Veterans' Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program

Apply here by June 7. View the archived webinar and slides.

Taking the Long View Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Find registration and more information here.

RWJF Future of Nursing: State Implementation Program (SIP)

Read the short summary here. 

Advocacy Evaluation

Thursday, June 13, 2013 | 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. EDT
Register here

The TCC Group, a leader in developing strategies and programs that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations and foundations will present content on what advocacy evaluation is, how it is different from traditional evaluation. The webinar will explore how groups engaging in advocacy activities can benefit from advocacy evaluation (such as informing strategy), and will share tools and resources on how Action Coalitions could incorporate this into their work.  Presenters will also share a resource on developing rough logic models.

What Makes an Effective Coalition? Evidence-Based Indicators of Success

Wednesday, June 26, 2013 | 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. EDT
Register here

Drawing from TCC Group's research and experience, this webinar will present key elements of effective coalitions (e.g., what does effective leadership look like, how do you manage and structure the coalition, etc.), tailored to the goals and needs of Action Coalitions. Some of the information to be covered in the webinar can be found in the paper, " What Makes an Effective Coalition? Evidence-Based Indicators of Success."

Patient Advocates: A Powerful Nurse Practitioner Resource

Thursday, August 8, 2013 | 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. EDT
Register here

This webinar, offered by the American Nurse Practitioner Foundation features Regina Holliday, caregiver, patient advocate and artist.  Holliday tells a personal story in words and art across the U.S. and globally. She sends a powerful message about patient rights, the healthcare system and needed change. She will change your view of patient relationships. Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, will address nurse and faculty shortages in an effort to create a higher quality of patient care in the U.S. Dr. Hassmiller will share how focusing on patient centered messaging can have an impact on changing legislation by addressing: scope of practice, prescriptive authority and reimbursement.

Recent Webinar:

Plan to Get Funding - Creating an AC Development Plan

CCNA consultant and former CA Action Coalition co-lead, Casey R. Shillam, PhD RN, will facilitate a discussion on opportunities for seeking funding. The discussion will center on understanding principals of fundraising and establishing a team within your Action Coalition that focuses on development.

Watch the archived webinar. 

Read a short summary of this webinar's most important information.

Happy National Nurses Week!!!

This National Nurses Week we are proud to celebrate the Campaign for Action's 51 Action Coalitions and the nurses and nurse champions working across the country to transform health care through nursing. Over the next few days, we will spotlight your hard work, and all of the various roles that nurses are playing to make a difference. Please visit the online community to read transformational stories from your colleagues, and take a few minutes to share your own story of transforming health care through nursing.

Bonus: Read about the history of National Nurses Week.

Funding and Other Opportunities

Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention - Veterans' BSN Program

Last week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a new program to help military veterans with health care experience or training, such as medics, pursue nursing careers. The program is designed to help veterans get bachelor's degrees in nursing by building on their unique skills and abilities.

Administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at HHS, the Veterans' Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program will fund up to nine cooperative agreements, of up to $350,000 a year. Funding of $3 million is expected to be awarded by the end of September.

Program funding will go to accredited schools of nursing to increase veterans' enrollment in and completion of baccalaureate nursing programs, and to explore ways to award academic credit for prior military health care experience or training. The institutions will also train faculty to provide mentorships and other supportive services.

"Through this innovative program, veterans with valuable medical expertise can now help fill the ranks of nurses across the nation," said HRSA Administrator Mary K. Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N.

Learn more about the Veterans' Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program.

HRSA is hosting a technical assistance webinar for interested applicants:

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

3:30 - 5:00 pm ET

Access the technical assistance webinar here.

Audio access: 1-888-324-9363

Passcode: Smithey

The webinar will also be recorded and archived here.

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

Veterans' Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program

Apply here by June 7.

Taking the Long View Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Find registration and more information here.

RWJF Future of Nursing: State Implementation Program (SIP)

Read the short summary here.

Campaign Pillars

Promoting Nurses as Leaders

Nurse Practitioner and Hospital CEO Work Together to Increase Efficiency

Steven Kelley is the CEO of Ellenville Regional Hospital, a critical access hospital in upstate New York. Robert Donaldson is president of the hospital's medical staff. He is also a nurse practitioner, elected twice by his physician colleagues to lead the medical staff. Together, Kelley and Donaldson have cut the average emergency department stay from three-plus hours to just 92 minutes in a department that now sees 13,500 visits a year, up from 7,000 in 2004. The two have pursued a strategy of attracting high-quality NPs to the area, which has trouble attracting physicians, and looking for improvements at every step.

Read more about Ellenville here.

Nurse Residency

Webinar: Training the Next Generation of Primary Care Providers

Primary Care Progress (PCP), a grassroots organization of interprofessional primary care providers, is celebrating National Nurses Week with a webinar on nurse residency training.

Training the Next Generation of Primary Care Providers:

Residency Training for New Nurse Practitioners

Thursday, May 9, 2013

7:00 ET

Learn more and register here.

Bolstering Workforce Data

Correction: HRSA Releases New Data on U.S. Nursing Workforce

The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, part of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), recently announced the released of two new publications.

The first, The U.S. Nursing Workforce: Trends in Supply and Education , presents data on the supply, distribution, and education/pipeline of the U.S. nursing workforce. Data and information are incorporated from various sources covering both the registered nurse (RN) and licensed practical/vocational nurse (LPN) workforces.

The second, The Compendium of Federal Data Sources to Support Health Workforce Analysis , summarizes 19 federal data sources that can be used to support health workforce analysis. The Compendium is designed to help those interested in the health workforce understand how these sources (many of which were not established specifically to collect health workforce data) could be used for health workforce analysis.

Learn more about these data sources and the May 14 webinar to present findings in this community resource on data.

Note: Last week's Campaign update incorrectly identified the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis as part of NIH. The Center resides within HRSA. We apologize for any confusion. 

Interprofessional Collaboration

Primary Care Organization Celebrates National Nurses Week with New Resources

Primary Care Progress (PCP) is an interprofessional grassroots network of nurses, physicians, physician assistants, and others working to promote primary care and rebuild the primary care workforce.

PCP is celebrating National Nurses Week (NNW) from May 6th to May 12th with a range of new content including webinars, Progress Notes , interviews and resources. The content will not only to showcase the critical role nurses play in delivering the patient-centered primary care that patients want and need, but will also highlight some of the primary care heroes within the nursing community who are re-shaping and advancing the field.

See the webinar PCP is hosting in the Nurse Residency section above.

Diversity

HHS Issues Culturally Sensitive Care Standards

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released enhanced national standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in health and healthcare, a blueprint to help organizations improve the quality of healthcare available to diverse communities.

The enhanced standards, developed by the HHS Office of Minority Health, are a comprehensive update of the 2000 national CLAS standards and include the expertise of federal and non-federal partners nationwide to ensure an even stronger platform for health equity.

Read more here.

Health Innovations

AARP Solutions Forum: How to Improve Care and Lower Costs in Medicare: Promising Approaches

Join the AARP Public Policy Institute tomorrow for a discussion of promising approaches to improving care and lowering Medicare costs.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

9:30 am - noon ET

Watch the live streaming video here.

The discussion will be moderated by CCNA's Susan Reinhard. The panel of experts will discuss:

• New ways to organize care that is better for patients and for the program, such as use of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and medical homes.
• Payment approaches that encourage health care practitioners to work together to provide better, more efficient care.
• Practices that help reduce hospital readmission and improve transitional care.
• Building infrastructure (such as health information - HIT) to support these structural changes.
• How we can enhance the value of prescription drugs across the health care system.
• Practices that promote optimal medication use.
• Effective ways to get the highest value drugs to market.

