1.
AACN Board Endorses Practice Doctorate
Position Statement
2. Fall Meeting Spotlights Advocacy and
Aiken
3. Cancer Society Offers Graduate Scholarships
& Fellowships
4. Member Input Needed on Expanding Capacity/Faculty
Needs
5. AACN Serves as a Sponsoring Organization
for JCAHO Conference
6. Five Graduate Nurse Faculty Members
to Receive ELNEC Awards
7. Watch for AACN's 27th Annual Survey
of Nursing Programs in September
8. Check Out New Opportunity Alerts Online
9. AACN Cosponsors E3 Conference on Expanding
Student Capacity
10. Pennsylvania Releases White Paper
on Nursing Workforce
11. Call for Abstracts Issued for Baccalaureate
Conference
12. Grassroots STAR Awards Coming in October
13. HHS Awards $15.5 Million to Nursing
Schools
14. Support the Covering Kids and Families
Campaign
15. 2005 Call for Nominations Issued
16. New Partnerships and Grant-Funded
Initiatives
17. Member News, Announcements and Awards
18. Opportunities and Resources to Consider
1. AACN BOARD ENDORSES PRACTICE DOCTORATE
POSITION STATEMENT
At
a meeting held in conjunction with the Summer Seminar
last month, the AACN Board of Directors voted to endorse
the draft Position Statement on the Practice Doctorate
in Nursing. AACN's membership will vote to accept or
reject this statement at the Fall Semiannual Meeting
in October. The draft position statement will be emailed
to members to review in early September. In 2002, the
Task Force on the Professional Clinical Doctorate was
charged with creating a statement that clarified the
purpose of practice doctorates in nursing, assessed
the need for these programs, and explored the implications
these programs have on preparing advanced nurse clinicians.
Seeking feedback, the task force shared the resulting
position statement with reaction panels, stakeholders,
and AACN members to collect input and modify recommendations
as needed. Read the draft position statement online
at http://www.aacn.nche.edu/MembersOnly/PracticeDoctorateDRAFT.pdf.
2.
FALL MEETING SPOTLIGHTS ADVOCACY AND AIKEN
The
Fall Semiannual Meeting will celebrate AACN's 35th year
by addressing the critical advocacy role of deans. Program
sessions will place nursing education in the contexts
of both higher education and health care, and focus
on advocacy skills in policy, legislative, and political
arenas. While national issues and perspectives are the
primary focus of this meeting, the skills discussed
are easily transferable to institutional, local, and
state levels. The Fall Meeting schedule is posted at
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Conferences/FallMeeting04.htm,
and brochures will be mailed to member schools in mid
August. Also note:
**Dr.
Linda Aiken is the 2004 John P. McGovern Award winner
and will deliver a lecture on Sunday, October 24 during
the Fall Meeting. In addition to directing the Center
for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, Dr. Aiken serves
as The Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor of Nursing,
Professor of Sociology, and Senior Fellow at the Leonard
Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University
of Pennsylvania.
**Abstracts
are needed for a new session called "Innovation
in Action" which has been added to the meeting
schedule on Sunday, October 24, 1:30-2:30 p.m. This
one-hour activity will feature four 15-minute abstracts
by members who wish to share a novel school accomplishment
or activity with colleagues. Members who plan to attend
the Fall Meeting are urged to submit an abstract for
review by the Program Committee and possible presentation.
The abstract should reflect an innovative new initiative,
and is not required to conform to the meeting theme.
Please e-mail abstracts (no more than 250 words) to
bpenn@aacn.nche.edu
by Friday, September 10, 2004.
**The
Fall Meeting schedule includes a number of changes in
order to maximize participant time. Sessions, especially
those during the weekend, have been rearranged and enhanced,
and members may need to make choices about which activities
they prefer to attend. These changes were made in response
to numerous member suggestions. For travel planning,
the opening program session will begin on Saturday afternoon,
October 23 at 1:30 p.m. and the closing session will
end at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 26.
3.
