Indiana Addresses Nursing Education Capacity

Nursing state leaders from across the country, including Indiana, recently gathered in Baltimore, Maryland for the 2009 two-day Nursing Education Capacity Summit, which brought together teams to not only address the nursing shortage, but help create solutions.

The Center to Champion Nursing in America, a joint initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor sponsored this summit where participants identified and developed approaches to improving nursing education capacity.

Indiana sent a team of three to this all-country summit -- Marion E. Broome, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean and Distinguished Professor of the Indiana University School of Nursing and the team leader; Betsy Bikoff, Vice President and Chief Grantmaking Officer, Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Inc.; and Donna Boland, President of the Indiana Nursing Workforce Development Coalition, co-leader of the team. Other members of the team include: Kim Genovese, Executive Director, Nursing 2000 North; Sean Gorman, Director, Indiana State Board of Nursing; Spencer Grover, Vice President, Indiana Hospital Association; Cherona Hajewski, Vice President, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer, Deaconess Hospital; Betsy Lee, Director, Indiana Patient Safety Center; Gail Sprigler, Director of Education, Office of the Provost, Ivy Tech Community College; and Peggy Welch, State Representative.

The ultimate goal is to reverse the persistent nursing shortage that could leave Indiana and the United States without enough nurses and put patient care at risk. They shared best practices and focused on four key areas: strategic partnerships and resource alignment; policy and regulation; increasing faculty capacity and diversity; and redesigning educational curriculums.

While the nursing shortage persists, there is also a dire shortage of nurse faculty in Indiana. As a result, qualified students are being turned away from nursing schools every year because of lack of funds to hire enough faculty to teach the number of student applicants. On a positive note, the 2006-2007 Indiana Nursing Workforce Development Coalition (INWDC) survey indicated a 16% increase in the number of new nurse graduates. However, this same report identified the lack of faculty (51% of the schools reported a lack of faculty as the number #1 reason they had to turn away students) and lack of clinical sites (43% cited clinical site availability as the #2 reason) as reasons for not being able to increase enrollment capacity.

“This national summit provided us with a wonderful opportunity to meet with 18 other state teams that have already implemented innovative solutions to the capacity issue,” said Marion E. Broome, the leader of the Indiana Team for Nursing. “As a result of our team’s participation, we are energized to develop more innovative strategic priorities and partnerships that will address the faculty shortage in Indiana by breaking down those barriers to further expansion. In addition, we hope to garner more resources and engage stakeholders from all over the state to address the faculty shortage and, thereby, impact the workforce shortage in nursing in the State of Indiana.”

The Center to Champion Nursing in America is a joint initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A consumer-driven, national force for change, the Center seeks to ensure that this country has the nurses it needs to care for all of us, now and in the future. The Center focuses on two priorities: the nation’s capacity to educate and to retain nurses. For more information, visit www.championnursing.org.

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world's largest-circulation magazine with over 34.5 million readers; AARP Bulletin, the go-to news source for AARP's 40 million members and Americans 50+; AARP Segunda Juventud, the only bilingual U.S. publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. Staffed offices are located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health-care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years the foundation has brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit http://www.rwjf.org.

To learn more about the IU School of Nursing, visit http://nursing.iupui.edu/

For more detailed information about the summit, contact:
Leticia Diaz, GYMR Public Relations, 202-745-5054, ldiaz@gymr.com
State Education Capacity Team Contact