The panel includes:

• Leah Binder, CEO, The Leapfrog Group
• Jennifer Eames Huff, Director, Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Group
• Michael H. James, President and CEO, Genesys PHO
• Lisa McGiffert, Director, Safe Patient Project, Consumers Union
• Christine M Simmon, SVP, Policy and Strategic Alliances, Generic Pharmaceutical Association
• Patricia Smith, President and CEO, Alliance of Community Health Plans
• Nicholas Wolter, MD, CEO, Billings Clinic

Upcoming Webinars

CCNA continues host a series of technical assistance webinars and teleconferences on a variety of topics. Invitations with registration and login information for webinars will be sent separately. To ensure that you receive future webinar invitations, please go to http://campaignforaction.org/email-registration/, enter your information, and select the publications you wish to receive.

Webinar: Update on the Campaign for Consensus, Legislation and Maps 

Representatives from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) will take a look back and look ahead at the APRN Campaign for Consensus. By the end of the webinar, participants will:

1. Identify gains made by states in the 2012 and 2013 legislative sessions, as reflected in the NCSBN APRN Maps;
2. Describe efforts that were successful as well as those that were unsuccessful; and
3. Discuss lessons learned from legislative attempts.

Monday, June 3, 2013 | 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. EDT

Funding and Other Opportunities

New HHS Program Helps Veterans Pursue Nursing Careers

Today, at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a new program to help military veterans with health care experience or training, such as medics, pursue nursing careers. The program is designed to help veterans get bachelor's degrees in nursing by building on their unique skills and abilities.

Administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at HHS, the Veterans' Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program will fund up to nine cooperative agreements, of up to $350,000 a year. Funding of $3 million is expected to be awarded by the end of September.

Learn more about the Veterans' Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program.

Final Joining Forces Webinar: Teaching Students to Care for Veterans

Don't miss the final webinar of the seven-part series hosted by Joining Forces and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing! Almost 650 schools of nursing have pledged their support to the Joining Forces campaign. One priority of this national initiative is to make health care professionals more knowledgeable about the population of armed forces members and their particular health care needs, especially as they return from modern deployments with characteristic injuries.

May 1, 2013; 1:00 - 2:00 pm ET

Register and view past Joining Forces webinars here.

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

Johnson & Johnson/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars

Apply here by May 1.

IPEC: Interprofessional Faculty Development Institute for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

May 20-22, 2013. Herndon, VA

Register here.

Taking the Long View Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Find registration and more information here.

RWJF Future of Nursing: State Implementation Program (SIP)

Read the short summary here.

Campaign Pillars

Promoting Nurses as Leaders

Sigma Theta Tau International's 2013 Board Leadership Institute

The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International's (STTI's) Board Leadership Institute prepares nurses to be knowledgeable and responsive leaders on national and international boards. The Institute is a three-phase program that combines online and in-person activities.

During this two-day seminar, industry leaders including professional board recruiters, board presidents, and experts in board competence will share their insights about all aspects of board membership. Participants will learn to assess their own strengths; evaluate their readiness to serve on a board; enhance skills to better serve those boards on which they currently participate; develop a personal plan to meet board participation goals, and more at the 2013 STTI Board Leadership Seminar.

For additional information, contact the International Leadership Institute at leadership@stti.iupui.edu.

Removing Barriers to Practice & Care

Former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala Addresses the Role of Nurse Practitioners in Primary Care

Last month, Dr. Donna Shalala spoke about removing barriers to practice and care and the future of health care delivery in her address to the American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE) Annual Congress.

Dr. Shalala underscored the need for nurses to play a lead role in all aspects of the health care debate, ensuring that patients and families have access to timely, effective care; and outlined specific steps that health care executives should take to fully maximize nurses to meet patient care demands.

She also encouraged the audience to pay attention to the research which clearly states that advanced practice registered nurses can handle a lot of primary care, prevention, and care management in the country; and to join their state's Action Coalition.

Dr. Shalala is the longest-serving secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and chair of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee that produced the report "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health."

Watch a portion of the speech.

Bolstering Workforce Data

NIH Releases New Data on U.S. Nursing Workforce and Compendium of Federal Health Data Sources

The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis has just announce the released of its two most recent publications.

The first, The U.S. Nursing Workforce: Trends in Supply and Education, presents data on the supply, distribution, and education/pipeline of the U.S. nursing workforce. Data and information are incorporated from various sources covering both the registered nurse (RN) and licensed practical/vocational nurse (LPN) workforces.

The second, The Compendium of Federal Data Sources to Support Health Workforce Analysis, summarizes 19 federal data sources that can be used to support health workforce analysis. The Compendium is designed to help those interested in the health workforce understand how these sources (many of which were not established specifically to collect health workforce data) could be used for health workforce analysis.

Learn more about these data sources and the May 14 webinar to present findings in this community resource on data.

Diversity

Johns Hopkins, Black Nurses Association to Examine Ways to Enhance Diversity

Through a new grant, "Enhancing the Diversity of the Nursing Profession: Assessing the Mentoring Needs of African American Nursing Students," the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore and the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) are examining ways to increase the number of black nurses in the U.S.

The $20,000 grant from the NBNA will go towards conducting a national survey to identify the drivers and barriers to success among black nursing students and nurses.

"As nurses, we all know what we needed while attending nursing school," Deidre Walton, RN, MSN, JD, NBNA president, and member of the Campaign's Diversity Steering Committee said in the release. "We need to have a better understanding of what this generation of nursing students need in this new technological and innovative world of nursing."

National Association of Hispanic Nurses and Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics to Offer Scholarship

The National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) recently announced the establishment of a $2,500 Children's Mercy Hospitals Pediatric Nursing Scholarship. The scholarship funding is provided by NAHN Corporate Member Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics to promote the study of Pediatric nursing among Hispanics.

Please visit the NAHN website for more information and the scholarship application.

Health Innovations

Study Finds that Hospitals Profit When Surgeries Go Wrong

The "Health Innovations" section is typically reserved for bright new ideas that are transforming health care. Every once in a while, however, a story comes along about something so wrong with the current system that we include it in hopes that someone offers a bright new idea to fix it.

The study, which was published this month in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found that hospitals earned 330 percent higher profit margins on surgeries with one or more complications, because private insurers pay them for longer stays and extra care.

Read more in Kaiser Health News.

AARP Solutions Forum: How to Improve Care and Lower Costs in Medicare: Promising Approaches

Join the AARP Public Policy Institute for a discussion of promising approaches to improving care and lowering Medicare costs. The discussion will be moderated by CCNA's Susan Reinhard. The panel of experts will discuss:

• New ways to organize care that is better for patients and for the program, such as use of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and medical homes.
• Payment approaches that encourage health care practitioners to work together to provide better, more efficient care.
• Practices that help reduce hospital readmission and improve transitional care.
• Building infrastructure (such as health information - HIT) to support these structural changes.
• How we can enhance the value of prescription drugs across the health care system.
• Practices that promote optimal medication use.
• Effective ways to get the highest value drugs to market.

The panel includes:

• Leah Binder, CEO, The Leapfrog Group
• Jennifer Eames Huff, Director, Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Group
• Michael H. James, President and CEO, Genesys PHO
• Lisa McGiffert, Director, Safe Patient Project, Consumers Union
• Christine M Simmon, SVP, Policy and Strategic Alliances, Generic Pharmaceutical Association
• Patricia Smith, President and CEO, Alliance of Community Health Plans
• Nicholas Wolter, MD, CEO, Billings Clinic

Register to attend in person here.

Upcoming Webinars

CCNA continues host a series of technical assistance webinars and teleconferences on a variety of topics. Invitations with registration and login information for webinars will be sent separately. To ensure that you receive future webinar invitations, please go to http://campaignforaction.org/email-registration/, enter your information, and select the publications you wish to receive.

Webinar: Plan to Get Funding - Creating an AC Development Plan

Monday, May 6, 2013 | 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. EDT

CCNA consultant and former CA Action Coalition co-lead, Casey R. Shillam, PhD RN, will facilitate a discussion on opportunities for seeking funding. The discussion will center on understanding principals of fundraising and establishing a team within your Action Coalition that focuses on development.

Register here.

