MSU Extension launches new training partnership with MUW
Human health in the home is the focus of a new partnership between the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi University for Women College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
For the first time, Extension personnel have trained nurses to evaluate homes for a variety of factors that contribute to chronic health issues, including asthma and allergies. The MSU Extension Healthy Homes Initiative curriculum forms the course’s foundation, addressing 12 topics ranging from integrated pest management to water quality.
Attendees earned continuing education units from the Mississippi Nurses Foundation after receiving four hours of training with a focus on indoor air quality, combustion gasses, home safety, home assessment and hazardous household products. Associate-degree nurses pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, or BSN, and enrolled in the community and public health nursing course are required to complete the program and a home assessment as part of their clinical hours.
David Buys, Extension health specialist, said the partnership with The W came about through connections made at a Mississippi Public Health Association event. Senior Extension associate Susan Cosgrove and Extension agent Beth Youngblood joined Buys as presenters.
“Partnerships like this are invigorating for us in Extension,” Buys said. “We enjoy providing workshops on a range of topics to a host of clients, but when we get a chance to work with a group like this who will certainly put the material into their professional practice, it is really exciting.”
MUW instructor of nursing Hannah Bascomb worked with Buys to coordinate the training and emphasized the potential reach and impact it could have.
“The W’s RN to BSN program currently has more than 300 students enrolled, and these nurses are spread across Mississippi,” Bascomb said. “After the training, we encourage students to assess their own homes and their parents’ homes in addition to the one client home required. Including nursing instructors and other registered nurses who participated in the training, nearly 1,000 homes in the state could be impacted.”
For more information about the Healthy Homes Initiative or to request a workshop, visit http://extension.msstate.edu/hhi.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
Keri Collins Lewis | MSU Extension Service
