Through an additional $300,000 two-year grant, the School of Nursing at California State University, Los Angeles will further the success of its California Collaborative Model of Nursing Education (CCMNE)—a partnership with community colleges to create a more highly educated, diverse nursing workforce.
This Phase II grant of the Academic Progression in Nursing (APIN) program is awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) through the California Institute of Nursing and Health Care (CINHC).
“We are excited to continue our work through CINHC on this important initiative that enables nursing students from our local community colleges to seamlessly continue their education at Cal State L.A. to complete their Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing (BSN),” said Director of the School of Nursing at Cal State L.A. and Project Director Lorie Judson. “We are partnered with 10 area community colleges and have more than 140 nursing students in current cohorts on their way to degree completion at Cal State L.A.”
While acknowledging the contributions of licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses and associate-degree-prepared registered nurses, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported that a better educated nursing workforce can help ensure that our nation’s population has access to high-quality, patient- and family-centered care and can meet the growing need to provide preventive care in schools, communities and homes. The California Action Coalition (CAC) is one of 50 state action coalitions formed to carry out the recommendations of the IOM's report.
“We know that the nation needs a well-educated nursing workforce to ensure an adequate supply of public health and primary care providers, improve care for patients living with chronic illness, and in other ways meet the needs of our aging and increasingly diverse population. The strategies the nine states are implementing, and the models they are developing for other states to replicate, will help us meet the IOM’s target for BSN and higher prepared nurses,” said Pamela Austin Thompson, national program director for APIN and senior vice president for nursing at the American Hospital Association. “The APIN teams have been making great progress developing initiatives and curricula that are encouraging and making it easier for more nurses to earn their BSN degrees.”
California’s current workforce data shows 53 percent of the nurses in the state with a BSN or higher degree.
“This funding will also enable us to share the California Collaborative Model of Nursing Education with other universities across the state to work toward the goal of 80 percent BSN-prepared nurses by 2020,” Judson added.
As part of Phase II, the team will develop a sustainability plan to ensure the work to promote seamless academic progressions for nurses in California continues and a robust diversity plan focused on academic-practice partnerships that expands and supports the work to date.
“As co-lead of the California Action Coalition (CAC), I want to again express my enthusiasm for the opportunities we have had to increase BSN education in California, building upon our community college system and engaging true partners in BSN education,” said Director Mary Foley for the Center for Nursing Research and Innovation at the University of California, San Francisco’s School of Nursing. “The Los Angeles project has been so successful, we know it will serve as a model in California and elsewhere to accomplish the goals of increasing our BSN, and then, graduate nursing population. We are very grateful to the Foundation and all the partners in the program that California has been selected for a $300,000, two-year grant in Phase II of its APIN.”
The RWJF also supports the Future of Nurses: Campaign for Action—a collaborative effort to advance solutions to challenges facing the nursing profession in order to improve the quality and transform the way Americans receive health care. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable, and timely change.
“Advancing a more highly educated, diverse workforce where nurses are able to practice to the top of their education and training is essential to achieving the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s mission to advance a culture of health in our nation,” said RWJF Senior Adviser for Nursing Susan B. Hassmiller. “In the last two years, APIN grantees have laid important groundwork to build that workforce. We are pleased to provide the financial support they need to continue their essential work.”
Cal State L.A.’s nursing program is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing and received continuing accreditation from the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission. U.S. News and World Report 2014 “America’s Best Graduate Schools” edition has ranked Cal State L.A.’s nursing master’s degree program among the top in the nation. Cal State L.A. is one of only two public universities in the Los Angeles area, and the only CSU campus, listed in the top 100. About Cal State L.A.’s School of Nursing: /academic/hhs/nursing/.
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California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 235,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve the health and health care of all Americans. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all Americans to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.
The Tri-Council for Nursing is an alliance of four autonomous nursing organizations each focused on leadership for education, practice and research. The four organizations are the: American Association of Colleges of Nursing; American Nurses Association; American Organization of Nurse Executives; and the National League for Nursing. While each organization has its own constituent membership and unique mission, they are united by common values and convene regularly for the purpose of dialogue and consensus building, to provide stewardship within the profession of nursing. These organizations represent nurses in practice, nurse executives and nursing educators. The Tri-Council’s diverse interests encompass the nursing work environment, health care legislation and policy, quality of health care, nursing education, practice, research and leadership across all segments of the health delivery system.
08/15/14