2013 PHSSR Keeneland Conference: Register Now

The registration deadline for the 2013 Public Health Services and Systems Research (PHSSR) Keeneland Conference is tomorrow. Register now to learn about what works for improving the nation’s public health system.

When: April 8-11 Where: Lexington Convention Center, Lexington, Ky. Learn more and register by March 7 The conference will bring together hundreds of researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to discuss the latest important research findings and emerging studies examining how public health agencies and their partners can most effectively and efficiently help people stay healthy and safe.

Speakers include:
Paul Kuehnert, team director and senior program officer, RWJF
Joe Selby, executive director, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
William Roper, chief executive officer, UNC Health Care System
Lisa Simpson, president and CEO, AcademyHealth

Click here for the Keeneland Conference agenda and registration information.

RWJF Forum on the Future of Public Health Nursing

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently released a report from the "Forum on the Future of Public Health Nursing" which discusses some of the issues which are influencing the context of public health and the roles played by public health nurses.

Factors include:

• Impact of health reform
• Cuts in public health budgets and staff due to budget shortfalls
• New consensus definitions on the scope and competencies of public health nurses
• Recommendations from the Institute of Medicine 2010 report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, including that 80 percent of nurses achieve bachelor-level degrees by 2020
• Public health agency accreditation and adoption of quality improvement measures
• Transition in public health toward a greater emphasis on chronic disease prevention and interventions. 

Click here to learn more.

Funding Opportunity: CDC Opportunity for Recent BSN Graduates

The Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) is a two-year training program run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that provides opportunities for promising future public health professionals to gain broad experience in the day-to-day operation of public health programs. PHAP is geared toward recent baccalaureate college graduates (BA/BS) who are beginning a career in public health.

 PHAP’s mission is to establish a pipeline of entry-level, frontline public health professionals who, through training and field experience, are capable of meeting public health workforce needs at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels.

Click here for details.

RN Labor Supply Bubble: What Does it Mean for Rural Health Care?

Over the past year, many studies have predicted that a temporary employment bubble is approaching for Registered Nurses in many urban areas. In response to one of the more recent articles discussing this trend, authored by Staiger, Auerbach, & Buerhaus and appearing in the April edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care's editor, Pamela Stewart Fahs, DSN, RN, brought up the important question as to how this trend will effect rural nursing. Dr. Fahs discussed how the upcoming labor supply bubble may actually improve rural nursing by making these health care facilities more competitive with their urban counterparts. By having a tougher job market, new nurse graduates may be more willing to relocate than they have been in the past.

To read Dr. Fahs' editorial, click here.

To read more blogposts relating to nursing workforce issues, click here.

Health Affairs Article: "Creating A Framework For Getting Quality Into The Public Health System"

This week, we'll be highlighting papers published in the new edition of Health Affairs, entitled "Still Crossing the Quality Chasm." This edition explores the question of quality as raised in the 2001 Institute of Medicine report, Crossing the Quality Chasm, and explores how far we have come since its publication... while also anticipating the road ahead.

"Creating A Framework For Getting Quality Into The Public Health System"
Authors: Peggy A. Honoré, Donald Wright, Donald M. Berwick, Carolyn M. Clancy, Peter Lee, Juleigh Nowinski and Howard K. Koh

In this piece, the authors discuss two reports from the Department of Health and Human Services: Priority Areas for Improvement of Quality in Public Health and Consensus Statement on Quality in the Public Health System and how they relate to the Affordable Care Act, serving "as a call to action for ensuring a better future for population health."

Click here to read the piece.
Click here to download Priority Areas for Improvement of Quality in Public Health.
Click here to download Consensus Statement on Quality in the Public Health System.