Environmental Health

Overview

Environmental health has been established as a practice domain for professional nurses. Consideration of the relationship between human health and our environment, including air (indoor and out), water, food, and products is an important part of nursing assessments for individuals and the community. Understanding the multi-disciplinary and multi-agency roles in environmental health is critical to playing a successful role in protecting the environmental and public health. This 12-credit certificate program will prepare nurses to engage in environmental health activities within health care settings, including local and state health departments, regulatory agencies, and non-profit/advocacy organizations.   Participants who complete the program will be able to:

1. Assess common environmental health exposures in homes, schools, workplaces, and communities
2. Apply the basic principles of toxicology to environmental health problems
3. Develop intervention strategies to reduce individual and community-wide exposures to potentially toxic exposures
4. Communicate about health risks associated with environmental exposures
5. Note the contribution that disproportionate environmental exposures can have on health disparities
6. Access credible scientific sources of information regarding the relationship between human health and the environment
7. Advocate for institutional, legislative, and regulatory policies that protect the environment and promote environmental health
8. Develop institutional strategies toward sustainability and environmental health
9. Identify the special vulnerabilities to environmental impacts that humans face through the life stages
10. Consider the role that biological monitoring and its resulting body burden data should have on environmental policies and practices

Who Should Apply?

This certificate is open to professional nurses who seek to develop skills in the new and emerging field of environmental health. To be eligible for the program, students must be a registered nurse and have a bachelor’s degree or be enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON). Accepted graduate students may complete the certificate concurrently with their graduate studies. Students who are not enrolled in a graduate program at UMSON can complete the certificate in three semesters starting either in the fall or spring. 

To apply, click here: https://www.simsweb.umaryland.edu/pls/SIMS/bwskalog.P_DispLoginNon.

Once you create your account and log in, select the CERTIFICATE option, then Environmental Health.

Admission Criteria

• Registered nurse with a bachelor’s or higher degree OR current graduate student at UMSON
• Official transcripts for all prior higher education – undergraduate and graduate -- if applicable
• Two letters of recommendation. (Reference letters must come from a mentor, teacher, employer, fellow student, or professional colleague who can speak knowledgably about your potential to successfully complete this certificate program.)
• Current resume or curriculum vitae
• Mail additional materials (transcripts, letters of recommendation, and CVs) to:

University of Maryland School of Nursing
Office of Student and Academic Services
655 West Lombard Street, Suite 102
Baltimore, MD 21201

Sample Plan of Study

*NURS 730 is offered in both the spring and fall semesters.

**A range of environmental health courses are available and noted in the Courses tab. This flexibility is built into the certificate to allow the student an opportunity to extensively explore a specific aspect of environmental health.  This course selection must be approved by the program director. NOTE: Not all the options listed below are offered in the fall.

Courses

NURS 730 Environmental Health

This course explores the relationship between human health and the environment. Students learn the basic assessment techniques to determining risks in their personal lives and in the health care setting. They explore the nature of environmental justice, current environmental health policies, and have an opportunity to focus on an area of specific interest. Each student is responsible for a class presentation on their area of interest.

NURS 735 Applied Toxicology

This course was developed by nurses for nurses with an understanding that most nurses have not taken biochemistry. The course provides nurses with a basic understanding of the physiology of toxicological mechanisms. It also uses common exposures to examine toxicological data, assess risk, communicate about the risk, and consider how policies are determined in light of the risk data.

NURS 764 Advanced Environmental Health

This course introduces students to a more in-depth exploration of a number of environmental health issues including air pollution, heavy metals, pesticides, climate change, and agriculturally and food-related exposures and concerns. During the course of the semester the student is expected to prepare a paper on an environmental health topic of their choice for a nursing publication. This mentored process includes student peer-to-peer reviews.

Optional Course

System-wise, the University of Maryland has a number of schools that collectively provide students with a multitude of choices to explore an additional area of environmental health or population-based health studies. The following are some examples, but not an exhaustive list:

Faculty

Robyn Gilden, PhD, RN, assistant professor and director of the Environmental Health Certificate

Rebecca Shelley, PhD, RN, assistant professor