Global Health Nursing Division
Deborah Hewitt, MS, MBA, NEBC
Assistant Vice President of Nursing Education at Nuvance Health and Director of the Nuvance Health Global Health Program Nursing Division, U.S.
The Future of Global Health Nursing at Nuvance
In 2017, the Nursing Division of the Nuvance Health Global Health (GH) Program was formed under the direction of Dr. Catherine Winkler, PhD, APRN, and Dr. Majid Sadigh, MD. This team worked to bring nursing into the mix as a partner to medicine within the realm of GH. Their initial collaborations sent nursing to some of our international partner sites in Uganda and Zimbabwe to discover how a dynamic partnership between nursing and medicine can work together to improve population health in some of the most rural communities. The creation of a nursing international executive committee (INEC) composed of university partners, nurses, and nursing leaders from Nuvance Health was formed to govern these collaborations.
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In 2023, with the guidance of the INEC, the Nuvance Health GH Program Nursing Division began to more deeply explore the educational partnerships between nursing and our international partners. In June 2023, the first group of nursing educators ventured to Uganda to visit Makerere University and local healthcare facilities. The objective of this visit was to understand the need for nursing and nursing education within this specific community and how nurses can help with the growth and development of other nurses. The first Nuvance Health GH Nursing Council, formed in December 2023, is composed of nursing leaders, nursing educators, nursing practice specialists, and most importantly, clinical bedside nurses. The objective of this council is to begin to expand relations with our nursing partners in both global local and global international building educational relationships.
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For 2024, the council is working on the following initiatives:
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Showcase Nursing and GH during Nurses Week: 2024
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Partner with global local through the Latinx program, teaching healthcare career and diversity in nursing courses: Summer 2024
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Send another cohort comprised of a nurse educator, nurse specialist, nurse leader, and clinical nurse to the African Community Center for Social Sustainability (ACCESS) School of Nursing and Midwifery in Nakaseke, Uganda to bring semester-specific education to this nursing school: September 2024
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Bring our educational partner and clinical lead from ACCESS, Uganda to the U.S.: September 2024
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Lead nursing in GH breakout sessions during the 2024 Nuvance Health GH Symposium
Nursing has a place in GH. As professionals, we have an obligation to not only care for those in our community but to look more broadly at population health across the globe and ask how we can make it better.
If you are interested in being a member of the Nuvance Health GH Nursing Council, please email me directly
Global Health Nursing: First Visit to Uganda
Many think that nursing in Global Health (GH) is guided by going out into a community to do mission work. It is not. Nurses are many things. Though our main focus is to promote health and prevent illness, we must acknowledge that we are also powerful advocates, educators, change-makers, and healers who have influence and can become policymakers advocating for sustainable GH initiatives and goals. This will only be done by strengthening nursing across the world (Salvage and White, 2020).
GH Nursing doesn’t simply mean traveling internationally to other countries, but providing collaborative care alongside our global local communities, starting with education. To be a partner in education, we must first be open to understanding that different populations have different resources and that the adage of one-size-fits-all does not hold merit. We must make the time and effort to get to know the communities with whom we want to work, and to engage bidirectionally to not only create sustainable education but to also receive education. True collaboration with our interdisciplinary clinicians in medicine is pivotal for building programs that can be meaningfully replicated for physicians and nurses alike. Getting started is made easier by having a foundation.
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In 2023, a group of nurse educators—Robin Sells, Lisa Cerniglia, and Keith Prazeres—set a foundation for bi-directional education by traveling to Makerere University in Uganda where they learned about the culture and the potential need for supportive nursing education. After spending one week touring the college and local hospitals, they came back with a new sense of purpose. They learned that nursing is the same in many ways, yet the path to the end point is much different. The community was generous and kind. Nonetheless, they came about their nursing practice in a much different way, primarily due to their available resources or lack thereof. The core of the nurse transcended borders and their purpose was the same: to promote health and prevent illness taking care of whomever came to them for assistance.
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​In 2024, the Nuvance Health Nursing GH Council will work to enhance this relationship and give back to our profession as educators. We plan to host our friends from the African Community Center for Social Sustainability (ACCESS) in Nakaseke, Uganda in September with the goal of collaborating in the development of topic-specific nursing education. Equally, we will be traveling once again to Uganda with a team consisting of clinical bedside nurses, nurse educators, and nursing specialists to bring semester-pertinent education to nurses at ACCESS.
​Robin Sells, DNP, RN, BS, CMSRN, NE-BC; Lisa Cerniglia, MA, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, MEDSURG-BC, WCC; and Keith Prazeres MSN, MBA, PMHRN-BC during their visit to Uganda
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​We as nurses are many things, and one of them is educators. As we move through 2024, I welcome any nurse who has a desire and interest in bringing nursing to the forefront of the global community to join the Nuvance Health GH Nursing Council. All are welcome!
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​References Salvage, J., & White, J. (2020). Our Future is Global: Nursing Leadership and Global Health. Revista latino- americana de enfermagem, 28, e3339. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.4542.3339