January
2002 News Watch
1.
Enrollments Rise at U.S. Nursing Colleges in Fall 2001
2. New Issue Bulletin Explores Increasing
Student Diversity
3. Application Deadline Nears for Hartford
Scholarship Grants
4. Nursing Shortage Legislation Passes the
House and Senate
5. Register Now for Master’s Education and
Faculty Practice Conferences
6. AACN Co-Hosts NRHA’s 25th Anniversary
Conference
7. Post-September 11 Resources Available
Online
8. 2002 Secretary's Award Seeks Student Nominations
9. AHC Launches Access Initiative in February
10. New Web Site Educates Nurses to Spot
Bioterror Diseases
11. New Opportunity Alerts Posted on the
Web
12. AACN Outreach and Advocacy Update
1.
Enrollments Rise at U.S. Nursing Colleges in Fall 2001
According
to the results of AACN’s annual survey released in December,
enrollments in entry-level baccalaureate programs in nursing
increased in fall 2001 ending a six-year period of decline.
Enrollments in generic baccalaureate programs were up 3.7
percent in fall 2001 compared to fall 2000. With an 80.8
percent response rate to the survey, data show that nursing
school enrollments were up in all regions of the United
States with the greatest increase realized in the South
with a 4 percent increase. Other regions reported the following
increases from 2000 to 2001: North Atlantic schools were
up by 3.5 percent; Midwest schools were up by 3.5 percent;
and schools in the West were up by 3.4 percent. Click
here for more information. The data report containing
the survey results will be available in February.
2.
New Issue Bulletin Explores Increasing Student Diversity
In December,
AACN released a new Issue Bulletin on Effective Strategies
for Increasing Diversity in Nursing Programs. This bulletin
examines how nursing colleges and universities across the
country are boosting their efforts to attract men and minority
students into their programs. Schools share their success
stories and outline recruitment techniques that can be duplicated
on campuses nationwide. The complete Issue
Bulletin is available online.
3.
Application Deadline Nears for Hartford Scholarship Grants
AACN
and The John A. Hartford Foundation of New York are participating
in a joint effort to improve the quality of health care
for older Americans. Through a grant funded by Hartford
Foundation, competitive scholarship funds are available
to nursing schools looking to expand capacity in their existing
geriatric advanced practice nursing programs. Grant monies
will be awarded over a three-year period to schools providing
1-to-1 matching funds. Schools must be able to recruit new
students nationally with geographic, cultural, and ethnic
diversity, and prepare graduates with skills to sustain
careers in geriatric nursing. All graduates of geriatric
advanced practice nursing programs who receive scholarships
must be eligible to sit for ANCC or other nationally recognized
certifications in geriatric advanced practice nursing. A
Request
for Proposals has been issued for the Creating
Careers in Geriatric Advanced Practice Nursing grant
and is now posted on AACN’s Web site. Applications are due
by 5:00 p.m. on February 15, 2002. For more information,
contact Dr. Joan Stanley at jstanley@aacn.nche.edu.
4.
Nursing Shortage Legislation Passes the House and Senate
Just
before recessing on December 20, 2001, both the House and
Senate passed vastly different versions of the Nurse Reinvestment
Act (HR 3487 and S 1864) to address the nursing shortage.
Both bills must be combined in a conference committee agreeable
to both chambers, and then signed by the President. The
House bill provides funding for a public service campaign
to enhance the image of nursing and authority for scholarships
for nursing students and for the GAO to conduct a study
on the shortage of nursing faculty. The Senate bill includes
a fast track nursing faculty scholarship and loan repayment
program, funding for internships and residencies, a nursing
recruitment grant program, a career ladder program, funding
for the Nurse Health Service Corps Scholarship Program,
and grants to promote best practices for nursing management
using the magnet hospital criteria. A side-by-side
comparison of both bills is available on the Web.
5.
Register Now for the Master's and Faculty Practice Conferences
Supporting
the theme Contrasts and Decision Points: Innovative Models
for Master’s Education, AACN will hold the annual
Master's Education Conference on February 21-23, 2002 at
the Amelia Island Resort in Florida. The conference will
examine the various models used for master’s education
in nursing. Innovative programs for entry-level master’s
degrees will be explored, and three successful programs
contrasted. Particular emphasis will be on specialty programs
– confident creation of a specialty program for a niche
market, innovative programs in areas such as genetics, gerontology,
and palliative care, as well as the re-emergence of traditional
functional specialties such as education and administration.
Strategies for recruiting students and administering various
aspects of master’s education will be shared via plenary
sessions and poster presentations. Deans, program directors,
and faculty who are involved in master’s education
in nursing are encouraged to attend. The
complete schedule and registration information
is online.
AACN’s
Faculty Practice Conference will be held April 18-20, 2002
at the Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Programmed around
the theme Confronting Controversies in Faculty Practice,
the conference will offer plenary, poster, and abstract
sessions around selected controversial questions. A new
preconference has been added this year and is scheduled
for April 18. Entitled Business Principles for Faculty
Practice in Academic Nursing Centers, the day-long preconference
will offer practical tips and techniques for establishing
a successful academic nursing center. Further details about
the conference as well as the call for abstracts will be
posted on AACN’s Web site in the Conferences
section.
