Industry News

Journal of Professional Nursing

A Stepwise Approach to Integrating the New Essentials into a Master's Entry Nursing Curriculum

In the May/June 2024 Journal of Professional Nursing, Dr. Heidi Johnston and colleagues from Linfield College published A Stepwise Approach to Integrating the New Essentials into a Master's Entry Nursing Curriculum. The authors describe their efforts to launch Oregon’s first Master’s Entry into Professional Nursing Program (MEPN), aligned with AACN’s 2021 Essentials. The article outlines efforts to collect input from the program’s community of interest, engage in a curriculum development process, develop clinical experiences across the four spheres of care, and evaluate program success. Challenges associated with launching this new program and meeting competency expectations are noted.

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Journal of Professional Nursing

Professional Identity in Nursing: Why It Is Important in Graduate Education

In the May/June 2024 Journal of Professional Nursing, Dr. Brenda Douglass from Johns Hopkins University and colleagues explore Professional Identity in Nursing: Why It Is Important in Graduate Education. Possessing a clear identity in nursing is a guiding principle to professional comportment. In graduate nursing education, transitioning and expanding one's professional identity requires role evolution. This article illustrates how faculty educate graduate nursing students on developing professional identity using a conceptual framework to achieve competencies outlined in the 2021 AACN Essentials.

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Journal of Professional Nursing

The AACN Essentials: An Intentional Framework for Successful Implementation

In the May/June 2024 Journal of Professional Nursing, Dr. Dawn Mueller-Burke from the University of Maryland and colleagues published a new article titled The AACN Essentials: An Intentional Framework for Successful Implementation. The article explores one nursing school’s approach to implementing the Essentials, illustrating the structural, procedural, and initial outcomes connected with integrating the new competency expectations across programs and specialties. Lessons learned highlight the critical need for ongoing faculty development and the use of learner-centric pedagogies to achieve students’ competency development and practice readiness.

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American Journal of Nursing

Nurses Step Up to Address Climate Change and Health

In the April 2024 issue of the American Journal of Nursing, authors Nicole Fauteux and Benjamin Simon consider the many ways Nurses Step Up to Address Climate Change and Health. The article explores how a growing number of nurses are battling climate change in the clinical settings and communities through education, research, and grassroots advocacy. “Whether by educating a single patient, supporting waste reduction in the workplace, promoting clean air in the community, or advocating for policy change, nurses have many opportunities to improve the health of the planet.”

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Incredible Health

2024 State of U.S. Nursing Workforce Report

On March 25, 2024, Incredible Health, the largest permanent nurse hiring platform in the U.S., published its 2024 State of U.S. Nursing Workforce Report. With the mental health of nurses improving, 88% of nurses are concerned about the detrimental effects of staffing shortages on patient care. Following a review of more than 1 million nurse profiles and a survey of more than 3,300 nurses, the authors found that 79% of nurses intend to remain in nursing until retirement. Respondents identified the top challenges facing the profession as the shortage of nurses, concerns around workplace safety, and unfair compensation.

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Nursing Outlook

Assessment of Nursing Faculty Retirement Projections

Published February 29, 2024 in Nursing Outlook, AACN’s Chief Policy and Scientific Officer George Zangaro and colleagues published an article titled Assessment of Nursing Faculty Retirement Projections. This article confirmed the accuracy of projections on nursing faculty retirements made in a previous 2017 study by co-authors Di Fang and Karen Kesten. Among the key findings, the study found that the mean age of full-time nursing faculty decreased; there was a larger loss of nursing faculty at senior ranks to retirement than anticipated; faculty age 50 to 59 in 2015 were underrepresented in senior ranks compared to retirees from 2016 to 2022; and for nursing faculty with a PhD degree, their growth was slower than their loss to retirements.

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Journal of Professional Nursing

Enhancing Sense of Belonging in Nursing Student Clinical Placements to Advance Learning and Identity Development

In the March-April 2024 Journal of Professional Nursing, Dr. Dian Squire and colleagues from Loyola University Chicago explored Enhancing Sense of Belonging in Nursing Student Clinical Placements to Advance Learning and Identity Development. Campus climate plays a significant role in creating an environment necessary for belongingness to flourish and leads to enhanced student learning. This article argues that instructors supervising undergraduate nursing students in clinical learning environments must create welcoming climates for their students to increase positive educational outcomes. Specific recommendations for creating inclusive learning environments are provided.

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Nurse Educator

The QSEN Competency Legacy Threaded Through the Entry-Level AACN Essentials: Shaping the Future

In the March/April 2024 issue of Nurse Educator, Dr. Mary Dolansky from Case Western Reserve University and colleagues published an article titled The QSEN Competency Legacy Threaded Through the Entry-Level AACN Essentials: Shaping the Future. For the last 17 years, faculty have integrated the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) prelicensure competencies into nursing curricula. The authors describe a QSEN-AACN crosswalk they developed to help faculty map and integrate the 2021 AACN Essentials into their curriculum. The article also offers QSEN teaching strategies that can be used to guide faculty on their Essentials journey.

