1. AACN’s
Spring Annual Meeting Commences This Weekend
2. Capitol Hill Roundtable on Nursing Faculty
Shortage Planned
3. Complete Enrollment and Graduations Report
Now Available
4. Nursing Overseas Launches Two New Outreach
Projects
5. New Survey Shows That BSN Nurses Earn Higher
Salaries
6. AANA Releases Results of Needle Reuse Survey
7. AACN President Appointed to a JCAHO Advisory
Council
8. New Hot Issues Conference Offered for Nursing
Faculty
9. Nursing Schools Support Cover the Uninsured
Week
10. Executive Development Series Offered March
21-22, 2003
11. Hadassah Advocates for Action to Address
the Nursing Shortage
12. Join Us for the BONUS Annual Meeting in
San Antonio
13. Baccalaureate Residency Project Adds Six
New Sites
14. Nurses Top the List of Most Trusted Professionals
15. Opportunities and Resources to Consider
16. New Partnerships and Grant-Funded Initiatives
17. Member News, Announcements and Awards
18. AACN Outreach and Advocacy Update
1.AACN’S
SPRING ANNUAL MEETING COMMENCES THIS WEEKEND
On March
22-25, 2003, deans and directors from around the country
will converge on Washington, DC for AACN’s Spring Annual
Meeting hosted at The Fairmont Washington Hotel (formerly
the Washington Monarch). Echoing the theme “Nursing
in the National Spotlight: Taking Action,” meeting
highlights include presentations by national speaker/author
Tim Porter-O’Grady and JCAHO President Dennis O’Leary.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Division of Nursing and
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a special Capitol Hill
Forum will focus attention on the nursing faculty shortage.
Program sessions will cover federal funding opportunities,
coping with troubled students, and multigenerational perspectives
of the nursing workforce. Those wishing to register should
note that the room block at The Fairmont Washington is full.
Overflow rooms have been reserved at the Washington Marriott
Hotel located two blocks from the Fairmont. To make reservations,
call 202-872-1580. For more information, click
here.
2.CAPITOL
HILL ROUNDTABLE ON NURSING FACULTY SHORTAGE PLANNED
On March
24, 2003 from 4:30-6:30pm, the Friends of the Division of
Nursing will hold a Capitol Hill Roundtable titled “Safeguarding
the Public's Health: Educating the Nation's Nurses.”
Designed to showcase nursing education issues and welcome
the new House Nursing Caucus, the program will feature presentations
on the nursing faculty shortage and explore promising models
that improve faculty availability. Speakers will focus on
long-term remedies to reverse the diminishing supply of
nursing faculty. The event will be hosted in Room B-338
of the Rayburn House Office Building. Bus transportation
from the AACN Spring Annual Meeting will be provided from
the hotel at 3:30pm. For more details, contact Gene Throwe
at gthrowe@aacn.nche.edu.
3.
COMPLETE ENROLLMENT AND GRADUATIONS REPORT NOW AVAILABLE
AACN
is pleased to announce that the annual survey results have
been published in a complete data report, “2002-2003
Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate
Programs in Nursing.” We would like to thank the 578
schools who participated in the survey and supplied data
that is essential to moving AACN’s mission and advocacy
efforts forward. All schools that submitted enrollment and
graduation data were sent a copy of the report. Click
here to order a copy.
4.
NURSING OVERSEAS LAUNCHES TWO NEW OUTREACH PROJECTS
Nursing
Overseas, a division of Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO),
is launching new nursing education programs in Vellore,
India and Mwanza, Tanzania. Both programs will begin recruiting
volunteers in late spring 2003 for two-week to one-month
assignments. The India program is designed to train nursing
school faculty at the Christian Medical College and Hospital
in advanced clinical, academic and research work. The program
at the Bugando Medical Centre in Tanzania will focus on
staff development by orienting and training nurses in the
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the 800-bed facility. Nursing
Overseas is one of ten active health divisions within HVO
and is sponsored by AACN. For more information about volunteering,
contact the Programs Department at 202-296-0928 or visit
http://www.hvousa.org.
5.
NEW SURVEY SHOWS THAT BSN NURSES EARN HIGHER SALARIES
According
to ADVANCE for Nurses magazine’s annual salary survey,
baccalaureate-prepared nurses earn higher salaries than
nurses prepared in other entry-level nursing programs. Results
of the 2002 survey shows that BSN nurses on average earn
$26.50 per hour while diploma and associate degree prepared
nurses earn $25.65 and $24.19 per hour, respectively. These
results are consistent with last year’s findings and
similar surveys conducted by both Nursing2002 and RN magazine.