Funding and Other Opportunities

RWJF Future of Nursing: State Implementation Program (SIP) November 2013

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently released a Request for Proposals for the Future of Nursing State Implementation Program (SIP), which will provide up to 10 grants of up to $150,000 each over two years to Campaign for Action State Coalitions. SIP seeks to help boost statewide commitment toward implementing the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine's Report on the Future of Nursing while building a sustainable infrastructure. This webinar, hosted on April 18, provided details about the program's  requirements, eligibility, selection criteria, how to apply, and timeline.

Watch the archived webinar.

Read a short summary of this webinar's most important information.

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

Johnson & Johnson/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars

Apply here by May 1.

IPEC: Interprofessional Faculty Development Institute for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

May 20-22, 2013. Herndon, VA

Register here.

Taking the Long View Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Find registration and more information here.

National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Programs

See the guide here.

Campaign Pillars

Promoting Nurses as Leaders

Nurses Need Long Drive to the Boardroom

In this post for HealthLeaders Media, author Chelsea Rice argues that many of the leadership challenges that nurses face are the same challenges facing women in many other fields. "With 94% of nurses being women, many of the barriers for women are also barriers for nurses: a lack of role models is one of them, but there's also a subtle stifling going on of this major sector of the workforce, exhibited through a lack of leadership succession training as well as a lack of recognition that nurses have the capabilities and knowledge necessary to lead a hospital."

Read the post here and then share your thoughts in the Campaign's Community.

New Book Offers Lessons in Executive Nurse Leadership

With merely 6 percent of nurses represented on hospital boards nationwide, two nurse executives offer guidance for those aspiring to greater heights. In their new book, Claiming the Corner Office: Executive Leadership Lessons for Nurses, the authors "show nurses how to leverage their knowledge and expertise in patient care to achieve success as a senior executives, entrepreneurs, or governing board leaders." The book was published by a CCNA Champion Nursing Council member, the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI).

Learn More here.

Now Available - On-Demand Nursing Leadership Webinars

Grow your leadership skills with this 5-part webinar series from ANA's Leadership Institute. Developed for nurses with two to five years of experience, gain immediately applicable skills in strategic thinking, results-oriented leadership, leading people, and innovation.

Access the on-demand leadership webinars now.

Removing Barriers to Practice & Care

The Right Message

Expanding consumer access to health care is not a "turf war," though this is often the way it is portrayed in the media. This point is illustrated by a recent article in the Sacramento Bee entitled "With Federal Health Law Medical Professionals Look to Expand Turf."

Peter Reinecke writes in the Campaign's Community that we should use this article and others like it as a reminder to use the Campaign for Action's Key Messages (look at page 4!) and speak about consumer access, quality and choice. He also recommends giving reporters contact information for non-nurse stakeholders that support full practice for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs).

Engaging Students to Remove Barriers to Practice & Care

Policy experts and nursing associations around the country are working to eliminate consumers' barriers to clinical care by advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), but they are not alone. "It's also nursing students, the people who make up the real future of nursing," writes Alexandra Wilson Pecci for HealthLeaders Media.

"Helping to rally these future nurse leaders and APRNs is Catherine Miller, DNP, RN, CNP, associate professor at The College of St. Scholastica and a pediatric nurse practitioner who's also a congressional district leader for the Minnesota APRN Coalition."

Miller and the Minnesota APRN Coalition "are working with their graduate- and doctorate-level students to engage them in the legislative process, encouraging them to attend town hall meetings... participate in letter-writing campaigns to legislators and the governor and to join Minnesota APRN Coalition meetings by phone." Some have even gone to the Minnesota capitol to meet with local legislators and share their personal stories.

Read more about how this group in Minnesota is engaging students here.

Health Innovations

AARP Solutions Forum: How to Improve Care and Lower Costs in Medicare: Promising Approaches

Join the AARP Public Policy Institute for a discussion of promising approaches to improving care and lowering Medicare costs. The discussion will be moderated by CCNA's Susan Reinhard. The panel of experts will discuss:

• New ways to organize care that is better for patients and for the program, such as use of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and medical homes.
• Payment approaches that encourage health care practitioners to work together to provide better, more efficient care.
• Practices that help reduce hospital readmission and improve transitional care.
• Building infrastructure (such as health information - HIT) to support these structural changes.
• How we can enhance the value of prescription drugs across the health care system.
• Practices that promote optimal medication use.
• Effective ways to get the highest value drugs to market.

The panel includes:

• Leah Binder, CEO, The Leapfrog Group
• Jennifer Eames Huff, Director, Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Group
• Michael H. James, President and CEO, Genesys PHO
• Lisa McGiffert, Director, Safe Patient Project, Consumers Union
• Christine M Simmon, SVP, Policy and Strategic Alliances, Generic Pharmaceutical Association
• Patricia Smith, President and CEO, Alliance of Community Health Plans
• Nicholas Wolter, MD, CEO, Billings Clinic

Register to attend in person here.

For the Elderly, Diseases that Overlap

Alzheimer's disease, high blood pressure and heart disease are the three most common chronic conditions in assisted living facilities: 82 percent of residents have at least one of them, according to a new government study. But what is alarming is how these ailments overlap.

A Venn diagram based on data from the study, by the National Center for Health Statistics in 2010, shows just how often these three conditions coincide in patients, and why this overlap is becoming an important new field of study.

View the interactive diagram and learn more here.

Upcoming Webinars

CCNA continues host a series of technical assistance webinars and teleconferences on a variety of topics. Invitations with registration and login information for webinars will be sent separately.  If you don't receive an invite to a webinar that you would like to attend contact Michael Pheulpin at mpheulpin@aarp.org for more information.

Webinar: Plan to Get Funding - Creating an AC Development Plan

Monday, May 6, 2013 | 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. EDT

CCNA consultant and former CA Action Coalition co-lead, Casey R. Shillam, PhD RN, will facilitate a discussion on opportunities for seeking funding. The discussion will center on understanding principals of fundraising and establishing a team within your Action Coalition that focuses on development.

Register here.

Below are the weekly Campaign for Action updates for the Action Coalitions for April 16, 2013, that describe successes, related activities, and relevant tools for this national campaign.

Boston Marathon

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims of the attacks in Boston and their families. Thank you to all first responders, nurses and doctors treating the victims.

Funding and Other Opportunities

Catalyzing Networks for Social Change

This Funder's Guide, written by Diane Scearce and supported by the Monitor Institute and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, explores how funders can harness the power of networks to further their goals. "Funders know they need big platforms with diverse players to tackle the complexity of 21st-century problems.... This means investing in more than discrete programs and more than individual organizations. It means catalyzing networks." The guide introduces the network mindset and shares best practices for network effectiveness.

Action Coalitions should use this valuable resource to help understand what funders are looking for and how to leverage AC networks to attract funding.

Read Catalyzing Networks for Social Change

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

Johnson & Johnson/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars

Apply here by May 1.

IPEC: Interprofessional Faculty Development Institute for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

May 20-22, 2013. Herndon, VA

Register here.

Taking the Long View Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Find registration and more information here.

National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Programs

See the guide here.

Campaign Pillars

Advancing Nursing Education

CCNA Leaders Meet with Community College Presidents

Pat Polansky and Mary Sue Gorski participated in a meeting with 14 Community College Presidents from across the country April 8 and 9 at the American Association of Community Colleges Office. The productive discussion focused on identifying challenges and opportunities; developing strategies and tools to overcome barriers and capitalize on opportunities; and defining opportunities for synergy and collaboration between community college presidents. The meeting was hosted by RWJF and the Tricouncil of Nursing as NPO of the Academic Progression in Nursing (APIN) grant initiative. Action Coalition leaders from Texas, New Mexico, and Washington presented their APIN funded academic progression projects to the group.

Promoting Nurses as Leaders

Idaho Action Coalition Co-Lead Appointed to Health Insurance Exchange Board

On April 10, Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter announced the 19 members of Idaho's Health Insurance Exchange Board, a panel authorized by the Idaho Legislature to set the rules and regulations for implementing a state based exchange. The Board must establish the exchange by January 1, 2014, as required by federal law. It is empowered by state law to develop an operating plan and contract for required services. "I'm grateful that the people with the talent, experience and ability to serve effectively on this board accepted the challenge," Governor Otter said.

