Academic Nurse The - Columbia University School of Nursing

10 • Academic Nurse
The School of Nursing’s
WHO Collaborating Center
Background
The School of Nursing was designated as a World
Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for the
International Nursing Development of Advanced Practice
in 1996. Its mission is to develop, evaluate, promulgate and
sustain innovative models of advanced practice nursing that
will improve the health of individuals and societies around
the world. This mission continues the School’s long history
of coming to the aid of those in need on a global scale.
Just as the founder of the School, Anna Maxwell, recruited
Columbia nurses in 1898 to assist in field hospitals during
the Spanish-American War, and as generations of Columbia
nurses have served in World War I, World War II, Korea,
Vietnam and Desert Storm, the WHO Center is upholding
this international focus.
Current WHO Center Initiatives
Haiti
The WHO Center became involved in the relief efforts
in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in January
2010. The School teamed with the International
Medical Corps, a non-government organization (NGO)
with multiple active international initiatives, that helped
the School coordinate its efforts to supply nurses and
nurse practitioners from its faculty and alumni. To
date, 22 of the School’s alumni and faculty have gone
to Haiti. Over the critical three-month period from
February to May, at least one Columbia nurse representative
was present in Port au Prince, working in the
main hospital compound and in the countryside for
8-14 day commitments.
Even as the immediate emergency response to send
clinicians to Haiti has wound down, the need for continued
assistance remains overwhelming. The National
University of Haiti School of Nursing in Port au Prince
was destroyed and the entire second-year class was
killed. Columbia is now committed to helping rebuild
this school—not with bricks and mortar, but with its
expertise in clinical education. The WHO Center hopes
to:
• Stimulate the re-establishment of formal nursing education
at the National University of Haiti School of Nursing
both in didactic and in-service clinical site levels
• Strengthen nursing instruction and mentorship through
programs that will train Haitian nursing educators in
the U.S., facilitate student exchanges and develop joint
student/faculty projects
• Assist in curricular and clinical role development in
accordance with the Haitian Ministry of Health’s (MSPP)
stated priorities for primary care providers in both hospital
and community settings
• Assist in the modernization of Haitian nursing education
through development of web/internet-based distance
Thalia Brent, DNP student,
with twins in Haiti