CANCER SOCIETY OFFERS GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS
The
American Cancer Society is now accepting applications
for funding opportunities for nurse training, research
and career development. Since their research program
began in 1946, the Society has devoted more than $2.5
billion to cancer research. Grants are available in
the following categories: Master's and Doctoral Degree
Scholarships in Cancer Nursing; Postdoctoral Fellowships;
Mentored Research Scholar Grants; and Research Scholarship
Grants in several areas. The next application deadline
is October 15, 2004. For more details, see http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Government/2004ACSGrants.pdf.
4.
MEMBER INPUT NEEDED ON EXPANDING CAPACITY/FACULTY NEEDS
In
preparation for the E3 Conference in October (see item
#9 below), AACN is seeking comments from faculty on
the issue of expanding student capacity while maintaining
quality in nursing education programs. Presenters at
this event are looking for dean and faculty feedback
to these questions:
1)
What resources do you need to expand your entry-level
nursing programs?
2) Has your program's budget been cut within the last
3 years? If so, were you still expected to increase
enrollment?
3) What difficulties are you having with providing clinical
experiences? How are you overcoming these challenges?
Your
insights are greatly appreciated. Please send your responses
to Robert Rosseter at rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
by September 13, 2004.
5.
AACN SERVES AS A SPONSORING ORGANIZATION FOR JCAHO CONFERENCE
AACN
is serving as a Sponsoring Organization for an upcoming
conference by the Joint Commission on Accreditation
of Healthcare Organizations titled "Critical Linkages:
Patient Safety, Nurse Staffing, and Leadership Solutions
for Tomorrow." Planned for September 27-28, 2004
at the
Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, this conference
will focus on the impact the nursing shortage is having
on patient safety. Presentations will focus on how health
care leaders can transform organizations to become preferred
workplaces for employees and to provide safe environments
for patient care. Attendees will learn more about the
latest nursing initiatives from The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, JCAHO
and other groups and will also explore solutions for
increasing the number of nursing graduates. To register,
call 877-223-6866 or visit
http://www.jcrinc.com/education.asp?durki=6476&site=5&return=5933.
6.
FIVE GRADUATE NURSE FACULTY MEMBERS TO RECEIVE ELNEC
AWARDS
In
June 2003, sixty graduate nursing faculty members attended
the first Graduate End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium
(ELNEC) course in Pasadena, CA. After reviewing the
updates of their 12-month goals, five attendees have
been chosen as ELNEC award winners. These faculty members
were chosen for their unique ways of implementing the
ELNEC curriculum in existing course work, for their
outstanding ways of sharing the material with colleagues,
and for their creative ways of disseminating the curriculum
to students. These faculty members will be honored at
the Master's Education Conference in February 2005 in
San Diego, CA. The winners include Deborah Dunn, Madonna
University (MI); Veronica Engle, University of Tennessee
Health Science Center; Lucille Gambardella, Wesley College
(DE); Marjorie Schaffer, Bethel College (MN) and James
Pace, Vanderbilt University (TN).
7.
WATCH FOR AACN'S 27TH ANNUAL SURVEY OF NURSING PROGRAMS
IN SEPTEMBER
In
early September, AACN will distribute the 2004 Annual
Survey of institutions with baccalaureate and higher
degree nursing programs. Information collected from
the survey will be incorporated into the nation's premier
database on trends in nursing school enrollments and
graduations; student and faculty demographics; and faculty
and deans' salaries. Participation in this survey is
vital to AACN's mission of fostering innovation in advancing
professional nursing education, research, and practice.
We appreciate the effort required to complete the Annual
Survey; and we will provide participating schools with
free copies of the data reports to which they contribute
information. All nursing programs affiliated with the
Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) are
reminded to complete the survey to satisfy CCNE's annual
reporting requirement.
8.
CHECK OUT NEW OPPORTUNITY ALERTS ONLINE
AACN
strives to bring members the latest Opportunity Alerts
which are announcements of grants, fellowships, scholarships,
and other funding sources for nursing programs, students,
and research. The latest alerts, including announcements
from the Health Resources and Services Administration,
Office of Population Affairs, and U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, have been posted at http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Government/opps.htm.
9.
