Planet Over Profits and Preparing for the Next Pandemic
This is a two-part, in-person CE Class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (6 hours of CE credits). If you're a UC nurse, an extra hour will be available from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Participants must be in attendance all day to receive the full 6 CEU CE credits, even if they have taken one of the classes prior to the sign-up date.
Part 1: Planet Over Profits: The Health Impacts of Environmental Crisis & What Nurses Can Do
Description
This course examines the impacts of human-driven disruption of the natural environment on human health and health care, from devastating extreme weather events to the spread of novel infectious diseases and increased exposure to toxic pollutants.
The class will explore how climate change impacts the health of patients, the working conditions of nurses, and public health. We will consider how and why environmental health risks are increasing for everyone while disproportionately impacting under-resourced communities. We will also look at how nurses and other health justice advocates can and already are responding to environmental crisis and discuss strategies for building a just transition to a more sustainable and healthy future.
Part 2: Preparing for the Next Pandemic: Advocacy for Robust Infection Prevention Protections for Nurses and Patients
Description
Scientists estimate that the likelihood of another novel pathogen turning into a worldwide pandemic grows each year. Preparedness is essential to ensure the safety of nurses, other health care workers, and patients. The devastation and loss that has come from health care employers' failures to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be repeated. But the reality is that many health care employers are not only failing to prepare; they are neglecting essential measures to prevent transmission of pathogens seen in health care facilities every day — from TB to MRSA, influenza, C diff, and more. Each day, one in 31 U.S. patients contracts at least one infection associated with their health care. Health care-associated infections rose significantly early in the Covid-19 pandemic and rates continue to be high. Nurses and other health care workers are also at risk — nearly seven in ten nurses have sustained at least one infection at work.
This class will apply the scientific foundation for infection prevention to nurses' workplaces. We will discuss the steps that need to be taken to ensure that health care facilities are prepared to protect nurses and patients from known pathogens and the next pandemic.