For complete survey findings, see http://www.advancefornurses.com/pastarticles/feb17_03cover.html.
6.
AANA RELEASES RESULTS OF NEEDLE REUSE SURVEY
Despite
infection control guidelines, a new survey of various healthcare
providers reveals that 1 in 100 reuse the same needle and/or
syringe on multiple patients, according to the American
Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA). Among the different
categories of healthcare professionals surveyed, 3 percent
of the anesthesiologists who responded indicated they reuse
needles and/or syringes on multiple patients. Physicians,
CRNAs, other nurses and oral surgeons reported reuse at
1 percent or less. Though these percentages may appear low,
they translate into an alarming number of actual healthcare
providers. See the press release at http://www.aana.com/press/2002/111302.asp.
7.
AACN PRESIDENT APPOINTED TO A JCAHO ADVISORY COUNCIL
Last
month, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations (JCAHO) invited AACN President Kathleen Ann
Long, PhD, RNCS, FAAN, to join its newly established Nursing
Advisory Council. JCAHO is committed to working with leaders
in nursing and nursing education to advance solutions for
addressing critical issues in health care such as the nurse
staffing shortage. The Council will be charged in part with
addressing recommendations emanating from the white paper
issued in August 2002, "Health Care at the Crossroads:
Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis."
The Council will be chaired by Marilyn P. Chow, DNSc, RN,
FAAN, who is vice president of Patient Care Services at
Kaiser Permanente and is also the official At-Large Nursing
Representative on JCAHO's Board of Commissioners. For details
on the council, see
here.
8.
NEW HOT ISSUES CONFERENCE OFFERED FOR NURSING FACULTY
The
first Hot Issues Conference will be held April 24-26, 2003
at the Marriott San Antonio Rivercenter. The theme of the
conference is "Building Faculty Leadership During the
Shortage: Solutions from a Faculty Perspective." The
target audience is faculty members rather than senior leadership,
although all nurse educators are welcome. Faculty are directly
affected by the current and growing faculty shortage, and
have a significant role in identifying and implementing
solutions to the crisis. This conference offers faculty
an opportunity to hear the views of experienced nursing
academic leaders and, in extensive discussion among participants,
clarify current issues and share strategies for success.
The conference is scheduled during Fiesta Week, a particularly
exciting time to be in San Antonio. Click
here for more information.
9.
NURSING SCHOOLS SUPPORT COVER THE UNINSURED WEEK
From
March 10-16, 2003, communities across the country held town
hall meetings, campus discussions, and interfaith events
as part of Cover the Uninsured Week, an issue awareness
campaign sponsored by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
AACN, a national sponsor of the grassroots initiative, would
like to thank the many nursing schools that participated
in this sweeping effort. Campaign organizers have created
an On Campus Resource Guide specifically for faculty and
future health professionals. Filled with the latest data
available on the uninsured, this guide may be used by faculty
as a teaching tool and by students exploring issues related
to health care access and the impact of the uninsured on
healthy outcomes. Download the guide at http://covertheuninsuredweek.org/plan/oncampus
.
10.
EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT SERIES OFFERED MARCH 21-22, 2003
Programmed
around the theme “Management Tips for Leaders of Schools
of Nursing,” AACN’s 2003 Executive Development
Series will take place March 21-22, 2003 at The Fairmont
Washington Hotel in Washington, DC. Participants will examine
issues from various perspectives and apply them to their
own environments by providing a forum to network and discuss
individual concerns in small groups. Sessions offer administrative
skill building opportunities to new deans, interim and acting
deans, directors, associate/assistant deans, administrative
faculty, mid-level managers, and coordinators. Sessions
will also present pragmatic approaches to financial management,
faculty development, and maintaining scholarship. For more
details, click
here.
11.
HADASSAH ADVOCATES FOR ACTION TO ADDRESS THE NURSING SHORTAGE
Hadassah,
the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is committed
to advocating for quality healthcare and is deeply concerned
about the shortage of nurses in health care institutions
throughout the U.S. This organization recently passed a
resolution to advocate for policies to correct the critical
shortage of nurses and ensure quality care. Beyond funding
the Nurse Reinvestment Act, Hadassah urges federal and state
authorities to enact and fund nursing shortage legislation
that promotes the training, recruitment and retention of
quality nurses, improves working conditions for nurses,
encourages the training of nurses to be prepared to respond
to mass casualty events, and helps raise the public profile
of the nursing profession. Discover more about this group
at http://www.hadassah.org.
12.
