Schools need to teach nurses about communities, policy

To prepare nurses for practice a decade from now, nursing schools need to embrace opportunities that immerse students in environments at the intersections of health care and the social environment, according to Teri Murray, PhD, RN, associate editor of the Journal of Nursing Education, in a recent editorial. “Now is the time to revisit the long-held mental models of nursing education that primarily focused on individualized care in acute care or primary care settings,” she wrote. She noted that the work of the National Academy of Medicine committee on The Future of Nursing 2020-2030 is focused heavily on nurses’ roles in addressing the social determinants of health across care and community settings. (Journal of Nursing Education editorial, 8/28/19)