Margaret Wainwright Henbest, co-lead of the Idaho Nursing Action Coalition, is one of two health care providers appointed to the Board. Mark Estess of AARP's Idaho State Office, was also appointed.

Read the full press release and congratulate Margaret here.

Texas Action Coalition Represented on White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing

Texas Team's Mary Jane Hamilton, Dean & Professor of Nursing, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi College of Nursing and Health Sciences, has been selected to participate in this White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing. The event will build on the efforts of the President's Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force, and the First Lady's call-to-action to our nation's governors in February to take legislative or executive action to help our troops get the credentials they need.

The President's Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force, led by the Department of Defense, is charged with identifying military specialties that readily transfer to high-demand jobs; working with civilian credentialing and licensing associations to address gaps between military training programs and credentialing and licensing requirements; and providing service members with greater access to necessary certification and licensing exams.

Read the White House report and look for Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi on page 15.

Now Available - On-Demand Nursing Leadership Webinars

Grow your leadership skills with this 5-part webinar series from ANA's Leadership Institute. Developed for nurses with two to five years of experience, gain immediately applicable skills in strategic thinking, results-oriented leadership, leading people, and innovation.

Access the on-demand leadership webinars now.

Nurses and Nurse Champions Included in Modern Healthcare's Top 25 Women in Health Care

In its yearly ranking of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare , Modern Healthcare included nine leaders with nursing backgrounds, as well as outspoken nurse champions. The program honors exceptional female health care executives who are making a positive difference in the industry. Honoree Leah Binder is president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group, a respected organization that mobilizes employer purchasing power to improve the safety, quality and affordability of care in the nation. To meet this goal, Binder wants hospitals to hire more highly educated nurses, which is consistent with the goals of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action and the Institute of Medicine recommendation that more nurses earn baccalaureate degrees. The Leapfrog Group is a member of the Champion Nursing Coalition and a vocal supporter for vital role of nurse leaders in achieving and maintaining safety standards in our nation's hospitals.

Also included on the list is Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. At the recent Campaign for Action Summit 2013, Lavizzo-Mourey spoke about the Foundation's commitment to nurses and nursing, and what spurred its support for the Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing report.

See the full list of honorees with nursing backgrounds.

Removing Barriers to Practice & Care

Walgreens Now Diagnosing, Treating Chronic Conditions

Walgreens has announced the expansion of its in-store clinic services to include diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic conditions through the introduction of physician assistants and nurse practitioners into 300 of the company's Take Care Clinics.

Walgreens became the first retail chain to diagnose and treat chronic condition.

Time to Ease Restrictions on Nurses

In this Op-Ed in the Huffington Post, David Freudberg argues that the American medical system must adapt to accommodate the needs of the additional patients who will soon have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Why, Freudberg asks, do primary care providers need to be medical doctors? Highly-trained nurse practitioners (NPs) could be a big part of the solution. Numerous studies have shown that NPs and MDs provide comparable primary care, but more needs to be done. Nursing education must be strengthened, as recommended by the IOM, and barriers to practice and care must be removed.

Freudberg quotes the 2011 New England Journal of Medicine article that said "there are no data to suggest that nurse practitioners in states that impose greater restrictions on their practice provide safer and better care". He also notes that AARP has called for easing of regulations that limit the independence of NPs."

Read the full Op-Ed in the Huffington Post.

States Ponder Removing Barriers to Practice and Care

As of March 25, 33 states this year have collectively introduced over 140 bills that address medical "scope of practice" issues. The bulk of the bills deal with licensing and other issues surrounding advanced practice nursing, the use of physician assistants and the ability to write prescriptions.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the nation's supply of primary care physicians was 9,000 less than demand in 2010. When estimates for specialists are considered, the total doctor shortage will climb to over 90,000 within the decade and to over 130,000 by 2025. That impact would likely be felt the most in low-income and rural areas, which often already have limited access to primary care doctors. Efforts are underway in many states to get more qualified doctors into the pipeline, but getting someone from first year med school to full licensure and practice is at best a many-year process.

Many state governments are now turning to the ready-made workforce of nurse practitioners to ease the primary care shortage. "We are working hard at the state level to ensure every Californian has access to affordable, quality health coverage, but what good is a health insurance card if you can't get into see a health care provider when you need one?" said California Senator Ed Hernandez. "We need to make better use of the trained healthcare workforce we already have if we are ever going to meet demand."

The National Governors Association and the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine have both endorsed the concept of granting nurse practitioners more leeway to practice independently.

Read the full article here.

New Directory of Resources

We are pleased to announce the Campaign for Action's new online directory of resources. This new section of the website organizes all of the fundamental Campaign resources and tools in one easy place from which to navigate. Finding what you need has never been easier!

Check it out here.

Funding and Other Opportunities

Funding Resources for Action Coalitions

Casey Shillam, a consultant for the Campaign for Action, has developed a PowerPoint presentation and sample budget to help Action Coalitions organize their fundraising efforts.

The PowerPoint presentation will help you:

1. Understand principles of fundraising;
2. Identify mechanisms of Action Coalition support; and
3. Determine structure of the Action Coalition Development Team, incorporating examples of successful fundraising strategies.

You can find these fundraising resources here.

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

Margaret E. Mahoney Fellowship

Apply by April 8, 2013.

AACN: Leadership for Academic Nursing Program - Request for Applications

Seminar will be held July 28 - August 1, 2013. Colorado Springs, CO

Apply here by April 12, 2013

Johnson & Johnson/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars

Apply here by May 1.

IPEC: Interprofessional Faculty Development Institute for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

May 20-22, 2013. Herndon, VA

Register here.

Taking the Long View Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Find registration and more information here.

National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Programs

See the guide here.

Campaign Pillars

Advancing Nursing Education

Student Nurses and Action Coalitions

Has your AC reached out to students? If not, do you have plans of reaching out soon?

Please go to the online community to join our discussion on involving student nurses! Share your ideas and success stories with Jenna Bristol, MSN student at Yale University, who is working to increase student nurse collaboration with ACs.

Rhode Island Launches First Statewide Nurse Residency Program

Last week, the Rhode Island Action Coalition, along with numerous public and private sector partners, launched a more than $600,000 statewide clinical nurse residency and mentoring program to provide participating nurses with additional skills and experience.

Rhode Island's residency program is unusual, say state leaders, as most residency programs are affiliated with specific hospitals or agencies. The Rhode Island project will place graduates of the state's nursing programs in practice settings ranging from nursing homes to community clinics, as well as traditional hospital settings across the state. Each nurse accepted into the program will receive a stipend and will practice at three different sites during a residency period lasting up to nine months.

"In Rhode Island, health care is an important industry sector, and nursing is projected to be an in-demand occupation over the coming years" said Governor Lincoln D. Chafee.  "Initiatives such as the nurse residency project should help us better prepare our workforce for high-growth economic opportunities in our state"

Learn more about the Rhode Island Residency Program.

Promoting Nurses as Leaders

New York Action Coalition Co-Lead Appointed to Board of Trustees

On April 2, the New York Action Coalition announced the appointment of Barbara Zittel, RN, Ph.D., to the Ellis Medicine Board of Trustees. Dr. Zittel is believed to be the first RN appointed to the Board of Trustees in the 125 year history of Ellis Medicine.

Ellis Medicine is a 438-bed community and teaching healthcare system serving New York's Capital Region. With four campuses - Ellis Hospital, Ellis Health Center, Bellevue Woman's Center and Medical Center of Clifton Park - five additional service locations, more than 3,300 employees and more than 700 members of the health care staff, Ellis Medicine is proud to provide a lifetime of care for patients.

Learn more about Dr. Zittel and leave a comment to congratulate her.

See the announcement about Dr. Antonia Villarruel's appointment below.

