Nursing Workforce Development

A major goal of the PAHO / WHO Collaborating Centre is critical information dissemination and knowledge sharing with a focus on nursing workforce development in the regions of the Americas. Initiatives in this area include:

  • A technical report on the inter-related issues of nursing shortage, safe patient care, and nursing migration to the U.S. from within the PAHO region was completed by WHO Collaborating Centre faculty and staff in consultation and collaboration with PAHO/WHO personnel. The resulting manuscript has been submitted for publication to the Journal of Transcultural Nursing.

  • Via a Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies, the Ministry of Health of Guyana, and the Pan American Health Organization, UM SONHS faculty traveled to Guyana from January 17-21, 2013.  Our faculty provided a 3-day mentorship and training workshop to faculty and administrators from the Guyana Ministry of Health’s four nursing schools on how to conduct clinical instruction with an emphasis on patient safety.  Products of this workshop included a Clinical Instruction Education Manual, with copies delivered to all participants, to the Ministry of Health leadership, and to all participating schools of nursing and hospitals.

  • “Improving Maternal and Child Health in the Southwest Corridor of Haiti”. From April to October of 2012, University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies faculty conducted a needs assessment evaluation to be used as the basis for the development and implementation of a 5-year proposal to expand the health workforce and family planning capacity of nurses and other healthcare workers at the State Nursing School in Les Cayes, in the southwest corridor of Haiti, a WHO identified critical region. Working directly with Haitian women, healthcare workers and local community leaders, needs assessment was completed on the infrastructure, personnel, equipment, services offered to mothers and children in this region, as well as on maternal and child needs. Based on the results of this needs assessment, UM School of Nursing and Health Studies faculty member Dr. Rosina Cianelli, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ecole Infirmieres Des Cayes (Haiti), have prepared a proposal for a 5-year project entitled “Health Workforce Development to Improve Maternal-Child Health in the South of Haiti.

  •   “Increasing Capacity at Hospital Universitaire Justinien in Response to Haiti Earthquake” University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies faculty conducted a 1-year project to expand mental health capacity among Cap Haitien, Haiti healthcare workers for diagnosis and treatment of trauma in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake. This research project was funded by an administrative supplement to the NIMHD/NIH-funded University of Miami Center of Excellence for Health Disparities Research grant. During training sessions beginning on April 4, 2011 and ending in October 2011, instruction in how to triage and provide basic mental health services to the community’s population was given to 113 local healthcare providers. Preliminary findings indicate that the program was very well-accepted at all levels, from frontline trainees to local health leaders, and that there is a desire and perceived need to expand the program to other areas of Haiti, a WHO-identified critical region.  Products of this research study include a training manual and workbook in Haitien Creole, French and English, with copies delivered to all participants and to leaders in the Northern Ministry of Health, the Hospital Justinien, Hospital Sacre Cuore, the medical school and the school of nursing. This project was featured in the April 8, 2013 issue of nurse.com, a leading source of local and national nursing news. A peer-reviewed publication disseminating information about this project has been accepted for publication: Cianelli, R., Wilkinson, C., Mitchell, E., Anglade, D., Nicolas, G., Mitrani, V., Peragallo, N. (in press). Mental health training experiences among Haitian healthcare workers post-earthquake. International Nursing Review.