6.
AACN Co-Hosts NRHA's 25th Anniversary Conference
The
National Rural Health Association will host their 25th Annual
Conference on Rural Health on May 15-17, 2002 in Kansas
City, MO. This conference is the largest gathering of rural
health professionals in the nation, offering a uniquely
rural focus on health issues not found in other national
health conferences. This year, AACN will serve as a co-host
for the conference that is expected to draw over 1,000 attendees
interested in such issues as telehealth, emergency medical
services in rural areas, recruitment and retention of health
professionals in rural areas, migrant health issues, and
legislative policy updates. For more information or to register
for the conference, visit http://www.nrharural.org/conf/main.html.
7.
Post-September 11 Resources Available Online
AACN
strives to keep members updated on the latest resources
available on the Web. In the wake of September 11 events,
here are some resources that may be of interest to nurse
educators and students:
**The
Association of American Universities (AAU) and the National
Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
(NASULGC) have developed a Web site - http://www.aau.edu/resources/resources.html
- to enable officials at research universities to share
information on how campuses are addressing the challenges
of the post-September 11 environment. The Web site provides
information about legislative actions, laboratory and computer
security, media statements, and other university campus
issues.
**Sigma
Theta Tau International recently launched the America in
Grief Web site - http://www.nursingsociety.org/grief.html
- which serves as a hub of essential online resources including
information about biological or chemical terrorism, coping
strategies, and what to say to children.
8.
2002 Secretary's Award Seeks Student Nominations
The
Secretary’s Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and
Disease Prevention competition is an opportunity for health
professions students to enter papers describing innovative
health promotion or disease prevention projects for consideration
for cash awards. The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
sponsors this annual competition in collaboration with the
Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions.
Nursing school leaders are encouraged to share details about
this program with their students. Click
here for details on the 2002 competition, including
an application. The deadline for students to submit entries
to their schools is January 25, 2002. Please note that
the deadline for schools of nursing to submit papers to
AACN is February 5, 2002.
9.
AHC Launches Access Initiative in February
The
Association of Academic Health Centers (AHC) is spearheading
a national public education campaign to raise awareness
about the millions of uninsured people in America and to
support activities to reduce the numbers of the uninsured
by at least 5 million people a year across America. With
the kick-off event planned for February 12, 2002 in Washington,
D.C., AHC plans to encourage supporters to host events across
the country to raise the visibility of the access to health
care issue. AACN supports AHC initiative and will share
regular updates with members throughout the year. For more
information, visit http://www.ahcnet.org/newsroom/index.php3?url=initiatives.html.
10.
New Web Site Educates Nurses to Spot Bioterror Diseases
Experts
say that one of the flaws in the nation's defenses against
bioterrorism is unfamiliarity on the part of providers with
the diseases involved. Now a new Web site funded by the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality aims to help
by teaching hospital-based nurses and physicians how to
diagnose and treat rare infections and exposures to bioterrorist
agents. Courses offered on the site - http://www.bioterrorism.uab.edu
- cover six bioterrorist agents and their associated syndromes:
anthrax; smallpox; botulism; tularemia; viral hemorrhagic
fever; and plague. Designed by researchers in the Center
for Disaster Preparedness at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham, the courses involve the use of case-based scenarios
and photos followed by multiple-choice questions. There
is no charge for the courses, each of which offer an hour
of continuing education credit.
11.
New Opportunity Alerts Posted on the Web
Opportunity
Alerts are announcements of grants, fellowships, scholarships,
and other funding sources for nursing programs, students,
and research that are routinely updated on AACN’s Web site.
Seven new Opportunity Alerts have been posted, including
a health services research fellowship, two NINR awards programs,
predoctoral training program, and a loan repayment program.
Click here for
more details.
12.
AACN Outreach and Advocacy Update
**On
November 28, 2002, Dr. Joan Stanley, AACN’s Director of
Education Policy, represented the association at the Health
Education Coalition on Bioterrorism hosted by the Association
of American Medical Colleges. The coalition met to develop
a collective educational response to biological, radiation,
and chemical terrorism.
**Dr.
Polly Bednash, AACN’s Executive Director, and Debbie Campbell,
Director of Governmental Affairs, attended a meeting on
December 12, 2002 with Department of Labor officials to
underscore the need for baccalaureate-educated nurses in
the U.S. health care system. As a result of that meeting,
AACN will be representing careers in nursing at DOL’s Workforce
Redevelopment Conference held in Washington, D.C. on January
10, 2002.
**The
End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) will host
the next training session on end-of-life nursing care for
baccalaureate and associate degree faculty on January 10-12,
2002 in Pasadena, CA. With over 160 nurses expected to attend,
capacity in the program had to be increased to meet the
demand.
** George
Mason University’s Center for Health Policy, Research and
Ethics is conducting a survey of nursing organizations to
determine what data exists concerning the current nursing
workforce. The Center is particularly interested in data
on the educational pathways of advanced practice nurses
and sources of educational support. For complete details
on GMU’s Funding Allocation Project, see http://chpre.gmu.edu.
