Sherry Rogers, RN, MSN, NEA-BC, is Chief Nursing Officer at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, Maine. She is co-chair of Maine Partners in Nursing Education and Practice, a project of Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, which is a partnership of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Northwest Health Foundation.

Maine is a rural state with the least dense population among states east of the Mississippi. The greater Portland area in southern Maine contains 20 percent of Maine’s residents, while northern counties have fewer than one person per square mile. A drive from the state’s southernmost hospital to its northernmost school of nursing would take approximately seven hours by car. The rural nature of Maine provides unique challenges to the state’s 13 nursing schools when it comes to placing students in their needed clinical hospital rotations. I am helping to oversee a program aimed at overcoming those student placement challenges.

Our project, called Maine Partners in Nursing Education and Practice, partnered with the Maine Department of Labor to link the state’s schools of nursing with hospital clinical rotation sites by implementing a Maine region of the Massachusetts Centralized Clinical Placement (MCCP), a web-based program that streamlines the scheduling and management of clinical nursing education placements between health care organizations and nursing programs. The system is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) and can be viewed at www.mcnplacement.org.

This is part of a series introducing programs in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Human Capital Portfolio.

A few years ago, Natasha Leland was a professional opera singer. John Pederzolli was in financial sales. And Blake Smith was a high school soccer coach. Today, all are nurses, thanks to support from New Careers in Nursing (NCIN), a program of RWJF and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Since 2008, NCIN has helped facilitate more than 2,700 scholarships for second career nurses entering accelerated degree programs. Thanks to resources and support from NCIN, these students—who are from groups underrepresented in nursing—are quickly entering the workforce, ready to provide high quality patient care and become leaders in the profession.

Before realizing their dreams of becoming nurses, NCIN scholars had a wide variety of professions: customer service, teacher, aviation safety professional, and even professional clown, among others. Each Scholar brings unique life and real-world experience to his or her new career. That makes them well-equipped to handle a fast-paced training program, and the demands of the profession.

Jean Giddens, PhD, RN FAAN, is professor & executive dean at the College of Nursing, University of New Mexico and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow. This post is part of the "Health Care in 2013" series.

The beginning of every year often serves as a time to reflect on events from the previous year, to consider opportunities that lie ahead, and make resolutions for things one wishes to accomplish.  As an educator, my New Year’s resolution for the United States health care system is to work toward a more efficient system for educating nurses. 

Nursing education represents a critical link among many efforts to improve the nation’s health care.  Our education system currently lacks the capacity to meet the current and future workforce demands, particularly in rural states.  Goals such as increasing workforce diversity, creating resource efficiency in education processes (particularly for advanced practice nursing education), and enhancing education systems leading to a more educated workforce are among the highest priorities for action in 2013.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) last week released preliminary findings from its annual nursing education survey showing an increase in enrollment in all types of nursing programs from 2011 to 2012.

The AACN survey finds a 3.5 percent increase in entry-level Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program enrollment, and a significant increase in the number of students in graduate nursing programs. Master’s degree nursing programs reported an 8.2 percent increase in enrollment, while Doctor of Nursing Practice program enrollment increased by 19.6 percent and PhD/DNS programs by 1.3 percent.

Baccalaureate degree completion programs (RN to BSN) saw an increase in enrollment of 22.2 percent, which marks the 10th year of enrollment increases for these programs.

Though enrollment has increased, the survey finds that many potential students are still being turned away. In 2012, more than 52,000 qualified applicants were turned away from entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs because of a shortage of clinical placement sites, faculty, and funding.

In addition to its annual survey, AACN also released data showing that baccalaureate nursing graduates are at least twice as likely as those in other fields to have a job at the time they graduate. The survey also finds hospitals and other employers prefer hiring new nurses with BSNs.

One goal of the Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, is that 80 percent of nurses have bachelor’s degrees or higher by the year 2020.

Learn more about the survey results.

