There is a new epidemiological reality in our country.  In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control announced for the second year in a row that life expectancy has fallen, driven in large part by suicides, drug overdoses, obesity, and chronic diseases. The term “diseases of despair” has been used to describe many of the conditions that are crippling our nation’s workforce and it is well-known that other developed nations outperform the United States in health rankings, despite our spending far more than other nations on health care.  In this episode, we’re talking about how these new realities and unmet needs are changing the nursing work environment and the important role nurses will play in the future of healthcare.

GUEST

Patricia (Polly) Pittman, PhD, FAAN is Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, with a secondary appointment in the School of Nursing, George Washington University. She serves as the Director of the Fitshugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, and is the PI on two HRSA-supported Health Workforce Research Centers, focusing on (1) emerging workforce issues and (2) health equity in health professions’ education, respectively.  Trained in medical anthropology and public health, she is an expert on qualitative and mixed methods research designs focusing on delivery system changes.  She has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and has served as PI on over 30 research grants relating to health workforce policy. These include a background paper commissioned by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) for the new National Academies of Medicine Committee on Nursing 2020-2030, and a series of studies that were commissioned to inform the 2010 Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing report. She teaches Advanced Health Policy Analysis and Health Workforce Policy in the GW School of Public Health.

HOST

Alissa Brown, BSN, MSN, RN is a clinical nurse educator from the University of Utah Health. She has been working in the health care industry for almost 12 years, and started her nursing career as a med-surg bedside nurse on an Ortho, Trauma, and Surgical Specialty Unit. It was through that experience in the med-surg unit where she discovered a passion for education, and pursued a master’s degree. She is a lifelong learner, and loves to teach.  Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, she's not all work, and definitely enjoys play! She loves to travel, and tries to plan as many vacations each year as she can with family and friends. Alissa loves to read, listen to podcasts, and geek out to documentaries and crime shows on the weekends. She's a total fair-weather fan when it comes to Utes Football, but will cheer in all the right places, or get mad when her husband tells her to during a game. Alissa is looking forward to conversations together on this AMSN podcast!