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AACN,
FEDERAL AGENCIES COLLABORATE TO EXAMINE
WOMEN’S HEALTH CURRICULUM IN UNDERGRADUATE
NURSING PROGRAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 15, 1999 --
In a collaborative partnership with federal agencies that
support women’s health care delivery and research, the
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has announced
the launch of a major initiative to describe the preparation
of baccalaureate nursing students in women’s health issues.
The Women’s
Health Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum Project will describe
women’s health content in bachelor’s-degree nursing
education programs, cite best practices, and recommend strategies
for strengthening women’s health perspectives in preparing
new baccalaureate nurses.
The project
is being conducted in collaboration with five entities of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-- the Health
Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Office
of the Senior Advisor for Women’s Health and the Division
of Nursing of the Bureau of Health Professions; the National
Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s
Health (ORWH) and National Institute of Nursing Research;
and the Office of Public Health and Science’s Office
on Women’s Health (OWH).
The project
will benefit from the findings of an AACN survey that will
identify women’s health curricular content in baccalaureate
nursing education programs. The collaborating partners
will support analyses of the data being collected by AACN
and preparation of a report.
“Recent
data compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics
indicate that the proportion of adult women who report having
unmet needs for health care is somewhat higher than for adult
men,” notes AACN President Andrea R. Lindell, DNSc, RN.
“It is increasingly vital that the resources of the health
system target the care of women as a distinct population group
through effective intervention, improved health promotion
and disease prevention, and early detection of illness and
risk factors.”
“Each
of the collaborating agencies has a strong commitment to improving
women’s health across the lifespan and in improving access
to quality comprehensive care for women,” Dr. Lindell
says. “The important findings produced by this
project will contribute to an overall perspective on how women’s
health is being addressed in nursing curricula.”
The project
will complement work recently completed by HRSA, ORWH, and
OWH in response to a congressional directive to examine the
academic and clinical training of health professionals and
recommend strategies for integrating women’s health into
the curriculum. The first phase focused on an assessment
of women’s health curricula in medical schools and included
a rationale for developing a core women’s health curriculum
in those institutions. The partnership between AACN
and collaborating agencies also will complement similar work
in progress to assess women’s health curricula in dental
schools.
A written report
of the project’s findings, to be prepared by AACN, also
will outline basic principles for a women’s health curriculum
and recommend a conceptual framework for integrating essential
elements of womens health across the lifespan into undergraduate
nursing education. As part of its report, AACN will
review appropriate literature on womens health curricula and
correlate the surveys findings with the results of other relevant
studies.
Moreover, the project will expand upon AACNs own core standards
for baccalaureate nursing programs. Those standards
urge that curricula enhance students understanding of the
role of gender in influencing human behavior and health.
To help guide
the project, which is expected to be completed within ten
months, AACN has established a Womens Health Advisory Group
of leaders in nursing education, research, and practice.
The panel will provide expert input on the projects conceptual
approach, analytical framework, and interpretation of results
from survey data.
The American Association of
Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and
four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing
more than 580 member schools of nursing at public and private
institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental
advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs
work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and
graduate nursing education, research, and practice. Web site:
http://www.aacn.nche.edu.
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CONTACT:
Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
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