EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS IN RESHAPING THE NURSING WORKFORCE
Einstein once said: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." In this era of chaos, we should observe these words and move forward with different thinking toward the future. In the past, nursing has embraced crisis with enthusiasm readied with the information of what was coming, positioned ourselves and our work settings for success, moved forward, demonstrated our expertise through well-designed protocols, and embraced the unknown with an understanding that our experiences had prepared us to act diligently and with composure and self-confidence. Typically, crisis is short lived during which nursing leaders could rally their organizational teams to address and quickly resolve the issues. Unfortunately, this not the reality we are living in today's world. After more than 2 years of unrelenting crisis after crisis, staff are dispirited and emotionally drained, leaders are exhausted, supply chains are in disarray, and the crisis created by COVID-19 continues to flourish in unprecedented ways. We cannot continue to function in the "new world" in which we live with an antiquated mindset. Whether nurses are baby boomers, millennials, or Gen X, Y, and Zers, we must work together to strategize and move forward together. Whether leaders in practice or academia, we must look with a fresh vision to move forward in collaborative newly designed or reinvented partnerships. Although we still face the challenges of COVID-19 and its negative impact on patients, families, and staff at all levels, this enduring challenge has also forced us to think differently and in so doing provided an opportunity to create ways of addressing nursing and health care concerns from workforce development to supply chain improvements to reactivating enthusiasm for the profession. To that end, this issue of Nursing Administration Quarterly, "Educational Innovations in Reshaping the Nursing Workforce," is dedicated to sharing with you articles that report reinvented ideas meeting the challenges of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) The Future of Nursing 2020-2030 Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity report.1 Innovative education and partnerships are needed to prepare learners to promote health equity, reduce health inequities, and foster interprofessional care teams to improve the health and well-being of the population. In addition, build a nursing workforce that has strength, resilience, and the capacity to function in a constantly dynamic health system.
In this issue, Shirey and her team addressed social determinants of health through a multisector partnership using an interprofessional nurse-led practice model. Their goal was to achieve health equity for patients with heart failure in underserved/underresourced populations. Through this collaboration across multiple sectors and disciplines, their goal was achieved that also directly aligns with the Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report.1 Allard and Conroy embarked on an endeavor to create "an accountable community of health" for their high-risk patients with chronic illness using a model that is similar to value-based care. By developing the clinical nurse specialist role as Transitional Care Nurses and partnering with primary care providers, specialists, schools, public health, and other agencies, they were able to reduce hospitalizations for patients with chronic illness and reduce HbA1c levels in patients with diabetes.
In alignment with looking at new ways to ensure that care is brought back to the diverse patient communities, the articles from both Liesveld and Landen and Hernandez related to describing how the NMNEC collaboration between universities and community colleges is aimed at keeping student nurses in their communities as they complete degree requirements, which demonstrated positive results after a decade of experience. In traditional programs, students would leave their communities to complete a BSN degree and would often not return home. Through the consortium in New Mexico, a frontier state, students remain in their communities, taking classes toward their degree requirements. These strategies not only allow students remain in their home communities but also reduce financial burden while completing their BSN degree. We must also look at nursing education differently with new frameworks. In March 2021, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) endorsed and published a report that included a reenvisioned framework for nursing education.2 This report introduced innovative and bold ideas for transforming nursing education and pedagogy from a concept-based model to a competency-based model of nursing education. The article by Welsh and Smith dissected the reenvisioned AACN Essentials document to provide the reader with new terminology introduced by the AACN Essentials document, as well as the core expectations and standards established by the AACN for future nursing education and curricula. With this new understanding, they introduce and discuss strategies supporting the transitional process of moving from concept-based educational models to competency-based models, which is so important for the future of the art and science of nursing practice.
Many acute care hospitals found themselves using travel nurses in greater numbers than ever before and at a higher financial impact. While we are concerned about the travel nurses' backgrounds and expertise, little has been written about the impact of the pandemic and nurses professional needs and concerns. Tuttas and Hansen examined the work experiences of travel and permanent staff as impacted by the pandemic. They found that both groups had similar needs and concerns about recognition, support, career trajectories, and the need to provide positive meaningful care. These are just some of the highlights for this issue. While some of the content may be generalizable, all provide awareness and insight into how to operate in the changing health care world and look differently moving forward in our changed nursing world.
-Amy A. Nichols, EdD, RN, CHSE, ANEF
-Angeline Christine DeLucas, DNP, MPH, RN, NEA-BC
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