AACN COSPONSORS E3 CONFERENCE ON EXPANDING STUDENT CAPACITY
This
fall, AACN is joining with JWT Communications, Sigma
Theta Tau International and other sponsors to present
a conference on expanding capacity in baccalaureate
nursing programs. Titled "E3 - Enroll, Educate
and Empower," this invitational event will bring
together experts from nursing education and practice
to identify practical ways to bridge faculty and resources
gaps that impact enrollment in entry-level nursing programs.
The conference is planned for October 10-12, 2004 in
Louisville, KY. For more information about this event,
please contact rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu.
10.
PENNSYLVANIA RELEASES WHITE PAPER ON NURSING WORKFORCE
On
August 3, 2004, the Pennsylvania Department of Health
released their first-ever State Health Improvement Plan
White Paper, which addresses current nurse workforce
issues through integrated data, recommendations and
best practices. The report is based on the findings
of a panel of health professionals that analyzed three
primary issues facing health workforce planners: student
nurse recruitment and education, nurse retention in
the work place, and nurse supply and demand. The paper
calls for adopting the recommendations for addressing
the nurse faculty shortage that we outlined in AACN's
May 2003 white paper on "Faculty Shortages in Baccalaureate
and Graduate Nursing Programs." Data featured in
the report also show that attrition rates in entry-level
baccalaureate programs (16%) are significantly lower
than in diploma (37%) and associate degree (30%) programs.
Download the report at http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/lib/health/NurseWhitePaper.pdf.
11.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS ISSUED FOR BACCALAUREATE CONFERENCE
The
2004 Baccalaureate Education Conference, "Fortifying
the Foundations: Teaching from an Evidence Base in Baccalaureate
Education" will take place Thursday, November 11
- Saturday, November 13 at the Sanibel Harbour Resort
in Ft. Myers, Florida. Abstracts are invited that illustrate
programs, courses, initiatives, or evaluation processes
built on the theory-guided, evidence-based underpinnings
of teaching nursing. Abstract submissions must be postmarked
by Friday, September 10, 2004 and submitters will be
notified about the status of their abstract by Friday,
October 8, 2004. Complete information regarding abstracts
is posted at: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Conferences/BaccCall04.pdf.
Details on the Baccalaureate Education Conference will
be posted online and sent to AACN members within the
next few weeks.
**If
you would like to attend the End-of-Life Nursing Education
Consortium (ELNEC) pre-conference scheduled for November
10-11, 2004, please visit http://www.aacn.nche.edu/ELNEC/pre-conference2004.htm
for more information and to register.
12.
GRASSROOTS STAR AWARDS COMING IN OCTOBER
The
Government Affairs Committee will recognize the winners
of the STARS awards at the Fall Semiannual Meeting.
The STARS awards were created in 2001 to honor those
AACN members who have gone above and beyond in their
grassroots efforts for nursing education both at the
federal and state levels. If you would like to nominate
an AACN member for these awards or even nominate yourself,
contact Gene Throwe at gthrowe@aacn.nche.edu
or by fax at 202-785-8320. All he needs is a brief description
of the grassroots activities that your nominee has done
for the past year.
13.
HHS AWARDS $15.5 MILLION TO NURSING SCHOOLS
In
July, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) announced that $15.5 million in grant funding
was awarded to 62 universities, nursing schools, medical
centers and other healthcare organizations to increase
the nation's supply of nurses. The bulk of the money,
approximately $10.1 million, supports 38 grants under
the Nurse Education, Practice and Retention Program.
These grants are offered to increase enrollment in baccalaureate
nursing programs, develop internship and residency programs,
promote cultural competence among nurses, improve access
to health care to under-served areas, and boost nurse
retention rates. The remainder of the grant money supports
24 grants under the Nursing Workforce Diversity Program.
These grants fund scholarships, stipends and pre-entry
preparation programs for individuals from disadvantaged
backgrounds. See http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040722.html.
14.
SUPPORT THE COVERING KIDS AND FAMILIES CAMPAIGN
More than 8.5 million children in America do not have
health care coverage. Most of these children are eligible
for Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP), but their parents may not realize they
qualify. AACN has joined with Covering Kids & Families,
a national initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
designed to increase the number of children and adults
who benefit from federal and state health coverage programs.
