Pan American Network of Nursing and Midwifery Collaborating Centers – PANMCC

• To increase visibility of the PAHO / WHO CCs’ contributions to the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization.
• To document and disseminate the CCs’ global initiatives, with the aim of influencing policy and providing evidence of the practical value of PANMCC’s collaborative work.

Networking and collaborative

Isabel Amelia Costa Méndez

Andrea Baumann
Ruta Valaitis

Steve Weaver
Eulalia Kahwa

WHO Collaborating Centre in Gerontological Nursing Education
College of Nursing
New York University

• The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre, in partnership with the PANMCC member institutions, led planning and execution of the XIII Pan American Nursing Research Colloquium’s inaugural U.S. appearance from September 5-7, 2012 in Miami Florida. PANMCC member institutions were represented on the Scientific Advisory Committee that planned the scientific program of this successful event, and PANMCC members also served as panelists and keynote speakers. The Colloquium hosted 1,000 registered participants from 50 countries and six continents, 493 poster presentations and 417 oral presentations.

• The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre led creation of the Nursing and Patient Safety open-access online course in English, Spanish (launched in September of 2013) and Portuguese (launched in March of 2013): http://patientsafetycourse.org/  The University of Miami PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre created this distance learning resource in partnership with PAHO in Washington, D.C. and with the International Network for Nursing and Patient Safety (RIENSEP). Presently, the University of Miami PAHO/WHO CC continues to host and manage the electronic learning software platform through which this course is freely available to the international nursing community, of which over 2,000 global participants have enrolled in the course. Data on course participant demographics and course usefulness and relevance to participants’ nursing practice is collected via a pre-course  demographic survey and a post-course evaluation module. These results are updated and disseminated annually at the yearly RIENSEP meeting and at the biennial ALADEFE Nursing Education and Pan American Nursing Research Colloquium conferences.  This distance learning tool is also available to the worldwide healthcare workforce through the GANM (Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery) virtual community of practice: https://knowledge-gateway.org/GANM

• The Colombian Association of Schools and Faculties of Nursing (ACOFAEN) WHO Collaborating Centre for Development of Innovative Methodologies in the Teaching and Learning of Primary Health Care collaborated with other PANMCC institutions in the planning of the successful XIV Pan American Nursing Research Colloquium, which ACOFAEN successfully hosted and implemented in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia in September of 2014.

• McMaster University School of Nursing Collaborating Centre and PAHO co-hosted the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Summit on “Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage: Advanced Practice Nursing” in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada from April 15-17, 2015. Thirty (30) nurses and health professionals from across Latin America and PAHO participated in the Summit, where they shared perspectives about the role of the advanced practice nurse (APN) in Canada and the United States, in the context of promoting primary health care (PHC) in the Americas to support universal access to health and health coverage.
• In collaboration with PAHO, Collaborating Centers from Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S. worked to develop an instrument to assess the extent to which nursing schools prepare nursing graduates to contribute to universal health coverage. This instrument was developed based on an extensive literature review and assessed for content validity by over 60 experts in nursing education The instrument (available in English, Portuguese, and Spanish) was sent to all nursing schools in Latin America.  Results will be used to guide future development of programs to ensure that nursing schools are preparing students to contribute to Universal Health Coverage.
• The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies’ PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre, in partnership with the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centres at the University of the West Indies and the Colombian Association of Faculties of Nursing (ACOFAEN), created an 8-module, 12-week online nursing leadership course. This distance learning resource, available in both English and Spanish, presents a synthesis of the most recent nursing leadership knowledge, drawn from the best and most up-to-date sources available. The course is designed to empower nurses in Latin American (Spanish version) and Caribbean (English version) nations by enhancing their understanding of nursing leadership and management principles that can be utilized in the practice of nursing, thus helping to achieve Universal Health Care in the Americas.
• The University of Miami PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre collaborated with the PAHO/WHO Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH) personnel in Panama to install   this Nursing Leadership course on the PAHO /WHO Virtual Campus of Public Health.

• McMaster University PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre built on the success of their 2015 “Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage: Advanced Practice Nursing” Summit (co-hosted with PAHO in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) by designing and executing a webinar series on the topic of developing Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) roles in Latin American countries to strengthen primary health care and support universal access to health care. The highly successful series consisted of six webinars offered between March and July of 2016. McMaster University’s PAHO/WHO CC collaborated with Spanish-speaking PANMCC member Centres to offer live, real-time Spanish translation of the webinar content to its participants.
• University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre developed a video titled “Power of Nursing” featuring   interview with Afaf Meleis . This was achieved with the special help of Isabel Mendes (in Portuguese ), Carmen Alvarez and Fernando Mena -Carrasco ( Spanish translation ) . The three versions are available for broadcast throughout PANMCC network, and accessible for livestreaming and / or downloading ) through the following link: URL  http://videos.nursing.upenn.edu/index.php/videos/whocc/
• The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre, through a partnership between the Miami PAHO/WHO CC, PAHO/WHO in Washington, D.C, the PAHO/WHO Subregional Office in Guyana, and the Guyana Ministry of Health, facilitated the Nursing Education Certificate Program1 for 26 selected nurse tutors and clinical instructors in Guyana. The Nursing Education Certificate Program is hybrid (i.e. combination online and face-to-face onsite) 24-week program designed by University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies faculty that improves participants’ teaching skills through delivery of the following 4 courses: 1) teaching and learning theory and principles of nursing education, 2) teaching methods and tools for customizing nursing curricula, 3) developing evaluation measures, and 4) designing & conducting simulation education scenarios. Preliminary results indicate a high degree of positive overall satisfaction with the course and attainment of program goals, including equipping Guyana nurse tutors with knowledge on best practices in didactic and clinical nursing instruction, and capacitating them to train other faculty members in these practices.
• The Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre organized and implemented XV Pan American Nursing Research Colloquium which convened healthcare researcher, educators and other professionals from over 25 countries in Mexico City from October 3-7, 2016. The UNAM PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre also hosted and provided the infrastructure for the two -day meeting of PAHO’s 23 International Nursing Networks, with members from throughout the Americas meeting to further advance the significant progress these networks have made over the last 10 years in coordinating and supporting the exchange of knowledge and dissemination of healthcare information through both live and virtual collaboration.