Have you signed up to receive Sharing Nursing’s Knowledge? The monthly Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) e-newsletter will keep you up to date on the work of RWJF’s nursing programs, and the latest news, research and trends relating to academic progression, leadership and other critically important nursing issues.  Here are descriptions of some of the stories in the December issue:

Nurse Heroes
In the weeks after Hurricane Sandy pummeled shores in New York and New Jersey, a number of stories surfaced about the critical role nurses played during and after the storm hit. Nurses are gaining widespread recognition for their emergency-relief work—even a nod from President Obama. But the contributions of nurses working as emergency responders is not new.  Read the story.

CDC Recognizes Nurse Leader for Groundbreaking Research on Domestic Violence
RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar program director Jacquelyn Campbell is being hailed as one of the 20 most influential researchers in injury prevention over the last 20 years by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Campbell’s groundbreaking research has shown that nurses can work alongside partners in health care, law enforcement and social work to protect women from the ravages of domestic violence. The school nurse turned domestic violence prevention pioneer is the only nurse to receive the CDC’s prestigious distinction. Read the profile.

Signs of Progress in Addressing New Jersey’s Nurse Faculty Shortage
Legislators had praise and questions for the health, business and academic leaders who gathered at the State House in Trenton on Nov. 19 to provide updates on progress made so far by the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI)—a multi-year, multi-million-dollar project of RWJF and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation that is working to fill nurse faculty positions in the state. Since its inception in 2009, NJNI’s Faculty Preparation Program has supported 61 New Jersey Nursing Scholars who are pursuing (or have completed) master’s or doctoral degrees that qualify them for nurse faculty positions. Read the story.

Why Nurses Go Back to School
A new study from the RWJF RN Work Project identifies the characteristics and factors that best predict whether nurses will return to school to earn higher degrees. The researchers identified internal and external motivators, and barriers, to advancing nurses’ education.  Learn more.

See the entire December issue here. Sign up to receive Sharing Nursing’s Knowledge here.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

A study led by RWJF Health & Society Scholars alumna Annice Kim, PhD, finds teens are more likely to buy tobacco products if they are prominently displayed in stores, Reuters reports. The researchers used a virtual reality game in a simulated online convenience store to collect their data. Health Day also reported on the findings.

News coverage of anti-Muslim fringe groups after September 11 “created the misperception they were mainstream organizations, and this perception enabled them to secure funding and build social networks that they may not [have] been able to do otherwise,” RWJF Scholar in Health Policy Research Christopher Bail, PhD, told United Press International about his study, recently published in the American Sociological Review. His findings also received coverage in Yahoo News, the Times Union, and Health Canal, among other outlets.

Nurse.com reports on a study by the RN Work Project that examined the characteristics and motivations that influence registered nurses to pursue bachelor of science in nursing or higher degrees. Read more about the study.

Debbie Chatman Bryant, DNP, RN, assistant director for cancer prevention and control and outreach at the Medical University of South Carolina, was honored at a local ceremony for receiving an RWJF Community Health Leader award. The Post and Courier reports that Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) made a surprise appearance at the event.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

NJ Spotlight reports on a state Senate committee hearing in New Jersey this week at which legislators heard from health, business and academic leaders about how the New Jersey Nursing Initiative has made progress in addressing the state’s staggering 10.5 percent nursing faculty vacancy rate. Among those testifying was John Lumpkin, RWJF senior vice president and director of the Health Care Group. Read more about the hearing.

A study by RWJF Health & Society Scholars alumnus Haslyn Hunte, PhD, MPH, and colleagues find that Blacks who feel discriminated against or mistreated are more likely to abuse alcohol and illegal drugs, Medical XPress reports.

Kelly Doran, MD, an RWJF/U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Scholar, wrote a blog for the Huffington Post about why “Hospitals Should Never Discharge Homeless Patients to the Streets.” Hospital care teams often discharge patients “to home” without asking or thinking about their housing situations, perpetuating their cycle of homelessness by sending them back to the streets instead of supportive housing, she writes. Fierce Healthcare also reported on Doran’s post.

