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.
- Missouri State Board of Nursing provided a five-year demonstration project to permit BSNs (who are actively pursuing their master's degree) to serve as clinical faculty.
- Area hospitals provided seed money to cover start-up costs.
Opportunity:
- The current CFA relies on volunteer lecturers from area nursing schools.
- Developing formal curriculum will enhance the quality of the CFA participants' experience.
- Having formal curriculum for the CFA will standardize the content materials, streamline the process and reduce the cost of operating the CFA.
Overall goal:
- To develop formal curriculum for the Clinical Faculty Academy, including training materials and resources to prepare bedside nurses to serve as clinical faculty
As a result of the WIRED grant, this initiative will:
- Increase the number of nursing faculty in the region by 20 additional clinical instructors
- Increase the effectiveness of clinical faculty who attend the Clinical Faculty Academy
- Reduce the administrative time and cost associated with future Clinical Faculty Academy operations
- Sustain the expanded nursing school enrollment in the region at the current level of 20 percent or approximately 200 additional nursing students
Progress
The project coordinator (KCMHC) has:
- Developed training materials, including participant manual, an instructor guide and an administrator manual
- Conducted two Academies annually
- Implemented a tracking and monitoring system
- Increased area nursing school enrollments by approximately 30 percent or an additional 300 new nursing students
A project team comprised of nursing school and hospital chief nursing officers has been formed and serve as an advisory body for enhancing curriculum and modules for the program.
Synergy with other OneKC WIRED partner initiatives
The Clinical Faculty Academy Curriculum is one of five healthcare-related programs designed to expand and sustain our clinical faculty and nurse expansion initiatives.
Each healthcare initiative is interrelated and strategically linked to the other programs.
Ways this initiative strengthens OneKC WIRED
Consistent with this initiative is the general promotion of health career opportunities in traditional hospital and long-term care settings, as well as the life sciences/biomedical fields.
Through Kansas City Healthcare Workforce Partners, area hospitals, nursing schools, high schools, civic leaders and the public workforce system have developed Kansas City-specific health care promotional information, a Web site and other materials.
How OneKC WIRED strengthens this initiative
Regional collaboration among healthcare, life sciences/biomedical and advanced manufacturing sectors is critical to increasing the math and science competency of students in the region.
Math and science competency is essential and a strong predictor of future success in each of these high-demand fields.
Opportunities to expand this initiative
This model was duplicated in St. Louis in 2005 with similar success. Most recently, the training materials were provided to metropolitan Chicago as a beta test site.
Leveraged funds
In 2005, area hospital contributed $150,000 to underwrite the start-up costs. The KCMHC provides ongoing financial support to sustain the Academy costs.