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Journal of Nursing Administration

Reducing the Innovation Knowledge Gap by Developing Innovativeness Across Academia and Practice for Healthcare Progress Scale

In the May 2024 Journal of Nursing Administration, M. Lindell Joseph from the University of Iowa and colleagues published a new article on Reducing the Innovation Knowledge Gap by Developing Innovativeness Across Academia and Practice for Healthcare Progress Scale. Academic-practice partnerships are a catalyst for transformation, yet limited theoretically grounded evidence exists to provide strategic direction on how to maximize partnership capacity and the potential for innovation. Using data from 5 academic-practice sites across the U.S., researchers outline their work to develop and validate a scale to measure conditions that enable healthcare innovation.

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JAMA Open Network

Top Factors in Nurses Ending Health Care Employment Between 2018 and 2021

Published on April 9, 2024, in JAMA Open Network, Dr. K. Jane Muir from the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues examine Top Factors in Nurses Ending Health Care Employment Between 2018 and 2021. In a cross-sectional study of 7,887 nurses who were employed in a non–healthcare job, not currently employed, or retired, the top contributing factors for leaving healthcare employment were planned retirement (39% of nurses), burnout (26%), insufficient staffing (21%), and family obligations (18%). To improve retention, the authors call on employers to focus on reducing burnout, improving nurse staffing levels, and supporting nurses’ work-life balance.

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Journal of Nursing Education

Using Inclusive Language in Nursing Education: When Words Matter

Published as a guest editorial in the April 2024 Journal of Nursing Education, Dr. Patricia Bradley from Villanova University offers insights on Using Inclusive Language in Nursing Education: When Words Matter. The author calls on nurse educators and administrators to use their voices to challenge traditional hierarchies of power and address inequities affecting faculty, staff, and students. The article identifies 5 steps to embracing inclusive language as a way to resist oppression and effect equity and social justice.

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Journal of Nursing Administration

A Healthcare-Academic Practice Partnership Program to Promote Student Nurse Readiness for Work

In the April 2024 Journal of Nursing Administration, Dr. Carolyn Swinton from the University of South Carolina and colleagues published an article titled A Healthcare-Academic Practice Partnership Program to Promote Student Nurse Readiness for Work. Transitioning from nursing student to practicing clinician can be stressful and challenging for new graduates. The authors detail the creation and implementation of an innovative pipeline program, which allows students to perform select nursing tasks as employees of the partnering health system. Students, preceptors, and managers report the benefits of this program, which is effective at producing more practice-ready nurses.

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Notes on Nursing

Building Confidence and Supporting Lifelong Careers

On March 14, 2024, Johnson & Johnson’s Notes on Nursing published an article on Building Confidence and Supporting Lifelong Careers. RN residencies have long been known as a best practice for keeping nurses at the bedside, yet as of 2020, only about half of U.S. health systems had these in place. This article profiles how UConn Health, Los Angeles Medical Center, and NYC Health + Hospitals are using residency programs to facilitate the transition from new nursing graduate to practicing clinician. To read more about the NYC residency program, which was developed by Vizient and AACN, see this case study on A Comprehensive Approach to Increasing Nurse Retention.

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In Focus

Nursing Workforce Crisis: Healing the Healer

In the March 2024 issue of In Focus magazine, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) takes a closer look at the Nursing Workforce Crisis: Healing the Healer. NCSBN’s groundbreaking 2022 National Nursing Workforce Survey found that almost one-fifth of registered nurses surveyed expressed an intent to leave the profession by 2027 due in part to wellness and mental health concerns. This article examines the impact of the pandemic on the nursing workforce, ongoing workplace challenges, misperceptions about mental health, and effective wellness solutions.

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Nursing Outlook

Increasing the Number of Nursing Faculty: Evaluation of a University System Workforce Grant

In the March 2024 issue of Nursing Outlook, Dr. Linda Young and Jan Adams from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire published an article titled Increasing the Number of Nursing Faculty: Evaluation of a University System Workforce Grant. The authors discuss outcomes from a multi-year initiative funded by the University of Wisconsin System to enhance the nurse educator workforce. Titled Nurses for Wisconsin: Learn, Teach, Lead, this groundbreaking effort was successful in increasing the number of nursing faculty applicants and hires as well as uniting key stakeholders in Wisconsin to focus their collective efforts on enhancing faculty supply. Recommendations and lessons learned are shared to help inform the work of other statewide advocacy groups.

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Inside Higher Ed

Annual Presidents’ Survey Finds Optimism Amid Uncertainty

On February 29, 2024, reporter Josh Moody with Inside Higher Ed published a story titled Annual Presidents’ Survey Finds Optimism Amid Uncertainty. The article explores findings from the publication’s 2024 Survey of College and University Presidents, which found that college leaders across the U.S. are confident about their institution's finances, worried about waning public confidence in higher education and the upcoming presidential election, and ambivalent about artificial intelligence. The authors also consider the perceptions of academic leaders on the state of campus speech, race on campus, and student mental health, among other issues.

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