Diversity

New IOM Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities

Dr. Antonia Villarruel, co-chair of the Campaign for Action's Diversity Steering Committee and member of the Strategic Advisory Committee, has been appointed to lead the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities . The roundtable was created to address racial and ethnic disparities in health care, to find new strategies to overcome disparities, and to develop new leadership in targeted areas.

"The roundtable is committed to raising awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities. It is able to more nimbly address emerging and challenging issues impacting health disparities and health equity," says Dr. Villarruel. The roundtable's first meeting will take place on April 22.

Learn more about the roundtable here.

From Disparity to Equity

Poverty, discrimination, too few primary care providers, a lack of diversity among clinicians, "food deserts": the causes of inequities in health and health care have been debated and studied for decades. But eliminating them has proved elusive.

In this recent American Journal of Nursing article, Dr. Antonia Villarruel outlines promising practices for eliminating health care disparities and cites the work of the Campaign for Action.

Eliminating health care disparities and promoting a more diverse nursing workforce is a key initiative of the Campaign, and core value of AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As you move forward with your work on each of the pillar areas, we challenge you to keep an eye towards how your work addresses diversity.

Read the article here.

Health Innovations

CO-OPs: What Are They and What are the Challenges?

The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) established a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) program to increase competition among plans and improve consumer choice.

Under the ACA, the federal government awarded nearly $2 billion in federal loans to help create 24 new CO-OPs in 24 states. The CO-OP sponsors-consumer-run groups, membership organizations, and other nonprofit organizations-are now moving forward to offer health insurance coverage to members, but are still likely to face major challenges as they prepare for open enrollment in October.

This RWJF policy brief describes the CO-OP program and examines issues related to its implementation and likelihood of success

Below are the weekly Campaign for Action updates for the Action Coalitions for April 1, 2013, that describe successes, related activities, and relevant tools for this national campaign.

Campaign for Action Welcomes New Action Coalitions

The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action is happy to welcome new Action Coalitions from Jamaica, British Columbia, and Vatican City! Now that we have all 50 states and the District of Columbia, we thought we could use that momentum to continue expanding outside of the United States. April fools!

Building Your Presence with Facebook Pages

Do you know how to harness the power of social media to help your Action Coalition? Do you know what Facebook is? If you answered yes or no to either question, this tool can help!

This guide was developed by Facebook for causes and nonprofits to help them use Facebook Pages to engage supporters and stakeholders in meaningful conversations that will promote their causes.

Check out the guide here.

Funding and Other Opportunities

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

Margaret E. Mahoney Fellowship

Apply by April 8, 2013.

AACN: Leadership for Academic Nursing Program - Request for Applications

Seminar will be held July 28 - August 1, 2013. Colorado Springs, CO

Apply here by April 12, 2013

Johnson & Johnson/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars

Apply here by May 1.

IPEC: Interprofessional Faculty Development Institute for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

May 20-22, 2013. Herndon, VA

Register here.

Taking the Long View Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Find registration and more information here.

National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Programs

See the guide here .

Campaign Pillars

Touching All Pillars

Nurses Shatter the Stereotype

Check out this video from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Nurses Shatter the Stereotype. Nurses represent the largest segment of health care professionals and are the people who provide the most direct care at the bedside. What many people don't realize is that nurses also are working to provide, shape and improve health care in a wide variety of settings. Nurses are health care researchers, administrators, educators, soldiers, and more. Nurses shatter the stereotype.

Watch the video here.

Advancing Nursing Education

Student Nurses and Action Coalitions

Jenna Bristol, a student at Yale University, shared this Community Post to see how Action Coalitions have reached out to students:

At the summit a breakout group discussed the ambitious goal of bringing students to every meeting. In an effort to hear the nursing student voice on the future of nursing, several ACs have invited students to attend AC executive committee meetings.

How has your AC reached out to students? Or, if your AC has not yet reached out to students, do you have plans of reaching out soon?

Thank you for bringing this up, Jenna! Continue the conversation in the Online Community.

Removing Barriers to Practice & Care

The Diane Rehm Show Discusses the Role of Nurse Practitioners

In 18 states and the District of Columbia, nurse practitioners (NPs) are allowed to treat patients and prescribe medications without a doctor's involvement. Lawmakers in a number of other states are pushing for similar changes to existing laws that place unnecessary barriers in between nurse practitioners and patients.

Last week, Diane Rehm  hosted a discussion on the role of nurse practitioners on her nationally-syndicated radio show. Can removing these barriers help NPs address the shortage of primary care physicians? Does a team-based approach including a medical doctor result in better care for patients?

Listen to the show here.

Diane's guests included:

• Dr. Reid Blackwelder: family physician and president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
• Mary Agnes Carey: senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News.
• Ken Miller: nurse practitioner, associate dean at The Catholic University of America School of Nursing, and president-elect of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
• Sandra Nattina: nurse practitioner at Columbia Medical Practice in Columbia, Md., and past president of Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland.

Minnesota Public Radio Talks Nursing Practice

Continuing with the radio trend, Minnesota Public radio welcomed three guests, including the Minnesota Action Coalition's Mary Chesney, to discuss the role of nurse practitioners and how full NP practice would change health care in Minnesota.

Listen here.

Guests included:

• Angela Golden: President of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, assistant professor at Northern Arizona University
• Mary Chesney: President of the Minnesota Advanced Practice Registered Nurses Coalition, clinical associate professor and director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program at the University of Minnesota's School of Nursing
• Julie Anderson: President of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians

Marketplace Health Care: The Nurse Practitioner Will See You Now

This Marketplace podcast by Dan Gorenstein also looks at the role of nurse practitioners as approximately 30 million Americans gain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Listen/read here.

Health Innovations

Rural Health Initiative a Successful Model for Improved Health

The Wisconsin Rural Health Initiative, started in Wisconsin's Shawano County, uses nurses at the front line of care to improve the health and safety of farm families. The non-profit, grass roots organization started in 2004 after a year of meetings by citizens and organizations concerned with the farming community. This model of health care is well received, very successful and has expanded to other counties in Wisconsin.

Please see Stephanie Stewart's Community Post for more information.

Summit 2013: Thank You + Access Resources

A big thank you to all of the Summit teams who really rolled up their sleeves and worked so hard last month in Washington, DC. You can take a look at your work, as well as Summit resources, photos, imperatives and other information on the Summit 2013 web page – http://campaignforaction.org/national-summit.

And don’t forget to tell us how you are bringing the Summit to your state Action Coalition members back home!

Campaign Key Messages Now Include Talking Points for Hospitals, Physicians and Funders

Many of you became more familiar with the Campaign’s messages at the Summit. These are the framework messages you can use when you talk about your Campaign for Action efforts. But did you know that the messaging resources on the Campaign Community also include specific audience talking points – for hospitals, physicians and funders. For more, check out How to Use Campaign Messages.

Funding and Other Opportunities

HRSA Nursing Workforce Diversity Funding Opportunity

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Division of Nursing recently announced a funding opportunity for its Nursing Workforce Diversity program. To demonstrate the Division of Nursing’s focus and commitment to the social determinants of health and health equity, the program now requires applicants to propose innovative workforce diversity projects that offer multi-level, evidence-based approaches that incorporate the social determinants of health into strategies to diversify the nursing workforce and move towards health equity.

Eligible applicants for this FOA are academic health centers, State or local governments, community-based organizations, tribes and tribal organizations, accredited schools of nursing, and nursing centers. HRSA is also looking for qualified reviewers.

Applications are due March 15, 2013.

Learn more here.

Download the application here.

NEW: FAQs posted here.

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

INQRI Webinar Series: Implementation of a Risk Specific Fall Prevention Bundle to Reduce Falls in Hospitals

March 12, 4-5 pm ET

Register here.

AACN: Implementing Successful Academic-Practice Partnerships Conference

April 18-19, 2013. Chicago, IL

Register here by March 22.

Johnson & Johnson/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars

Apply here by May 1.

