The School of Nursing is proud to share that Stella Aguinaga Bialous, RN, DrP, FAAN, and Dean UCLA School of Nursing Linda Sarna (PhD ’89), RN, FAAN have been named Raise the Voice Edge Runners by the American Academy of Nursing. World No Tobacco Day, May 31, marked the announcement for this designation honoring a model developed by Bialous and Linda Sarna, PhD, RN, FAAN, (DNSc ’89), known as the Tobacco Free Nurses (TFN) program. The Academy’s Raise the Voice Edge Runner initiative recognizes nurse-designed models of care that impact cost, improve quality and influence policy. The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners mark May 31 as World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health and additional risks associated with tobacco use, and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.
The TFN, through an award-winning website, www.tobaccofreenurses.org, provides national and international tobacco cessation education to practicing nurses, tobacco control resources for patient care, smoking cessation support to nurses and nursing students, and methods to enhance nurse leadership and advocacy in promoting a tobacco free society. TFN’s pocket guide, Helping Smoker’s Quit – A Guide for Clinicians, has been one of the most widely requested print documents from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
In the Academy’s news release, Academy President Bobbie Berkowitz, PhD, NEA-BC, FAAN, stated, “Designing and implementing a project which reduces the use of a tobacco, the leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide, is a valuable and noteworthy achievement. Dr. Sarna and Dr. Bialous are commended for designing Tobacco Free Nurses for improving the health of those called to the nursing profession, as well as the patients for whom they care.” Their TFN program has been recognized by WHO as a standard of health professional advocacy in tobacco control. Over 6,000 nurses have formally participated in TFN educational and policy efforts in the United States and in eight other countries as of February 2017.
According to Sarna, “As Co-Principals of TFN, Dr. Aguinaga Bialous and I are thrilled to be designated American Academy of Nursing Edge Runners. We are particularly honored and mindful that this designation fortuitously coincides with World No Tobacco Day.” Read more.
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