County's partnership with nursing programs helps students, community
Nursing has been forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It disrupted the health of individuals, families and communities across our country.
In Marin County, a novel program emerged through a longstanding academic partnership between the Marin Health and Human Services Department and local university nursing schools including (but not limited to) University of San Francisco, University of California, San Francisco and Dominican University.
Marin County's telehealth virtual clinic was developed to incorporate nursing knowledge and contemplative action, to support the health and well-being of Marin's most disenfranchised neighbors. The program come about in 2002, when the Collaborative Academic Practice Alliance partnered nursing and allied health students with Marin's public health nurses and their programs. They did it in order to provide comprehensive public health clinical practicums for students while serving the health needs of our most vulnerable neighbors.
The early 2020 COVID-19 “shelter in place” mandate shuttered schools and clinics, leaving many individuals and families bereft of essential health services. It also shut practice-ready nursing students out of their clinical practicums.
In February of 2020, Marin's Division of Aging/Adult Services, in collaboration with the aforementioned universities, initiated the innovative telehealth virtual clinic, allowing more than 60 practice-ready nursing student interns to reach out to Marin's struggling individuals and families.
This intervention has since continued to stabilize health and wellness while collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to mitigate expanding service gaps in our community. These nursing students have proven to be the key to navigating complex fragmented systems of care by their exceptional, focused virtual and in-person interventions.
They have continued to build on partnerships to revive public health nursing through person-centered advocacy. The focus of the nursing process not only supports care continuity, but also integrates the tenets of mentorship, compassion and advocacy — just as it would be for a friend or family member.
“In telehealth, I worked with the health care team to assist my patient who had not been to his dialysis appointment,” said Katelyn McKinley, a student in the program. “I sent an ambulance for transport to the ER. My nursing role in the community includes follow-up and advocacy. I learned to `go beyond' for my patient.”
Nursing education “goes beyond” the classroom and is demonstrating that a commitment to the nursing process in the community setting clearly and effectively supports access to medical care. It also helps with compliance for medication regimen and treatment protocols, mental health and substance use program integrity, as well as nutrition and transportation security in a community of care.
We ask and deliver on this critical question:
What matters most to you today? Health, wellness and, for some, housing readiness is achieved one day at a time.
“Each nurse has the potential to change a life for the better every day,” USF instructor Lisa Sabatini said.
The success of this nursing academic/practice partnership recognizes and honors these dedicated student interns and their pivotal role in the growth of the telehealth virtual Clinic. By supporting the health of others with professional values — including care of the human spirit — students create and support a network of concern that ensures that no one lacking a system of care will be left behind.
We are erving “the now,” while educating “the future.”