IPEC: Interprofessional Faculty Development Institute for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

May 20-22, 2013. Herndon, VA

Register here

Taking the Long View Annual Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Registration opens February 1 at www.aznurse.org.

Interested in presenting? See the call for proposals here.

Campaign Pillars

Advancing Nursing Education

More Training, Bigger Roles for Nurse Practitioners

Ninety-one of 100 counties in North Carolina are designated as medically underserved. Consumers like 70-year-old Walter Sane, who traveled 225 miles to receive treatment from a nurse practitioner, need better access to high quality care and universities in North Carolina are now expanding programs that will produce more nurse practitioners with the higher skills and training they need to fill this role on the front lines of the state’s health care system. This article demonstrates that this campaign is about the patient and ensuring that Mr. Sane and others like him would have improved access to clinicians.

We would love to share more consumer stories with you and your peers so if you have one, please forward it to Andrew Bianco at ABianco@AARP.org.

Read the full article in the News & Observer.

Nursing Education in Brief:

Thousands of Nurses Needed, Texas Tech Expands to Meet Demands

The Texas Nurses Association estimates that there will be a shortage of 70,000 nurses in the state by 2020. The Texas Tech University School of Nursing is expanding to meet this need.

Read more here.

Boise State Adds New Online Nursing Doctorate

A new online doctor of nursing practice degree program (DNP) was approved by the Idaho State Board of Education and will begin in August 2013.

The DNP is Boise State’s ninth doctoral program and aims at helping prepare nurses to assume leadership responsibilities in the education and clinical work force.  Entry into the program will require a current registered nurse license, a bachelor’s degree in nursing with a master’s degree in nursing or a related field.

Learn more here.

Removing Barriers to Practice & Care

Tom Daschle Outlines a Workforce for "the New Health Care World"

In a recent post to the Health Affairs Blog, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle calls for all primary care practitioners to practice to the fullest extent of their training as one solution to meeting America's health care demands. Daschle writes that nurse practitioners are and will continue to be in greater demands as they take on larger roles in team based and primary care. Nurse practitioners are a critical component to health care transformation.

Daschle invites policy makers to maximize the roles of all health professionals, along with a host of other innovative solutions to meet America's growing health care challenges.

Read more here.

Nurse Practitioners Are In -- and Why You May Be Seeing More of Them

“Despite continuing protests from some physician groups, the role of nurse practitioners (NPs) in U.S. health care is expanding and will likely change both the costs and type of care experienced by millions of Americans.” This article from Knowledge@Wharton, a publication of the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious business school, provides a business case for removing barriers to APRN practice and care, citing the lower cost of educating an NP rather than a physician and the comparable care that both provide.

“Giving NPs the right to treat patients and prescribe medications without a doctor's supervision,” according to Wharton professor of health care management Robert J. Town, "‘doesn't seem to have any negative consequences, and it provides a lot of people with more access to primary care, whether it's in a retail clinic or whether it means patients can see their primary care provider without having to see the physician."

Read the full article here.

Role of Nurse Practitioners in Health Reform is Focus of New Report

A new report by the National Institute for Health Care Reform digs into the role of nurse practitioners in addressing an anticipated shortage of primary care physicians.

The institute’s report said that state laws themselves do not restrict what services nurse practitioners can provide but the laws can indirectly affect nurse practitioners’ ability to practice. Considering the big demand for primary care services analysts are predicting, states might want to adjust their regulations to more explicitly define nurse practitioners as primary care providers, the report concluded.

Read more in the Baltimore Business Journal.

Sometimes The Best Medical Care Is Provided By Those Who Aren't M.D.s

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a physician, argues that allowing non-physicians to practice to a greater extent will benefit patients and lower costs. In an op-ed in Forbes magazine, he explains, “Expanded scopes of practice, in which a non-physician renders care independent of a physician, not only expand access to health care and have the potential to decrease the cost of healthcare, but also reflect a respect for the free market system.”

Read the full op-ed here.

Four out of Five Kentuckians Comfortable Seeing Nurse Practitioners

New poll figures indicate the majority of Kentuckians are comfortable seeing a nurse practitioner or physician assistant for their routine care. The Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP) also reveals the comfort level is higher among those with experience receiving care from such clinicians.

Read more here.

“Mr. Jones, the nurse practitioner will see you now.”

As aging physicians prepare to leave the workforce and millions of newly insured Americans begin seeking primary care, states must address the question of who will provide necessary care. Across the nation, legislatures are looking towards nurse practitioners, physician assistants and pharmacists to meet some of this need.

Read this quick case in the Hospital Association of Southern California’s blog for allowing NPs and other providers to practice to the full extent of their education and training.

Diversity

See the HRSA Funding Opportunity for the Nursing Workforce Diversity Program above.

US Census Bureau Reports Male Nurses Becoming More Commonplace

The nursing profession remains overwhelmingly female, but the representation of men has increased as the demand for nurses has grown over the last several decades, according to a U.S. Census Bureau study released last month.

The new study, Men in Nursing Occupations, shows the proportion of male registered nurses has more than tripled since 1970, from 2.7 percent to 9.6 percent, and the proportion of male licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses has more than doubled from 3.9 percent to 8.1 percent

Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future Joins with AACN to Expand the Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars Program

On February 25, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) announced that the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future has renewed its support for the national Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars Program. Designed to enhance racial/ethnic diversity within the nurse faculty population in the U.S., this collaborative effort provides financial support, mentoring, and leadership development to graduate students committed to teaching in schools of nursing after graduation. To date, AACN has helped to prepare 53 minority faculty scholars through this initiative and a similar effort.

AACN is currently accepting applications from students for the next round of scholarship awards. The deadline to apply is May 1, 2013, and new winners will be announced in August 2013.

You can download an application here.

Learn more about issues related to diversity in nursing education and AACN’s efforts to address this critical issue here.

Upcoming Webinars Related to the Campaign for Action

CCNA continues host a series of technical assistance webinars and teleconferences on a variety of topics. Invitations with registration and login information for webinars will be sent separately.  If you don’t receive an invite to a webinar that you would like to attend contact Michael Pheulpin at mpheulpin@aarp.org for more information.

The Weekly Update Goes on Break

As we focus our attention on final preparations for the Campaign for Action Summit 2013, the Weekly Update will take a brief hiatus and return on March 11. In the meantime, you can keep up with the Campaign in our online community. Have a wonderful February and we’ll see you in March!

Summit 2013: Transforming Health Care Through Nursing

Communications Corner: Summit Prep – Communications Resources

At the Campaign for Action Summit 2013 later this month, attendees will have many opportunities for storytelling and communicating your goals, challenges, and successes with fellow Action Coalitions and Campaign staff. Your focus on communications should not start or end at the Summit.

In this Communications Corner, we’re providing several documents that will help you integrate communications into your “gameplan” and more effectively engage new stakeholders and affect change. These will all be provided in your Summit materials, but we encourage you to review them in advance so you can arrive in Washington ready to include communications in your action plans!

Read more here for a description on the resources and what you can expect in terms of communications activities at the summit.

Summit Orientation Webinar and Materials Available

Thanks to those of you who joined last week’s webinar, The Road Ahead: An Orientation to Summit 2013: Transforming Health Care through Nursing. We appreciate that so many of you not only joined us but also that you were so engaged! We hope you enjoyed the brief introduction to the action-packed summit we’ve planned for you later this month. If you wish to view the webinar again or share it with your colleagues, you can access it here, along with the webinar presentation material. While you’re there, remember to post your feedback, thoughts and follow-up ideas about the webinar and the summit.

Submit Your Questions to RWJF President and CEO Ahead of Summit – Deadline is February 14!

Don’t forget to submit your questions for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, who will join us for the Campaign for Action Summit 2013: Transforming Health Care through Nursing in Washington, DC to offer a keynote perspective.

Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey’s summit discussion will explore what it takes to create social change and lasting transformation in health and health care, drawing on Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey’s expertise and insights as a physician, philanthropist, and advocate for a culture of health in America.

