The ATSDR Environmental Health Nursing Initiative

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) began this initiative to support environmental health knowledge, skills, and awareness among nurses who serve individuals and communities.

Nurses are important to environmental health because they

• play key roles in protecting the health of all people;

• are in direct contact with patients, families, and communities from many cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds; and

• have the credibility and access that enables them to provide scientifically sound information about environmental issues and toxic exposures.

The initiative promotes and supports nurses' contributions to promoting environmental health for individuals and communities. The initiative is a collaborative effort to increase and sustain environmental health knowledge and skills in nurses and other health professionals.

• The vision of the initiative is to create a sustainable role for environmental health in professional nursing.

• The goal of the initiative is to make environmental health an integral component of nursing practice, education, and research.

• Accomplishments of the initiative include
  • development of educational tools and resources, including online Webcasts, environmental health curricula, pocket guides, and the Web site for the initiative;
  • implementation of training programs nationwide; and
  • collaboration with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institute of Nursing Research for an environmental health nursing roundtable.

To learn more about the initiative, contact: