American
Association of Colleges of Nursing Applauds
JCAHO’s Efforts to Resolve the Nursing Shortage
New
Report Calls for a Nursing Career Ladder, Stronger Ties
Between the Education and Practice Settings
WASHINGTON,
D.C., August 16, 2002 – The American Association of
Colleges of Nursing (AACN) applauds the efforts of the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
(JCAHO) to create a public policy action plan to address
the nursing shortage. As outlined in a report released on
August 7, 2002, the Joint Commission is calling for a collective
response to the nursing crisis with recommendations to transform
the workplace, bolster nursing education, and provide financial
incentives to health care organizations that invest in high
quality nursing care.
“JCAHO
recognizes that long-term solutions to the nursing shortage
demand sweeping changes in the way nurses are educated,
introduced to the work place, retained as skilled clinicians,
and utilized on the job,” said AACN’s President
Kathleen Ann Long, PhD, RN, FAAN. “Hospitals, nursing
schools, the federal government, private industry and the
entire community of health professionals must come together
to chart a bold new course for the nursing profession.”
The
comprehensive report, Health Care at the Crossroads:
Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis,
showed that the nursing shortage is compromising patient
safety and diminishing health care quality. Findings point
to a direct connection between the RN shortage and negative
patient outcomes, including deaths and serious injuries
attributed to hospital errors.
One
of the primary strategies in the area of nursing education
that was advanced by the expert involves the creation of
a nursing career ladder commensurate with education level
and experience. According to the report: “Nurses enter
the workforce with a variety of educational experiences,
although these different skill and competency levels are
not necessarily recognized – through compensation and
role differentials - in the work setting. This serves as
a disincentive for nurses to raise their level of education.”
“AACN
is strongly committed to improving the quality of our nation's
health care by preparing a better educated nursing workforce,”
added Dr. Long. “We support the concept of a career
ladder in nursing and differentiated roles that allow nurses
to practice to the full extent of their skills and capabilities
developed in different education programs. Nurses pursuing
higher education should be encouraged and rewarded for their
commitment to education that enhances patient care.”
Also
in the area of education, the commission encourages stronger
ties between nursing schools and the practice setting to
strengthen educational programs and ease the student’s
transition into the work place. AACN is strongly committed
to the need for partnerships with practice organizations
and the need for both partners to assume mutual accountability
in the preparation of professional nurses for today’s
health care system. As cited in the report, AACN is currently
working with the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC)
on a standardized nurse residency program to facilitate
the student’s development from novice to expert clinician.
Now being piloted at six academic health centers, residencies
will soon be offered at all UHC-member facilities nationwide.
Beyond
its work with the UHC on nurse residencies, AACN released
guidelines in 1999 on how nursing schools can align with
hospitals, HMOs, community health centers, and other facilities
to support student learning and faculty development. In
this publication, Essential Clinical Resources for Nursing’s
Academic Mission, AACN identifies the clinical learning
experiences needed to prepare skilled nurses for basic and
advance practice as well as the clinical resources required
for faculty practice and nursing research to develop and
thrive.
“AACN
welcomes the opportunity to work with JCAHO, health centers
and the nursing community to foster stronger clinical connections
and encourage the use of nurse residency programs in health
facilities across the country,” said Dr. Long. “We
welcome our colleagues from the practice world to join us
in this effort to better prepare today’s registered
nurse and reinvigorate the nursing profession.”
JCAHO
assembled a panel of health care leaders to develop a list
of achievable solutions that would have the greatest impact
on stemming the nursing shortage. Panel members included
hospital administrators, nurse executives, physicians, researchers,
patient care directors, nurse educators, a union president
and a licensure official. Solutions forwarded by the group
include encouraging health care facilities to adopt “magnet
hospital” characteristics and create a culture that
fosters nurse retention; establishing standardized post-graduation
residency programs; setting staffing levels based on competency
and skill mix; limiting mandatory overtime; funding faculty
positions and student scholarships; diversifying the nursing
workforce; and making federal monies available to health
care organizations that employ best practices in nursing
services.
The
panel also recommends that nurse employers, foundations
and nursing schools work together to provide fast-track,
low-cost opportunities for nurses to achieve higher levels
of education. The full report from the Joint Commission
is available online at http://www.jcaho.org
The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college
education programs in nursing. Representing more than 580
member schools of nursing at public and private institutions
nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy,
data collection, publications, and other programs work to
establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate
and graduate nursing education, research, and practice.
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CONTACT: Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
