Kansas City Metropolitan Healthcare Council

Brief Overview of Initiative

The Kansas City Metropolitan Healthcare Council is a regional office of the Kansas and Missouri hospital associations. The Kansas Hospital Association and the Missouri Hospital Association are nonprofit organizations that provide representation and advocacy on behalf of their membership, including continuing education programs for medical professionals on current healthcare topics, as well as education and outreach programs for the general public and policymakers on key healthcare issues.

Area hospitals, nursing schools, local employers and civic leaders have developed a strategic initiative to expand educational capacity of nursing schools in the metropolitan region of Kansas City.

The number of qualified high school students interested in pursuing nursing careers far exceeds the capacity of area nursing schools.

The primary barrier to expanding capacity is the lack of qualified clinical faculty.

Solution:

• Area hospitals agreed to use bedside nurses to serve as adjunct clinical faculty
• Area nursing schools agreed to expand the size of their entering classes by 20 percent or approximately 200 students
• Collegiate nurse educators agreed to design and operate a Clinical Faculty Academy (CFA) - a two-day intensive course to prepare bedside nurses for their new educational duties