The National League for Nursing (NLN) and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) established a partnership in 2021 to address current and looming health care challenges. The growing shortage of nurses exacerbates the steadily increasing complexity of the health care system, made worse by the devastating and unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic (Lagasse, 2021). Moreover, the pandemic has highlighted the systemic inequities that people of color experience in the United States and thus their poorer health outcomes.

The NLN-J&J partnership brings a yearlong, multifaceted program in leadership development to six historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) that offer four-year baccalaureate degrees in nursing. Enhancing support for HBCU schools of nursing to produce diverse nurse leaders is vital to addressing inequities and achieving health equity for our nation.

BACKGROUND

Historically, HBCU schools of nursing have been committed to producing baccalaureate nurses prepared to advance and provide safe and quality health care (Noonan et al., 2013). Their focus on first-generation students and those from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds is a distinguishing characteristic that highlights their paramount role in expanding diversity in the health care workforce (Noonan et al., 2013).

The nursing shortage is predicted to reach 371,500 unfilled RN positions by 2028 (Chi, 2020). Thus, we need to invest in nursing education to produce not only more nurses but also nurses who are equipped to lead competently and confidently in addressing health care challenges and complexities. Currently, African Americans and Hispanics make up over 30 percent of the population (US Census Bureau, 2020), but they constitute only 18 percent of RNs: 7.8 percent African American and 10.2 percent Hispanic (US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration [HRSA], 2019). Furthermore, African Americans and Hispanics comprise only 11.2 percent and 11.0 percent of students enrolled in RN programs surveyed by the NLN (2021).

Such low rates of workforce diversity have significant health impacts. Diversity is an important contributor to perceptions of care and actual care (Phillips & Malone, 2014). For example, minority nurses are much more likely to work in minority, underserved, and/or low-income neighborhoods than Caucasian nurses (Williams et al., 2014). Workforce diversity is a key strategy in achieving population health equity by increasing access and decreasing disparities. To better serve communities of color in the future and as the United States endures the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, other health inequities, and nursing shortages, the NLN collaborated with J&J to implement a transition into clinical practice program for senior nursing students in HBCU schools of nursing.

The NLN-J&J project, Transitioning Senior Nursing Students in Historically Black Colleges and Universities Into Clinical Practice, managed by the NLN Institute for Diversity and Global Initiatives under the NLN Center for Transformational Leadership, takes an integrated approach involving both students and faculty. The growth of nurses of color in the RN workforce is susceptible to the tenuous supply of nurse educators (HRSA, 2014). The ability to recruit, retain, and develop nurse educators to teach at HBCU schools of nursing is an ongoing challenge (Tyson et al., 2018). J&J is supporting this work as part of its $100 million commitment over the next five years to invest and promote health equity solutions for black and other communities of color.

Currently, there are six HBCU schools of nursing in the project: Alcorn State University School of Nursing, Bowie State University Department of Nursing, Coppin State University College of Health Professions, Howard University College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, Norfolk State University Department of Nursing, and University of the District of Columbia Nursing Programs. Three hundred senior nursing students and 60 faculty were selected by their institutions to participate. An additional three HBCU schools of nursing will be included for 2022-2023.

OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIC COMPONENTS

The project objectives are as follows:

1. to assist students to develop leadership competencies at the macro and micro levels of organizational systems,

2. to enhance faculty coaching and debriefing skills to assist them to facilitate students' learning and critical thinking skills, and

3. to foster career development for faculty.

The objectives will be met through the implementation of three strategic components:

1. The NLN STEP Into Leadership Program Senior Students Transitioning and Entering Into Clinical Practice. A systems approach is used to address leadership competencies at two levels: 1) the micro level, which includes the individual and groups, and 2) the macro level, at the organizational systems level. Equipped with individual, group, and organizational systems leadership competencies such as communication, emotional intelligence, team building, conflict resolution, organizational culture, and the politics of organizational systems, students will be proactively prepared, before they graduate, for a smooth transition into clinical practice.

2. The NLN Faculty Coaching for Excellence Course. In this innovative course, educators practice using Socratic dialogue in common learning experiences before interacting with learners. The course provides faculty with coaching and debriefing skills, which will enhance students' critical thinking skills.

3. NLN Academic Certified Nurse Educator Preparation Workshop. This workshop will foster career development and enhance faculty development in preparation to take the NLN Certified Nurse Educator exam.

CONCLUSION

Partnerships with HBCU schools of nursing offer an effective approach to improve access to safe and quality health care, increase health equity, and reduce health disparities (Tyson et al., 2018). The NLN-J&J partnership is designed to proactively provide students with leadership competencies that will facilitate their ability to manage more effectively in organizational systems and engage in better decision-making in the delivery of health care. Simultaneously, faculty will enhance their coaching and debriefing skills to teach students to develop better critical thinking and critical judgment skills. Faculty will also progress toward certification as academic nurse educators, the hallmark of professional excellence.

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