JOIN US FOR THE BONUS ANNUAL MEETING IN SAN ANTONIO
The
2003 Business Officers of Nursing Schools (BONUS) Annual
Meeting will be held at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter
on April 23-25, 2003. The theme is “BONUS and Fiesta
2003: A Celebration of Ideas and Knowledge.” San Antonio
is famous for this annual Fiesta celebration marked by parades,
food-fests, sporting events, concerts, and art shows. Program
sessions will address financial management issues and tools
to achieve success in the workplace. Breakout sessions will
provide forums for attendees to share ideas and practices
regarding team building, human resources and budgeting.
Assistants to the dean, fiscal managers, business officers
and any personnel involved in the operational management
of a school of nursing will benefit from attending this
conference. The deadline for conference registration is
April 3, 2003. Click
here for more information.
13.
BACCALAUREATE RESIDENCY PROJECT ADDS SIX NEW SITES
Six
new members of the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC)
have been selected to participate in the AACN-UHC post-baccalaureate
residency program. Currently six institutions - New York
University, University of Arizona, University of Colorado,
University of Kentucky, University of Pennsylvania, and
University of Utah - are in the second half of their first
year of the post-baccalaureate residency. Initial feedback
and evaluation indicate that residents and resident mentors
are extremely pleased with the process and development that
has occurred. At this time, a second round of residency
applicants has been selected including Oregon Health and
Science University, SUNY-Stony Brook, University of Kansas,
University of New Mexico, University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill, and University of Texas Medical Branch. External audiences
continue to express a keen interest in and strong support
for this initiative and for the potential to develop it
on a broader level.
14.
NURSES TOP THE LIST OF MOST TRUSTED PROFESSIONALS
Nurses
once again top the list of most trusted professionals in
an annual Gallup survey of public perceptions of honesty
and ethics. Seventy-nine percent of those questioned said
the honesty and ethics of nurses are “very high”
or “high.” The results were based on telephone
interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,017
adults. According to the survey results, the top ten most
trusted professionals in order were nurses, military officers,
high school teachers, clergy, policemen, druggists/pharmacists,
physicians, funeral directors, accountants, and journalists.
15.
OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES TO CONSIDER
**Last
year, AACN released a white paper on the “Hallmarks
of the Professional Nursing Practice Setting” to help
identify key characteristics of health care settings that
promote professional nursing practice. A companion brochure,
“What Every Nursing Graduate Should Consider When Seeking
Employment,” was developed as a tool to match graduates
with practice settings that value their education. This
handy reference includes questions that new nurses can ask
to screen potential employers. To find out more about this
brochure and how you can order copies for graduating students,
click
here.
**The
Tylenol Scholarship Program is currently accepting applications
from undergraduate and graduate students who intend to major,
or are currently majoring, in a health related field. Applicants
must demonstrate leadership in community and school activities
to be considered. Students currently enrolled in a course
of study may also apply. Ten $10,000 scholarships and 150
$1,000 scholarships will be dispersed. The application deadline
is April 30, 2003. For details, see http://tylenolscholarship.com/apply.asp.
**On
April 15-16, 2003 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel,
Tommy G.
Thompson, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, will
lay out his priorities and programs for Steps to a HealthierUS,
the Department's initiative to advance President Bush's
HealthierUS program. Presentations will highlight policies
that promote healthy environments and model programs from
communities across the country that use Healthy People 2010
as the basis for planning efforts. For more information
or to register, see http://www.healthypeople.gov
or contact vwilson@unbridledsolutions.com.
**The
Pathways to Collaboration workgroup, funded by the W. K.
Kellogg Foundation, will give up to 12 community partnerships
from across the United States a unique opportunity to explore
exactly what makes a collaborative problem-solving process
successful. The group is seeking Letters of Intent from
partnerships that have a record of success in using collaboration
to address problems that are important to their community
and an interest in participating in a rigorous and provocative
learning experience. Successful applicants will receive
$50,000 per year for three years to enable the entire partnership
to participate in the workgroup experience. Letters are
due May 9, 2003. For more information, including the Community
Partnership Application Guide, visit http://www.pathwaystocollaboration.net
or http://www.cacsh.org.
**Sponsored
by the Helene Fuld Health Trust, “The Partners in Caring
and Community: Service-Learning in Nursing Education”
project is working with nursing faculty, nursing students,
and community partners to: facilitate the integration of
service-learning into the curriculum of nursing education
at the associate, undergraduate and graduate degree levels;
increase the understanding of and support for service-learning
in nursing education; and disseminate information about
best practices and models of service-learning and nursing
education. To find out more about this initiative and available
resources, see http://futurehealth.ucsf.edu/ccph/pcc.html.