Later this summer, Covering Kids & Families will
launch its annual Back-to-School Campaign with events
taking place in all 50 states and the District of Columbia
in August and September. The campaign will also use
public service announcements, media outreach, and corporate
and organizational partnerships to get the word out
that there is help available for these hard-working
families and their children. If you are interested in
getting involved, the Covering Kids & Families Back-to-School
Campaign Action Kit has all the tips and templates you
need to participate at any level, whether you want to
set up an enrollment event or write a letter to the
editor. Free materials are available online at http://www.coveringkidsandfamilies.org/communications/materials/order.
15.
2005 CALL FOR NOMINATIONS ISSUED
AACN's
Nominating Committee has issued a Call for Nominations
to fill seats on the Board of Directors. AACN members
are asked to submit nominations for the following seats:
Treasurer, Board member-at-large (4 vacancies), and
Nominating Committee member (2 vacancies). Nominations
will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on October 23 at the
registration desk during AACN's Fall Semiannual Meeting.
For more information on how to nominate a candidate,
including copies of the Nomination Form, Consent Statement
Form and Nominations Biographical Data Form, see http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Membership/CallforNominations.htm.
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
Department of Veterans Affairs Long Beach Healthcare
System and California State University-Long Beach (CSULB)
have announced a $1.3 million partnership to provide
individuals with baccalaureate degrees in science-related
professions the opportunity to receive a baccalaureate
degree in nursing through an innovative new program.
The Accelerated BSN Program curriculum is offered in
a concentrated 60-week program with didactic courses
offered by the CSULB Department of Nursing and clinical
experiences provided predominately at the VA Long Beach
Healthcare System. "For everyone concerned, we
believe this partnership is a win-win," said CSULB
President Robert C. Maxson. "Patients will especially
benefit, and the VA and the university are very enthusiastic
about how our collaboration will advance nursing education
in the Long Beach area."
17.
MEMBER NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, AND AWARDS
**Spalding
University in Louisville, KY has established the Center
for Human Dignity, Ethics and Caring in Nursing. Unique
among schools of nursing in the United States, the Center
offers learning opportunities and services in partnership
with health care facilities, educational institutions,
professional organizations and community groups. The
mission of the Center is to affirm, protect and defend
the dignity of the human person through education, consultation,
research, service and dissemination of findings. Read
more about the Center and its inaugural event this September
at http://www.spalding.edu/frame.asp?pg=db2.asp?id=952.
**The
University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing received
a $50,000 donation from the Hillcrest Foundation in
Dallas to fund a pediatric human patient simulator to
add to the school's growing number of simulation models
for student learning. In February, the school met with
federal, state and local officials to plan for a national
demonstration center utilizing state-of-the-art technology
for education of health care providers and research
into healthcare innovations. The planned site will be
able to accommodate the needs of the region as an emergency
response site in the event of bio-terrorism or natural
disaster utilizing the skills of the nearly 100 nursing
faculty and 1,000 nursing students. See http://www.uta.edu/nursing/hps.
18.
OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES TO CONSIDER
**"Dove
Gives Back," a new program from Dove Professional
Apparel, provides uniforms to nursing students in areas
of financial need. The program's goal is to make a difference
in the community by giving students the chance to start
their nursing careers with a professional appearance,
thereby motivating them to excel in school, mentor other
students, and make a positive difference in the communities
in which they live. Schools wishing to be considered
for this program in 2005 will find more information
at http://www.doveapparel.com/qualifications.html.
**Published
by Sigma Theta Tau International, "Pivotal Moments
in Nursing: Leaders Who Changed the Path of a Profession"
is a new book designed to inspire nursing professionals
worldwide to step into leadership roles. This book traces
the paths of 12 legendary, yet contemporary, nurse leaders
through the pivotal times in their lives that helped
transform them into leaders, and thereby change the
face of nursing. Leaders profiled include Gretta Styles,
Luther Christman, Loretta Ford, and Shirley Sears Chater.
For more details, see http://www.nursingsociety.org/publications/main.html.
