A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evaluating Innovations in Nursing Education program (EIN) grantee team from the New York University College of Nursing, along with their collaborating partner at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, will give a presentation at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Fall semi-annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, October 30.

Investigators Hila Richardson, DrPH, Lloyd A. Goldsamt, PhD, and Pamela Jeffries, PhD, will discuss findings related to the impact of simulation on use of faculty resources, whether simulation should replace traditional clinical hours, and models of effective integration into the curriculum.

The session, "Clinical Simulation: Issues, Outcomes, Challenges and Future Directions," is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Learn more about the meeting.

Two Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) grantees will join with George Washington University and the Wake Forest University School of Law next month to present a health policy forum on safety net programs that serve low-income and uninsured patients.

The Washington, D.C. event will feature Mark A. Hall, JD, and Sara Rosenbaum, JD—both recipients of RWJF Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research and co-editors of a new book, The Health Care Safety Net in a Post-Reform World.

The forum, which will take place October 17 from 10 am to 12:30 pm at George Washington University, will also feature experts from the Commonwealth Fund,  the Hastings Center and elsewhere.

Learn more about the forum and the live-stream.

By Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Every year, the American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting features some of the best and brightest minds in health and health care. Taking place in Washington, D.C. from October 29 to November 2, it is a cutting edge event that advances critical research, helps shape policy and practice, and stimulates thinking on some of the most pressing health issues of our time. APHA notes that it is the oldest and largest gathering of public health professionals and, in my experience it is easily one of the most influential. I am very proud that, this year, it will feature dozens of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) scholars, fellows, alumni, grantees, staff and others who have been touched by Foundation programs.

Perhaps most exciting is that Melvin D. Shipp, OD, MPH, DrPH, a former RWJF Health Policy Fellow (1989-1990), is beginning his term as president of this prestigious organization. Shipp is dean of The Ohio State University College of Optometry and past president of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. He will hold the APHA leadership position for two years, and I know he will do great things during that time. At the meeting, Shipp will lead a session on the Health Policy Fellows program, explaining the experience and its impact on participants.

Among the many others from the RWJF “family” who will be featured at the annual meeting are:

By Margaret Wainwright Henbest, R.N., M.S.N., C.P.N.P.

Executive Director of the Idaho Alliance of Leaders in Nursing and Co-Lead of the Idaho Nursing Action Coalition

Last month I had the opportunity, as the co-lead of the Idaho Nursing Action Coalition, to meet in Washington D.C. with other nurse leaders and their professional partners from states across the nation to talk with our respective Congressional delegations about the Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.

Thanks to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Connect program, we were prepared, confident and on target in our meetings.

The IOM report makes specific recommendations that identify what Congress, the executive agencies, state legislatures, businesses, colleges and universities, and nursing professional organizations must do to prepare nurses to meet the challenges of a transformed health care system. In order to be effective, the coalitions must engage all these entities and educate them about nursing’s role in improving the quality, access and affordability of health care services.

The Connect training gave the coalition leaders the skills they need to accomplish this. The Connect coaches helped the teams identify how they could effectively engage their members of Congress in the work of the state coalitions.

Understanding that lawmakers want to help people solve problems, we learned and practiced storytelling as a means to communicate our priorities in a meaningful manner and importantly, we learned to ask for what we need—something that doesn’t come easy to many nurses.