For years the School of Nursing and Health Studies has helped shape patient care across the Americas, from rural Haiti to urban Chile. Now the school extends its helping hands even farther—as a newly established Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Nursing Collaborating Centre—one of 11 such centers in the United States.

The PAHO/WHO center inauguration took place at the school’s M. Christine Schwartz Center for Nursing and Health Studies during a three-day conference held in March.

At the conference, members of the PAHO regional network on patient safety discussed how patient safety—a WHO global priority—is being addressed individually and collectively. The UM center will share advances in patient safety with regional leaders through online education as well as on-site workshops using the school’s state-of-the-art simulation and research facilities.

The global nursing shortage is especially severe in Latin America and the Caribbean, where nurses often leave for wealthier regions upon completing their education. The center will research the impact of migration patterns on patient safety and explore recruitment and retention strategies.

“By collaborating with international leaders in the profession, we will greatly increase our ability to address nursing shortages and improve patient safety throughout the Western Hemisphere,” says Nilda P. Peragallo, dean and professor at the School of Nursing and Health Studies and the center’s director. “Each country faces unique challenges.”