accessed on March 30, 2016 at http://www.cdc.gov/features/cdc-health-scorecard/index.html.

Institute of Medicine announces the release of a progress assessment report on The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently released a progress assessment report on implementation of changes recommended in the IOM’s landmark 2010 publication, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. In the 2010 report, the critical role of nurses in the contemporary health care system was described and a series of related changes were recommended. After the publication of the IOM’s The Future of Nursing report, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) teamed up with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to create a “Campaign for Action” to oversee implementation of the report’s recommendations at both state and national levels. In December 2015, the IOM released an evaluation report: Assessing Progress on the Institute of Medicine Report The Future of Nursing. This evaluation report was sponsored by RWJF, who asked the IOM to convene a committee to review changes in the field of nursing since the publication of The Future of Nursing in 2010 and to make recommendations for further change, according to the IOM announcement. The IOM committee’s recommendations include the following: a) continuation of steps to remove barriers to full practice for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses; b) expansion of opportunities for education in nursing such as: academic pathways to the baccalaureate degree, practice residency programs, options for pursuit of doctoral degrees especially the PhD, and intercollegial and lifelong learning offerings; c) promotion of diversity in the nursing workforce; and d) improvement of data collection about the health professions at state and national levels. The IOM report announcement was accessed on March 30, 2016 at: http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2015/Assessing-Progress-on-the-IOM-Report-The-Future-of-Nursing.aspx. The book, Assessing Progress on the Institute of Medicine Report The Future of Nursing, is offered for free download in PDF format and is also available for purchase in paperback form.

Association of Community Health Nursing Educators announces 2016 joint meeting with the Association of Public Health Nurses

The Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) and the Association of Public Health Nurses (APHN) have announced a 2016 joint meeting, Public Health Nursing: Key to Our Nation’s Health. The joint meeting is scheduled for June 2-4, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The purpose of the meeting is to “provide community/public health nurse educators innovative, effective, evidenced-based strategies to meet twenty-first century public health priorities,” according to ACHNE. The target audience includes public health nurses, managers, nurse educators, and students, as well as others interested in public health nursing issues. More information is available at http://www.achne.org.