In advance of the summit, Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey has invited Action Coalition members to contribute questions to inform her discussion. Please post your questions by February 14, 2013 in the Campaign for Action online community here.

Webinar: The Limits of Advocacy While in Town for the National Summit

This webinar is mandatory for all participants of the Campaign for Action Summit 2013. You will be required to sign that you participated at the end of the webinar.

Register here to participate on February 13th 3:00-4:00 EST

- OR -

Register here to participate on February 21st 1:00-2:00 EST

While Action Coalition participants are in Washington, DC for the 2013 Campaign for Action’s National Summit, many will be here supported by RWJF funding. As you know, when your trip is supported by RWJF you may not engage in any lobbying during your trip, even before or after the days of the Summit. Kristen Gurdin, RWJF Legal Counsel will explain what you can and cannot discuss with government offices while you are in Washington, DC with RWJF funding.  Some of the presentation will relate to the Capitol Hill Reception on the evening of Wednesday, February 27th, and the rest of it will pertain to your general presence while in town for that trip.

We need to underscore, that to receive RWJF reimbursement for your trip expenses and to attend the Hill Reception it is mandatory for you to participate on this entire webinar and to sign the agreement at the end that you did so.

We are hosting two live webinars with Kristen to maximize the ability for Summit attendees to participate. The dates and times of these webinars are February 13th 3:00-4:00 EST and February 21st 1:00-2:00 EST.  If you cannot attend either of these, please contact us immediately to discuss alternative arrangements.

We know that this is very different than how we normally request your participation, but we need your full cooperation and understanding.

If you have any questions about this or other webinars, you may contact Michael Pheulpin at MPheulpin@aarp.org.

Funding and Other Opportunities

HRSA Nursing Workforce Diversity Funding Opportunity

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Division of Nursing recently announced a funding opportunity for its Nursing Workforce Diversity program. To demonstrate the Division of Nursing’s focus and commitment to the social determinants of health and health equity, the program now requires applicants to propose innovative workforce diversity projects that offer multi-level, evidence-based approaches that incorporate the social determinants of health into strategies to diversify the nursing workforce and move towards health equity.

Eligible applicants for this FOA are academic health centers, State or local governments, community-based organizations, tribes and tribal organizations, accredited schools of nursing, and nursing centers. HRSA is also looking for qualified reviewers.

Applications are due March 15, 2013.

Learn more here.

Download the application here.

Cast Your Vote: RWJF's 2012 Most Influential Research

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has selected the nominees for the 2012 most influential research articles, and now it’s time for you to select the “Final 5.”

RWJF identified 20 RWJF-supported articles published in 2012 that represent the “best of the best” according to readers—research that has influenced the field and changed their work in a valuable way. These articles will now move forward to compete for the title of the “Final 5” most influential research articles of 2012.

Vote here before the polls close on February 15 (11:59 p.m. EST).

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

INQRI Webinar Series: Translating Research Into Practice

February 14, 3-4 pm ET

Register here.

Webinar: Integrating Oral-Systemic Health in Graduate Nursing Programs: A Faculty Tool Kit

March 5, 1-2 pm ET

Register here.

IPEC: Interprofessional Faculty Development Institute for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

May 20-22, 2013. Herndon, VA

Register here

Taking the Long View Annual Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Registration opens February 1 at www.aznurse.org.

Interested in presenting? See the call for proposals here.

Campaign Pillars

Advancing Nursing Education

CCNA Continues Promising Education Progression Models Video Series

CCNA has launched a new video series on education progression and the implementation of the four promising models identified in the Learning Collaborative. We asked our nurse expert consultants to provide additional insights in a video series and make themselves available for further discussion on our website. All of the videos are now available for your use on our website. The presenters will be available on the specific dates below on our website’s Community Post section to answer your questions about their work in this area. Please NOTE: Videos best viewed in Firefox or Google Chrome.     

This Week’s Videos for Discussion:

Dr. Elizabeth Mancini presents Innovative High Volume AND Quality at University of Texas Arlington and shares specific strategies that allowed the University of Texas Arlington to rapidly increase enrollment while maintaining quality.

Join Dr. Mancini on our Online Community for a discussion on Scalable Models For Academic Progression February 11 through 15.

Ms. Jan Jones-Schenk presents Western Governor’s University:  A National Education Partner as she offers perspective partnerships with online programs as one strategy to increase student access while maintaining quality.

Join Ms. Jones-Schenk in our Online Community for a discussion on the competency based model here February 11 through 15.

Removing Barriers to Practice & Care

Stories on Changing Role of Nursing Illustrate Scope of Practice Issues

Joanne Kenen writes on the Association for Health Care Journalists blog about two stories that focus on scope of practice issues for nurses. These stories are persuasive because they show the human impact of that scope of practice laws have on consumer access to care. This post follows an earlier post on scope of practice that focused on reports and other resources.

Read the full blog post here.

Diversity

See the HRSA Funding Opportunity for the Nursing Workforce Diversity Program above.

Workforce Data

Webinar: NCHWA’s Nursing Workforce Research Activities and Findings

The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis is pleased to announce the next Webinar in its Health Workforce Webinar Series - NCHWA’s Nursing Workforce Research Activities and Findings. This Webinar will take place on Tuesday, February 12, 2013, at 2:00 pm ET.

The webinar will focus on the Center's nursing workforce agenda and present findings from its new report on the U.S. nursing workforce. Dr. Jennifer Nooney will present key findings on the supply, distribution, and education of RNs and LPNs, highlighting the recent trends in new graduates and overall supply and discuss key changes in nursing employment characteristics over the past decade.  Dr. Nooney will also discuss the projects underway to assess nursing workforce supply and demand, including analysis of existing data sources, original data collection, and construction of new forecasting models.

February 12, 2013

2:00-3:00 pm ET

Join the webinar here.

Dial-in Number: 800-857-1222; passcode: 7298874

Bipartisan Policy Center Releases Two Reports on Health Care Workforce

Last week the Bipartisan Policy Center released a report titled “The Complexities of National Health Care Workforce Planning: A review of current data and methodologies and recommendations for future studies.” According to the center, the quality of current data makes it difficult to offer both a complete forecast of the nation’s health care workforce supply and assess its adequacy for meeting the demand for services in coming years.

The report contains policy recommendations as well as data collection and methodology recommendations to improve the quality of health care workforce data. One recommendation states that a workforce planning strategy evaluate and incorporate “key findings from landmark industry studies such as the IOM Future of Nursing report.”

Full the full report here.

The Bipartisan Policy Center also released a report titled “Better Health Care Worker Demand Projections: A Twenty-First Century Approach.” This report addresses the need for better workforce demand projections as policy attention and research that traditionally focused on physicians increasingly focus on nurses and other non-physician health professionals.

Full the full report here.

Upcoming Webinars Related to the Campaign for Action

CCNA continues host a series of technical assistance webinars and teleconferences on a variety of topics. Invitations with registration and login information for webinars will be sent separately.  If you don’t receive an invite to a webinar that you would like to attend contact Michael Pheulpin at mpheulpin@aarp.org for more information.

February 13th 3:00-4:00 EST – The Limits of Advocacy While in Town for the National Summit (Invitation sent to Summit attendees)

February 21st 1:00-2:00 EST –  The Limits of Advocacy While in Town for the National Summit (Invitation sent to Summit attendees)

Welcome to the Campaign!

The Campaign for Action is happy to announce that Alaska and the District of Columbia have joined us as the 50^th and 51^st Action Coalitions. Alaska comes in one spot behind the order in which it entered the union, while the District occupies the favored spot of DC statehood fans.

Congratulations to co-leads Julie McNulty, Debbie Thompson and Ken Helander of Alaska, as well as Pier Broadnax and Roy Thomas of the District of Columbia!

Funding and Other Opportunities

Cast Your Vote: RWJF's 2012 Most Influential Research

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has selected the nominees for the 2012 most influential research articles, and now it’s time for you to select the “Final 5.”

