The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) is pleased to announce that the project titled ‘Empowering the next generation of health care professionals with knowledge, skills, tools, and supports to address infectious diseases related to climate change in Canada’, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, is now complete.
As part of this project, CASN developed national, evidence-informed, consensus-based guidelines on climate-driven infectious disease for nursing education. These national, consensus-based guidelines offer direction to nursing faculty on curriculum development with regards to climate change and vector-borne diseases (VBDs). The domains and accompanying entry-to-practice learning outcomes in this guideline delineate the key knowledge, skills, and attitudes that all new registered nursing graduates in Canada should possess to support and care for individuals, families, communities, and populations affected by, or at risk of being affected by, climate-driven VBDs. The guidelines provide topical information that builds on CASN’s previous work in the area of public health which includes the development of Entry-to-Practice Public Health Nursing Competencies (2014) and an online repository of teaching strategies for nurses.
As a next step, CASN created a free, open-access e-resource that addresses the learning outcomes contained in the guidelines. The Nursing and Climate-Driven Vector Borne Disease E-resource contains a series of modules that provide high quality information and animated case studies in a dynamic, easy-to-use format.
Climate change in Canada has resulted in a rise of zoonotic, food-borne, and water-borne diseases. Nurses have a critical role in ensuring Canadians have access to information that will help them prevent disease, and working with individuals and communities in dealing with health impacts of climate-driven disease. With the mission of leading nursing education and scholarship in the interest of healthier Canadians, CASN is eager to support the development of high-quality education for nurses in this area of practice. Ultimately, CASN aims to support nurse educators in preparing future nurses to care for individuals, families, communities and populations affected by, or at risk of being affected by, climate-driven VBDs.
Click here to access the Guidelines for Undergraduate Nursing Education on Climate-Driven Vector-Borne Diseases.
Click here to access the free, open-access e-resource: vbd.casn.ca
See the e-resource infographic here and video here for an overview of the e-resource.
Watch the webinar series, presented by Climate-Driven Infectious Disease (CDID) Advisory Committee, which aimed to support dialogue on the topic of climate change and nursing. Presenters shared information on the then soon-to-be released Nursing and Climate-Driven Vector-Borne Diseases and Nursing E-Resource.
If you would like more information about this project, please contact Julia Thomas, Accreditation Programs Coordinator, at jthomas@casn.ca
