Opinion: Nurses have helped NM thrive

When patients seek health care, nurses are the providers with whom they tend to interact the most – and who therefore often have an outsized impact on their health outcomes. But nurses don't just care for the sick: they are at the forefront of transforming health care delivery, research and policy. The University of New Mexico College of Nursing faculty understands this and has made it the cornerstone of their efforts to educate our state's nursing workforce for more than half a century. This fall, as the college marks the 60th anniversary of enrolling its first class, it is a good time to reflect on its many accomplishments and look to the future to see how nurses will help us adapt to a rapidly changing health care environment.