Alums take lead on LGBTQ health
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UIC College of Nursing alumni were among a group of national nursing leaders who convened in November for the first ever National Nursing LGBTQ Health Summit, a meeting intended to jumpstart a national action plan to improve LGBTQ health.
“The U.S. nursing profession lacks guidelines for the care of LGBTQ people, partly because it lacks the evidence upon which to base such recommendations,” said Tonda L. Hughes, PhD ’89, UIC Nursing professor emerita and associate dean for global health at Columbia University School of Nursing, who sits on the advisory board that conceived of the summit.
She added: “This makes it difficult for nursing faculty to know what to teach nursing students, and for practicing nurses to deliver high quality, culturally appropriate care. The size of the nursing profession, and the fact that we’re in nearly every health care setting and health sciences center, means that we should be leading this movement.”
Other alumni participating in the summit included: Charles Yingling, DNP ’12, MS ‘05, UIC Nursing interim associate dean of practice and partnerships, and Lorna Finnegan, PhD ’93, MS ’88, BSN ’80, dean of Loyola University at Chicago’s Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
The summit, hosted by Columbia University School of Nursing on Nov. 21 and 22, ended with a call to action for nursing to prioritize LGBTQ health and the promise of a national LGBTQ health action plan focused on the intersections of education, research and practice.