Our Public Health Nurse Leader, Amy Wilson, MPH, BSN RN, APHN-BC, is working toward an objective of increasing the capacity of nurses to work with community partners, coalitions and boards in order to have an impact on health at the community/population level.

The New Mexico Action Coalition (NMAC), in its capacity as facilitator/convener/collaborator, is uniquely positioned to help Amy successfully reach her objective.

Amy notes that nurses represent the largest segment of the health care workforce and are among the most trusted of all professionals but may have difficulty using their expertise to impact health outside of direct patient care.  She feels nurses might have a greater impact on health outcomes if they could partner with others to impact health where people live, work, play and receive education.

She hopes to identify at least four examples of collaborations/partnerships between nurse and community partners, boards, coalitions, etc., that impact health.  And in addition, identify baseline practices, skills and knowledge that nurse can use to effectively partner with others to impact health.

Amy will be presenting her project at the national Association of Public Health Nurses and Association of Community Health Educators conference in Indianapolis in June.

In conversations around this project at the May NMAC meeting, we discussed how best to move nurses’ passion to successful projects.  NMAC members identified some opportunities for training that would help nurses lead projects that would impact the Culture of Health in our state.  NMAC will move forward in seeking funding to develop training to assist nurses in their present and future leadership roles.