Wisconsin Nurse - September 2020

Page 8 The Wisconsin Nurse September 2020
Wisconsin Center for Nursing
Wisconsin Nurses Respond Now:
A Priority Training Opportunity
The Wisconsin Center for Nursing in partnership
with the National RN Case Manager Training
Center, a Wisconsin-based, nurse led organization,
announces an important priority training initiative
for Wisconsin nurses. Launching now, the
Wisconsin Nurses Respond Now Priority Training
Project is a nursing workforce education initiative
designed to prepare Wisconsin nurses to better
meet the needs of Wisconsin’s most vulnerable
citizens during a public health emergency.
While improving health outcomes in vulnerable
populations is a complex problem requiring
multiple solutions, one important strategy involves
helping vulnerable individuals and families
better respond to a public health emergency in
communities. In data gathered from the WCN
RN and LPN Surveys, nurses have reported the
focus of their emergency preparedness education
has been provided by their employer specific
to their work setting. “While work specific
emergency preparedness is important, we also
see an important opportunity for nurses to
expand their emergency preparedness knowledge
to include identifying the needs to vulnerable
populations and offering strategies to assist them
to better respond to a public health emergency like
COVID-19,” says WCN Director, Barbara Nichols
PhD, (Hon) MS, RN, FAAN.
The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the
negative health consequences experienced by
disparate and vulnerable populations. Consistent
with most public health emergencies, distinct
needs of vulnerable populations emerge that
standard emergency resources are not able to
fully meet thus resulting in greater health risk,
poorer health outcomes and higher death rates.
Wisconsin is no exception. Throughout Wisconsin,
African Americans, Latinx, American Indians and
older adults especially, are demonstrating these
negative health outcomes. In Milwaukee County,
communities of color are at increased risk for
experiencing serious illness and death if they
become infected with coronavirus, as compared
to Whites. Currently, African Americans represent
73% of Milwaukee County’s COVID related
deaths. Current reports show that if infected with
coronavirus, 27% of African Americans, 20% of
Hispanic/Latinx, and 34% of American Indian/
Alaska Natives are more likely to experience
serious illness. American Indians have worse
health outcomes than the general population with
American Indians in Wisconsin experiencing lower
life expectancy and a disproportionate disease
burden which is exacerbated during a public health
crisis. Older Wisconsin adults experience greater
risk due to complex health needs often requiring
assistance from care givers whether living at home
or residing in nursing homes, senior housing
or assisted living settings. To better address the
health care needs of these populations, this
project is focused on providing relevant, highquality
education for nurses about the disparities,
social determinants of health, and equity concerns
experienced by Wisconsin’s most vulnerable
populations.
WCN has identified that a nursing workforce
better prepared to ensure public health initiatives
are supported, vulnerable populations are
identified and individuals and families are offered
strategies to reduce risk will contribute positively
towards improving potential health outcomes
and ensuring more equitable care is provided for
all Wisconsinites. “Because of the emergent and
prolonged effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,
nurses must be able to receive this information
easily and in a way that allows for rapid translation
of new knowledge back into practice quickly. We’re
excited to be able to contribute our expertise and
collaborate with WCN on this priority training
project,” said Kelly Kruse Nelles RN APRN-BC MS,
National RNCM Co-Director and Lead Faculty.
We are pleased to announce that funding for
the initial phase of this priority training project
has been provided by Bader Philanthropies, Inc, a
philanthropic leader who strives to improve the
quality of life of diverse communities in which it
works. Due to the emergent need in Milwaukee,
Milwaukee County nurses will be the initial
focus of the project with expansion to include
nurses in all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. More
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information can be found on the WCN website
at: https://wicenterfornursing.org/. “As the largest
professional workforce, nurses not only live in
Wisconsin communities where their expertise
may be needed but are present in all health care
settings that patients move through thus placing
them in prime positions to contribute positively
towards improving health outcomes for all
Wisconsinites,” says Nichols.
ABOUT:
The Wisconsin Center for Nursing (WCN) is a
501c3 non-profit organization that was created in
2006 to engage nurse and healthcare organizations,
public and private academic programs, government
agencies and related service providers to work
together as collaborative partners in an effort
to ensure an adequate, competent and diverse
nursing workforce for the people of Wisconsin.
Through partnership with the Wisconsin
Department of Workforce Development, it strives
to accurately and continually collect, analyze and
disseminate nursing workforce data to assist health
care organizations and academic institutions to
fully assess both nursing resources and nursing
education so they are utilized effectively now, and
in the future. As Director of WCN, Barbara Nichols
PhD, (Hon) MS, RN, FAAN provides leadership
focused on assuring a well-prepared and diverse
nurse workforce to meet the needs of the citizens
of Wisconsin. Learn more at: www.wcn.org
The National RN Case Manager Training Center
LLC also known as National RNCM, is a Wisconsin
based, nurse led organization developed in 2010
by Kelly Kruse Nelles, RN, APRN-BC, MS and Mary
Jo Borden, RN, APRN-BC, MSN in response to the
passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act and the release of The Future of Nursing
Report in which the critical need to reduce care
fragmentation through improved care coordination
and case/care management by RNs was identified.
The workforce development initiatives of the
Training Center focus on delivery of high quality
role development education designed to support
rapid translation of new knowledge back into
practice with an emphasis on full scope nursing
practice. National RNCM faculty is proud to have
prepared nearly 1000 RNs for RN Case Manager,
Care Manager and Care Coordination roles. These
nurses are now practicing throughout the U.S.
Healthcare system in acute, primary, public health
and long term care settings and working every
day to improve health outcomes that include
addressing the social determinants of health in the
patient populations that they are partnered with.
Learn more at: www.nationalrncm.com