George Washington University Nursing Professor Develops Online Resources for Pediatric Care Educators

Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, a neonatal nurse practitioner and nursing professor in the George Washington University (GW) School of Nursing, is working to create a set of guidelines for nursing professors teaching pediatric care. She will be working alongside the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, a philanthropic foundation focused on health care, and the National League for Nursing to create an online toolkit for educators teaching pediatric nursing.

Darcy-Mahoney’s toolkit will include online education resources to help nursing students understand how to treat infant and child patients of lower socioeconomic statuses or with difficult home situations. She started developing the toolkit six months ago with a research focus on the long-term impacts of social factors on high-risk infants that influence pediatric health.

Darcy-Mahoney tells GWHatchet.com, “This has profoundly shaped how I view my role as a nurse practitioner, scientist and advocate for kids. Given the decades of research on the impact of early childhood, it seemed clear that our curriculum needed to reflect these important components of pediatric health to ensure the best outcomes for our patients.”

The toolkit will contain interactive cases, presentations, and information on pediatric adversity and social determinants of health, which educators can incorporate into their courses. The cases will focus on children’s needs including nutrition, obesity, oral health, preventive care, immunizations, mental health, and autism. The toolkit, which Darcy-Mahoney expects to be completed by the end of the year, will also be housed in the National League for Nursing’s Advancing Care Excellence Pediatrics program.

To learn more about George Washington University nursing professor Ashley Darcy-Mahoney’s development of new online resources for pediatric care educators, visit here.