Rounds with Leadership: Taking Action to Meet Member Needs

Earlier this week, nurse educators from across the nation gathered at AACN’s Academic Nursing Leadership Conference in Washington, DC, to discuss priority issues at the intersection of healthcare and higher education. Nursing school deans from institutions large and small came together to explore evolving challenges, ask thoughtful questions, engage with peers, and look beyond the status quo. 

During the conference, AACN released results from its annual Member Satisfaction Survey, which found that members highly value their connection to AACN and the broader academic nursing community. Top reasons cited for affiliating with AACN include access to educational policies and guidelines, data and benchmarking services, opportunities to support AACN’s mission, and continuing education programming. 

While we celebrate the positive feedback, we remain committed to enhancing the member experience. Among the top suggestions for improvement were lowering program costs, expanding professional development opportunities, and offering more training in policy and advocacy. 

Specifically, members have asked us to focus on several areas: 

Faculty development, including strengthening recruitment, mentorship, professional enrichment, and advocacy for competitive compensation. AACN offers a robust series of conferences each year to meet the education and networking needs of faculty teaching in baccalaureate and higher degree programs. To keep costs down, AACN offers a year-round series of free webinars that award continuing education credits at no charge. AACN also works directly with NINR, Jonas Philanthropies, and the Graduate Nursing Student Academy on strategies to expand the faculty population and increase the pool of PhD-prepared nurse educators. 

Leadership development and peer engagement, including expanding practical leadership programs, mentoring, networking, and pathways for emerging and mid-career academic leaders. AACN LEADS supports the development needs of nurse educators as they progress on their leadership journey. Programs include free peer-to-peer mentoring, a year-long experience for aspiring deans, on-demand learning modules, and a structured leadership institute on enhancing access, connection, and engagement. 

Advocacy and workforce alignment, including elevating nursing education in federal and state policy while strengthening academic-practice partnerships. In addition to policy-focused state sheets, AACN leads efforts on Capitol Hill to advance legislative priorities focused on academic nursing, including reauthorization of Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs and advancing new legislation such as the Educating Future Nurses Act. On the workforce front, AACN has joined with our colleagues at AONL to promote The Playbook for Academic-Practice Partnerships that has sparked a wave of productive collaborations involving nursing education, practice, and industry. 

Practical, accessible member support, including providing affordable regional and virtual programming with more actionable conferences and resources. AACN is intentional about offering programs that meet member needs with opportunities to participate in person, online, and on demand to serve individual needs and budgets. Early bird registration and student discounts are also offered to contain conference costs. 

Educational transformation and innovation, including support for programs focused on Essentials implementation, competency-based education, data use, AI, and emerging technology. AACN’s Program Committee and staff are working to meet the education needs of our diverse membership by offering a full complement of Essentials workshops and webinars and a groundbreaking AI seminar series among other programs. AACN's focus on innovation will continue as the Emerging Technologies in Nursing Task Force moves forward with its charge. 

AACN is truly energized by member feedback, and we will continue to pursue recommendations for new and improved programs and services. Member input helps us elevate the value of AACN membership and better serve the academic nursing community.