Susan Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN, and Susan Hassmiller, RN, PhD, FAAN, jointly authored an article for Journal of Professional Nursing , published July 2011, an updated version of their November 2009 article of the same name, "Partners in Solutions to the Nurse Faculty Shortage," about the importance of RWJF, the AARP Foundation, and AARP joining together to raise the level of awareness of the looming shortage of nurses—and the faculty to educate them—that threatens Americans' access to quality health care across all settings. To facilitate the need to identify solutions to this problem, the articles describes how this partnership was able to create the Center to Champion Nursing in America to ensure Americans have the highly skilled nurses we need to provide affordable, quality health care now and in a reformed health care system.
Article Abstract: The looming shortage of nurses and the faculty to educate them threatens Americans' access to quality health care across all settings. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation, and AARP are joining together to raise the level of awareness of this crisis and solutions to resolve it in a sustained way. These leaders in health and social change created the Center to Champion Nursing in America (the Center) to ensure Americans have the highly skilled nurses we need to provide affordable, quality health care now and in a reformed health care system. Through national summits and technical assistance with states, the Center and RWJF are collaborating with a broad range of partners to increase nursing education capacity. At the national level, the Champion Nursing Coalition represents the voice of consumers, purchasers, and providers of health care to support solutions to the nurse and nurse faculty shortage. Working with this broad constituency, the nursing community can better address the workforce concerns that affect the people we serve.
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