The ES/CICAD/OAS schools of nursing project: a model of excellence for professional and scientific development on drug related issues in Latin America

摘要

This paper presents the Executive Secretariat of Interamerican Drug Abuse Control Commission (ES/CICAD)'s successful experience introducing drug related content into nursing curricula, fostering the implementation of outreach activities at the community level, and promoting research studies on drug issues in Latin America. The "Critical-holistic international health model applied to the drug phenomenon" is used as the project's theoretical framework. The three basic components of the project are education, outreach activities, and drug research studies, which provide the scientific basis for the development and advancement of future nursing professionals to work and study drug issues in Latin America. Through this project, more than 50,000 nursing students have been or are being educated on drug-related issues; the participating schools have implemented 400 outreach activities, developed more than 500 research studies on drug-related issues, and published more than 270 articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals. The ES/CICAD Schools of Nursing Project has served as a model to address the drug phenomenon from an international health perspective for other academic areas such as medicine, public health, education, psychology, social work, social communication, and law in Latin America.