PATHways, SMART Parenting Clinic designated as an American Academy of Nursing Edge Runner
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 1, 2022) — The University of Kentucky College of Nursing and UK HealthCare are pleased to announce that both the PATHways Program and SMART Parenting Clinic: Supportive Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Treatment Program (formerly known as the Beyond Birth Comprehensive Recovery Clinic) have been designated as an Edge Runner by the American Academy of Nursing. Edge Runners are nurse-designed, innovative models of care or interventions with significant, demonstrated outcomes to improve health, impact cost and influence policy. Each of these programs highlight nurses’ ingenuity and collaboration in developing new methods to provide care and promote health equity.
“It is my hope that every community in Kentucky and the nation could have access to both the PATHways and SMART Parenting programs,” said Kristin Ashford, Ph.D, associate dean of undergraduate faculty and interprofessional education affairs at the UK College of Nursing. “All pregnant and postpartum women experiencing substance use disorder deserve comprehensive, open, warm and accepting treatment and recovery support services provided by expert, providers and staff. The impact of these programs saves lives — this is especially important at a time when U.S. maternal mortality continues to rise.”
“The UK College of Nursing has been instrumental in the development of our programming to address substance use complicating pregnancy,” said John O’Brien, M.D., chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at UK HealthCare. “This challenge has been responsible for more maternal mortalities in our state than any other over the past five years. This award is well deserved.”
The PATHways and the SMART Parenting clinics are interdisciplinary partner clinics created to support perinatal women with substance use disorder throughout treatment and recovery. A family-centered and trauma-informed approach linked with expert peer support services serve as the foundation of the programs. Case management, group counseling, individual therapy, peer support and direct linkages to numerous community programs provide support to women and their partners from conception throughout parenting years.
Prenatal and postpartum care include specialty consultations with experts in nursing, addiction medicine, neonatology, maternal-fetal medicine, hepatology, social work and substance abuse counseling. Throughout the program, women connect with other program participants who are facing some of the same challenges. Peer support can provide both hope and comfort and it is integral to success. At these partnered clinics, patients are encouraged to bring their infants and children with them to appointments which allows clinic staff to offer guidance on infant and toddler care as the family adjusts to their new roles and routines.
“The academy is proud to designate these unique and timely programs as Edge Runners,” said academy president Kenneth White, Ph.D. “The diverse focus of these models highlights the wide range of services, vital support and team-based approaches that the nursing profession provides. In particular, these models highlight nurses as leaders in innovation for improving care and equity in our health systems.”
All of the academy’s Edge Runner profiles are available to view here. The program leads for each of these innovative models of care will be honored at the 2022 Health Policy Conference, taking place Oct. 27-29, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
“We are thrilled for Dr. Ashford’s work to have this prestigious recognition and for the college to have its third academy Edge Runner,” said UK College of Nursing Dean Janie Heath, Ph.D.
The American Academy of Nursing serves the public by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy fellows are inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improve health locally and globally. With more than 2,900 fellows, the academy represents nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, administration, practice and academia.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.