RWJF identified 20 RWJF-supported articles published in 2012 that represent the “best of the best” according to readers—research that has influenced the field and changed their work in a valuable way. These articles will now move forward to compete for the title of the “Final 5” most influential research articles of 2012.

Vote here before the polls close on February 15 (11:59 p.m. EST).

Opportunities from Recent Weekly Updates:

CDC Opportunity for Recent BSN Graduates

Applications due February 5

Nursing Community Webinar: "Nursing and Healthcare Delivery Under the 113th Congress"

February 6, 2013, 1:00-2:00pm ET

Note: Registration is now full. The Webinar recording will be available 2-3 days afterward here.

HRSA Funding Opportunity for Nursing Workforce Diversity Program

Apply in Grants.gov by March 8, 2013

IPEC: Interprofessional Faculty Development Institute for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

May 20-22, 2013. Herndon, VA

Register here

Taking the Long View Annual Conference: The Evolving Role of Nurse Leaders from Bedside to Boardroom

June 19-20, 2013. Scottsdale, AZ.

Registration opens February 1 at www.aznurse.org.

Interested in presenting? See the call for proposals here.

Campaign Pillars

Advancing Nursing Education

CCNA Continues Promising Education Progression Models Video Series

CCNA has launched a new video series on education progression and the implementation of the four promising models identified in the Learning Collaborative. We asked our nurse expert consultants to provide additional insights in a video series and make themselves available for further discussion on our website. All of the videos are now available for your use on our website. The presenters will be available on the specific dates below on our website’s Community Post section to answer your questions about their work in this area. Please NOTE: Videos best viewed in Firefox or Google Chrome.     

This Week’s Video for Discussion:

Dr. Jean Wortock presents RN to BSN at a Community College Model which is a general introduction of the implementation of the Shared Curriculum model.

Join Dr. Wortock here on the Community Post for further discussion February 4 through 8.

Other Videos and Future Discussion Dates:

Innovative High Volume AND Quality at University of Texas Arlington and Western Governor’s University:  A National Education Partner

Dr. Elizabeth Mancini and Ms. Jan Jones Schenk will be available to for further discussion on our website from February 11-15.

News About the RN to MSN Education Model – Share Your Thoughts

News this week from George Washington University: A great outcome that will advance nursing education, making it easier for registered nurses to pursue their advanced education from RN to MSN. The University announced jointly with the governor of Virginia a new program to offer a more clinical focus, permitting flexibility to allow nurses to pursue their higher education in “stages.” It will also be more affordable and accessible thanks to an online curriculum. What does this mean for our Campaign for Action work? It exemplifies bold progress on one of the four promising education models; increases the education levels of the nurse workforce; and helps meet the increasing primary care demands.

Read a post from one of our nurse experts and tell us what you think.

Education Progression in Action: Washington State

Washington State University’s Tri Cities campus, Columbia Basin College and several key employers collaborated to expand nursing education in that part of the state. Between the two, aspiring nurses can acquire anything from an associate's degree to a doctorate, and end up working in a wide range of nursing jobs.

Read more in this story from The News Tribune
In Lacey, Wash., St. Martin’s University has developed letters of agreement with two state-funded community college nursing programs to create a seamless RN-BSN program. Dr. Louise Kaplan is the Director of this private university’s recently-resurrected program.

Changing Roles Lead More Nurses Toward Advanced Degrees

The need for more primary care providers and an unstable economy are among the factors driving nurses in Indiana and other states to seek advanced degrees and to work in settings such as outpatient clinics, home care and community health centers. The need for nurses with advanced degrees will further increase under the Affordable Care Act, said Kimberly Harper, director of the Indiana Center for Nursing and co-lead for the Indiana Action Coalition: Transforming Health Care.

Read the full article in Lafayette’s Journal and Courier.

Promoting Nurses as Leaders

Jonas Scholars and the Campaign for Action

We are beginning to hear about the good work the Jonas Scholars are doing within their Action Coalitions!  If you still need to connect with your Jonas Scholar, need more information on the Jonas Scholar project or if you have something to share about the work the Jonas Scholars are doing in your state, please e-mail Jen Cooper, CCNA Project Manager, at jcooper@aarp.org or go to the Jonas Scholars page on the Campaign for Action’s on-line community.

Keep an eye on this page for highlights of Jonas Scholar projects in different states throughout 2013!  Jonas Scholars will present their work at the Jonas Center-AACN conference in Washington D.C. in October.

AHCA Appoints Nurse Practitioner to Advisory Board

Stan Whittaker, an NP and Board Chair of the Florida Association of Nurse Practitioners (FLANP), has received an appointment to the Agency for Health Care Administration's Medical Care Advisory Committee.

Federal law requires each state to establish a committee to serve in an advisory capacity on issues pertaining to Medicaid. Members may be asked to review or provide input on issues pertaining to Medicaid, including rules and regulations.

In his work with FLANP's policy committee, Whittaker has reviewed agency rules that negatively impact consumer access to care. He has also attended policy meetings at the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to advocate for patients through removal of practice barriers of NPs.

Whittaker is the first NP appointed to this board.

Removing Barriers to Practice & Care

Why Your Nurse Practitioner is Your Friend

Dr. Shirie Leng, a former advanced practice nurse and current anesthesiologist, is well qualified to distinguish between care provided by a nurse and care provided by a physician. In this blog post, Dr. Leng writes that “nurse practitioners, by their training in nursing, are much more likely to deal successfully with chronic conditions because they will talk to you and listen to you. They don’t have the same time-pressures and paperwork blizzards that the doctors have…. They want to take care of you, not just fix your illness.”

Read Dr. Leng’s full blog post here.

Diversity

See HRSA Funding Opportunity for Nursing Workforce Diversity Program above.

Interprofessional Collaboration

INQRI Webinar Series: Translating Research Into Practice

The Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) is hosting a webinar series on translating research into practice that features the work of all INQRI grantees. This session, "Creation of a Nurse Manager Development Program to Increase Patient Safety," will be presented by project investigators Linda Flynn and Joel Cantor.

February 14, 2013

3:00pm-4:00pm ET
Learn more about this project.

Register here.

Webinar: Integrating Oral-Systemic Health in Graduate Nursing Programs: A Faculty Tool Kit

The Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice initiative is presenting a FREE webinar, titled "Integrating Oral-Systemic Health in Graduate Nursing Programs: A Faculty Tool Kit." The webinar will provide participants with an overview of compelling access, workforce, and health disparities issues related to oral health and it link to overall health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cancer

Presenters will provide strategies and resources for faculty to use in integrating oral health competencies and content in graduate programs. Strategies will also be relevant to engaging learners from different professions in innovative interprofessional oral-systemic health teaching learning experiences that use technology to promote collaborative practice.

March 5, 2013

1:00 - 2:00 PM ET
Learn more here.
Register here.

Health Innovations

Health Affairs Releases Policy Brief on Federally Facilitated Insurance Exchanges

One of the key mechanisms for expanding health coverage under the Affordable Care Act is the creation of new state-based health insurance exchanges. States have several options for organizing and operating these exchanges. A state can establish and operate its own exchange, work with other states to establish regional exchanges, run an exchange in partnership with the federal government, or let the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) operate a "federally facilitated exchange" for the state.

As of the brief’s publication date, 25 states have decided not to establish and run their own exchanges, forcing the federal government to have a major role in expanding insurance coverage in the individual and small-business insurance markets in at least half the states. This policy brief explores the issues now arising as the federally facilitated exchanges are being shaped.

Read the brief here.

Upcoming Webinars Related to the Campaign for Action

CCNA continues host a series of technical assistance webinars and teleconferences on a variety of topics. Invitations with registration and login information for webinars will be sent separately.  If you don’t receive an invite to a webinar that you would like to attend contact Michael Pheulpin at mpheulpin@aarp.org for more information.

February 7, 3:00-4:30 p.m. EST – Campaign for Action: The Road Ahead – An Orientation to the National Summit (Invitation sent to Summit attendees)