**AACN
has signed on as a supporting organization for the 27th
national conference of the Association for Medical Education
and Research in Substance Abuse. Programmed around the theme
“Promoting Partnerships for Change,” the 2003
conference will take place on November 6-8, 2003 at the
Wyndham Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore. For more details
including the call for abstracts, see http://www.amersa.org.
16.
NEW PARTNERSHIPS AND GRANT-FUNDED INITIATIVES
In this
section, AACN spotlights new partnerships and initiatives
launched by members, corporate citizens, philanthropies,
and government sponsors that effectively increase student
capacity, add new nursing faculty, increase student diversity,
address the nursing shortage, and enhance the way education
is delivered.
**The
Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has raised over
$4 million to increase the number of baccalaureate, master’s
and doctorally prepared nurses in South Carolina. Funds
will be used to create the South Carolina Nursing Collaborative
which will focus on addressing the state’s severe nursing
shortage. Six clinical partners contributed to the initiative
that will enable the MUSC College of Nursing to add eight
new faculty, develop online programs, and double the number
of students enrolled in the BSN program. To find out more
about this collaboration and the clinical partners, see
http://www.charleston.net/stories/031103/bus_11nurs.shtml.
**The
Medical Center of Central Georgia has collaborated with
the nursing school at Georgia College and State University
to develop a critical care internship for senior BSN nursing
students. The 15-week internship program, which began in
January 2000, consists of a minimum of 64 hours of core
classroom content, and 200 to 220 preceptored hours of mentored,
evaluated, and structured clinical experiences on critical
care units.
17.
MEMBER NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, AND AWARDS
**On
March 1-5, 2003, Susan H. Fetsch, PhD, RN, Chairperson of
the Department of Nursing at Avila University (MO), participated
in the Nurse in Washington Internship (NIWI) program sponsored
by the Nursing Organizations Alliance. This program offers
nurses the opportunity to learn how to influence health
care policy through the legislative and regulatory processes.
Participants learn from health experts and government officials,
network with other nurses, and visit Members of Congress.
For additional information on the NIWI program, see http://www.nursing-alliance.org/niwi.htm.
**Colleen
Conway-Welch, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean of the Vanderbilt University
School of Nursing, was recently appointed to three national
committees, including the Institute of Medicine’s Provisional
Committee on Institutional and Policy Strategies for Increasing
the Diversity of the Healthcare Workforce; the Medicare
Coverage Advisory Committee; and the Secretary’s Council
on Public Health Preparedness. The latter two appointments
were made by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. For details,
see http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter.
18.
AACN OUTREACH AND ADVOCACY UPDATE
**On
March 5, 2003, AACN staff attended the national launch event
for Cover the Uninsured Week held at Union Station in Washington,
DC. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, President and CEO of The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, presided over the event
that featured presentations from national campaign partners
including representatives from AARP, W.K. Kellogg Foundation,
American Hospital Association, and American Nurses Association.
The event was used as a platform to announce the results
of a Families USA survey which found that 75 million Americans
were without health insurance coverage at some point in
2001 and 2002. Read more at http://covertheuninsuredweek.org/media/LaunchRelease.pdf
**On
March 4, 2003, the Task Force on Education and Regulation
2 held a meeting with stakeholders from the practice community
at AACN’s offices in Washington, DC. Attendees included
representatives of major health care communities including
the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Association
of Academic Health Centers, and several large health care
systems. Attendees provided vigorous and stimulating feedback
on the draft white paper for nursing education which will
be reviewed at the upcoming AACN Spring Annual Meeting.
**On
March 3, AACN staff attended the Nurses Washington Roundtable
Dinner hosted by the Nurse in Washington Internship program.
As keynote speaker, Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), spoke about
nursing legislative initiatives beyond the Nurse Reinvestment
Act, the importance of nursing advocacy, and her efforts
to form a Nursing Caucus in the House of Representatives.
**On
February 28, AACN staff participated in a briefing by Dr.
Carolyn Clancy, the Director of the Agency for Healthcare,
Research and Quality (AHRQ). Dr. Clancy gave an overview
of the AHRQ budget and discussed some of AHRQ’s successes
and future initiatives. She highlighted such findings as
the direct link between nurse staffing levels and patient
complications and deaths in hospitals. The briefing was
sponsored by the Friends of AHRQ. Click http://www.ahrq.gov
to learn more about AHRQ.
**AACN
staff, as a part of the Coalition for Health Funding, participated
in meetings with House and Senate Budget Committee staff
in late February. The meetings focused on the President’s
FY 2004 budget proposal for health care programs. To view
a chart of the President’s FY 2004 budget figures for
nursing and other health programs, click
here.