Brendan Nyhan, PhD, an alumnus of the RWJF Scholars in Health Policy Research program, gave comments to the Daily Beast about political reporting and predicting election results.

Two years after the release of the landmark Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, the nation's health care system is in the midst of dramatic change. As the largest segment of the health care workforce and the professionals who spend the most time with patients, nurses are playing a vital role in shaping that change, bringing experience and insight to efforts to improve access and quality and lower health care costs.

The IOM nursing report was a game-changer from the moment it was released. It has spurred tremendous activity across the country to implement its recommendations. Health care professionals, educators, policy-makers, consumers, and other stakeholders are joining forces in powerful and unprecedented ways to implement its recommendations – to significantly increase the number of nurses and nurse faculty, to help nurses earn higher degrees, and to promote nurse leaders in health care and public policy.  All this is in the service of making health care more patient-centered, equitable and accessible.

Much of this activity has been organized by the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a joint initiative of AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Campaign has organized "Action Coalitions" that are now working in 49 states to implement recommendations from the IOM report.

CampaignforAction.org

As its third year begins and it intensifies its on-the-ground work, the Campaign for Action is launching a new website–www.CampaignforAction.org.

The website supports the Campaign's work to improve the ways nurses are educated, trained and practice. It offers continuously updated news and information on nursing and health care to visitors new to the issue. It also features:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Human Capital Blog is asking diverse experts: What is and isn’t working in health professions education today, and what changes are needed to prepare a high-functioning health and health care workforce that can meet the country’s current and emerging needs? Today’s post is by Kate Driscoll Malliarakis, PhD, CNP, MAC, assistant professor and program coordinator, Nursing Leadership and Management at the George Washington University School of Nursing. Malliarakis is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Executive Nurse Fellow (ENF) and president-elect of the RWJF ENF Alumni Association.

Nursing has afforded me the opportunity to serve in numerous non-traditional positions. Now as an academic, I work to provide my students with a broad view of health care. Today, nurses enjoy a variety of educational opportunities that differ from the old one-size-fits-all approach. Thanks to technological advances in education, hybrid formats enable nurses to experience new educational opportunities through online course work and flexible, asynchronous learning.  

Online education encourages diversity as students hail from a variety of geographic locations and experiences. Unlike the standard classroom where a student can sit in the last row and not participate, online discussions demand the student’s involvement not only with the faculty but with each other. The result is a richer interaction and learning experience.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Human Capital Blog is asking diverse experts: What is and isn’t working in health professions education today, and what changes are needed to prepare a high-functioning health and health care workforce that can meet the country’s current and emerging needs? Today’s post is by Judith Halstead, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF, president of the National League for Nursing and executive associate dean for Academic Affairs at the Indiana University School of Nursing.

The changes proposed by health care reform have the potential to significantly alter the environment in which nurses and other health care professionals will practice. The emerging emphasis on primary care, transition care, and accountable care organizations underscores a fundamental shift in how the US health care delivery system is envisioned to function in the future. This future health care environment is very different from the one that many of us in academia currently prepare our students to practice in, i.e., an environment that has been predominately focused on preparing students for practice in the acute care setting. The IOM’s Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2011) clearly identifies changes that need to occur in nursing education if we hope to prepare nurses with the competencies and skills required to practice in a redesigned health care system.

What is the role of nursing education in realizing a transformed health care system? The role can be a significant one, but only if we are willing to re-examine our current nursing education models. To produce nurses prepared to practice in reformed health care environments, we can no longer educate our nursing students using the traditional educational practices that we have long embraced. There exists no substantive evidence to suggest that our traditional means of clinical education in nursing and other health professions are particularly effective in developing clinical reasoning, so it is an opportune time to closely examine our educational practices and create new learning paradigms that are grounded in evidence. I believe we need to focus on four priority areas in order to achieve meaningful transformation in our nursing education models: 1) building faculty capacity; 2) designing new models of clinical education; 3) developing innovative models of academic/practice collaboration; and 4) advancing the science of nursing education through research.