UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO

WHO Collaborating Centre for International Nursing Development in Primary Health Care

DIRECTORS

Terri E. Weaver

Linda L. McCreary

STAFF

Tina J. Kavukattu

Susan M. Walsh 

Rohan Jeremiah

Gwyneth Milbrath

TERMS OF REFERENCE
To support PAHO/WHO’s efforts to disseminate primary health care research findings and best practices to address Sustainable Development Goals, Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage.
To support PAHO/WHO’s efforts to promote and facilitate interprofessional research, training and practice focused on primary health care, with emphasis on capacity building of nursing.
WEBSITE

This institution is a member of the
WHOCC MIDWIFERY NETWORK

ANNUAL REPORT 2021

UIC Nursing students vaccinate essential workers at the first on-campus COVID-19 vaccine clinic

    • UWI-UIC-Duke Conference on Interprofessional Education: Building Alliance Through Interprofessional Education We co‐hosted an interprofessional education (IPE) conference on 09-Feb-2021 in collaboration with UWISoN St Augustine (Trinidad & Tobago), UWISoN Mona (Jamaica), and Duke University School of Nursing. Approximately 180 people from multiple countries participated in the virtual event.
    • We assembled the collection of photos and are collaborating with PAHO to finalize the social media video to be released in May 2021.
    • We have coauthored a manuscript with results from the 2018 and 2019 workshops taught on Evidence‐Based Practice (EBP) at University of West Indies St Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago. The manuscript has been submitted for publication.
    • UWI-UIC-Duke Conference on Interprofessional Education: Building Alliance Through Interprofessional Education We co‐hosted an interprofessional education (IPE) conference on 09-Feb-2021 in collaboration with UWISoN St Augustine (Trinidad & Tobago), UWISoN Mona (Jamaica), and Duke University School of Nursing. Approximately 180 people from multiple countries participated in the virtual event.
    • CUSON-UICCON Global Health Nursing Speaker Series We have co‐developed a collaborative webinar series with Columbia University School of Nursing. The inaugural session, Nurses on the Frontlines of Pandemics, was presented by Dr. Jennifer Dohrn from CUSON on 23-Feb-2021.
    • World AIDS Day We co‐hosted an online event in honor of World AIDS Day on 01-Dec-2020 featuring a keynote presentation on HIV and stigma.
    • World Health Day We co‐hosted a World Health Day event on 07-Apr-2021 featuring a keynote on “History, Challenges and Opportunities for Global Health”.
    • We are providing leadership in coordinating and delivering COVID-19 vaccines to residents of our state.
    • We provided leadership in the development and coordination of a COVID Triage phone line for the University of Illinois Health System employees and faculty.
    • We participated in the Vaccine Corps Partners of Chicago led by Partner in Health to support all vaccine efforts throughout Chicago focusing on distribution and vaccine hesitancy.
    • We participated in the Rapid Response Team that provided COVID testing where needed throughout the city of Chicago, Illinois.
    • Doctor of Nursing Practice students developed and are implementing tool kits to reduce vaccine hesitancy to increase vaccination rates in high-risk and diverse communities.

ANNUAL REPORT 2019

Meeting Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the Astana Conference for Primary Health Care in Kazakhstan

    • As an Activity under our Terms of Reference, UIC faculty members provided a 1-week workshop for community health nurses in Trinidad and Tobago on how to develop an evidence-based practice quality improvement project in the workplace. We are planning a second workshop to support these nurses to develop publications to disseminate their evidence-based projects throughout the region. Our third workshop will be interprofessional and focus on pulmonary health: asthma, COPD and how to implement a smoking cessation program. 

    • UIC faculty also developed a free online series of 10 “continuing education” modules for BSN-level nurses and midwives in Latin American and the Caribbean to strengthen their ability to read and interpret published research and to develop and participate in evidence-based practice improvement projects in their primary health care practice settings. The modules await approval by PAHO for posting on their Virtual Public Health Campus. 

    • UIC faculty from our CC and the College of Medicine are collaborating on interprofessional education to expand a course on reducing health disparities for nursing, pharmacy and medical students. The nursing faculty will preceptor interprofessional students at a new clinical placement site in a correctional facility serving youth. The faculty members from nursing, medicine and pharmacy will collaborate on a publication to be disseminated through PAHO describing the process of co-developing and teaching this course.

Our college faculty are engaged in global collaborations for research and education in Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, India and elsewhere. We provide a summer educational program for undergraduate nursing students from eight institutions in East Asia and Europe.