By Amy Curtis | August 2024

In this issue: Kansas HOSA, Rural Hospital and Maternal Care Outlook, and the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center Turns One! 

This newsletter is 1,149 words long, about a 4-minute read.

Call for speakers: Kansas HOSA’s Future Health Professionals Fall Conference

Kansas HOSA student leaders

Are you interested in inspiring the next generation of healthcare professionals? Kansas HOSA needs your help as a speaker during the 2024 Fall Leadership Conference, October 17, 2023 at Kansas State University. Please register by September 20, 2024.

What they’re saying: “Kansas HOSA is a career technical student organization that is 100% health care focused”, said Tina Goosz-Garetson, Health Career Communications Coordinator, Kansas HOSA State Advisor. “We currently serve over 1,300 members in 59 chapters across Kansas. All our members are interested in exploring careers in health care and they are the healthcare workforce pipeline that can help fill the desperate need for health care workers.”

Session topics could include programs, training options, presentation skills, soft skill training, hands-on activities (students LOVE these), personal journeys, panels, etc.

Who should speak? Anyone with a healthcare background and a willingness to teach high school students is welcome!

Nuts and bolts: Kansas HOSA can provide supplies for your session as needed. If your presentation links to an academic competitive event, it’s even better! Presentation structures are open-ended. Just remember--the primary audience is high school students. High energy and engagement is encouraged.

“One positive interaction during the conference can change the trajectory of a student’s life forever, said Goosz-Garetson. “During a recent conference, one of the students learned how to take blood pressure and found out that they ‘kinda liked doing that’”.

Register now!

Kansas hospitals still at risk of closure and lack maternity care

Illustration of a rural health report.

The Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform (CHQPR) released two new reports: Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closure and Addressing the Crisis in Rural Maternity Care.

Once again, Kansas does not fare well in either report.

Updated numbers: CHQPR now designates 100 hospitals in Kansas as rural and 32% are listed as at immediate risk of closure, putting us at the top of the list.

Why it matters: When rural communities lose hospitals, it puts the local economy at risk. Additionally, the health and wellbeing of the citizens is compromised. And the stress on the healthcare ecosystem increases, including on the nursing workforce.

Their report on rural maternity care tells a similar story.

Why it matters: Long drives to access maternity care mean economic hardship on families and can lead to worse outcomes for both mother and child. And as rural communities seek to attract families, a lack of maternal care means community growth is challenged.

What they’re saying: “Over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable with appropriate prenatal, labor & delivery, and post-partum care," the CHQPR report notes. "Although improvements in maternity care are needed in all parts of the country to reduce mortality rates, one of the greatest challenges is in rural areas, because most rural hospitals are no longer providing maternity care at all”

Catch up quick: August Research Committee Meeting

Screenshot from the August Research Committee meeting

The Research Committee for the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center continues to grow. We are excited to welcome all new members!

Watch a recording of the August Research Committee meeting where Lisa Guthrie, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, University of Kansas Health System, and Maryellen Potts, PhD, University of Kansas School of Nursing, presented their research, “Hospital-based Patient Care Assistants’ Perceptions of Preparedness to Work and Intent to Stay”.

Next month we will hear from Joanne Spetz, PhD, Director, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies; Director, UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Spetz will speak about "Tracking the Nursing Workforce within States: California’s Data and Projection Model.”

Led by Shin Hye Park, PhD, RN, the Research Committee, facilitates and promotes collaborative nurse research activities across the state. The committee's goal is to leverage research talent to better serve the healthcare community of Kansas, advance the field of nursing and healthcare and strengthen the nursing workforce in Kansas.

The next scheduled meeting is September 26, 2024 from 10-11 a.m.

You can sign up here to receive the meeting link. Please forward to colleagues who may also wish to attend.

Dr. Christine Pabico to lecture on nursing workplace excellence

Join the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center and the KU Medical Center Alumni Association for the inaugural Distinguished Nursing Alumni Lecture featuring Christine Pabico, PhD’19, RN, NE-BC, FAAN, on Friday, Sept. 27 from 3:30 PM-4:30 PM in the Health Educating Building (HEB), Room 2112.

Dr. Pabico is the Senior Director for the Pathway to Excellence Programs at the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The Pathway program's mission is to build a global community of healthcare organizations committed to nursing workplace excellence across the continents.

You can expect to learn about the essential framework that places people at the forefront, fostering environments where individuals can truly flourish. You'll also gain insights, strategies, and practical tools to create a workplace culture that fosters shared decision-making, prioritizes wellbeing, and promotes professional growth and nurse excellence.

Registration is required. Please register by Wednesday, Sept. 18.

Celebrating our first year! 

Hello colleagues and friends!

The Kansas Nursing Workforce Center is one year old this month!   The year seems to have gone very quickly and there are reasons to celebrate.  We want to express gratitude to our team members and those from across Kansas who have contributed in countless ways.

In the first year, we have worked hard to listen to our stakeholders, develop our operational structure, and deliver on the primary request: create usable information about the Kansas nursing workforce. The release of the first State of Nursing in Kansas report will occur on September 4. See below for details.

Next up: We will build digital dashboards in year two. These dashboards will be publicly facing and allow users to visualize, explore, and compare the data that the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center has gathered in an interactive environment. Our first dashboard will focus on the National Nursing Workforce Survey. It’s going to be an exciting development, and we can’t wait to bring it to you in 2025!

—Amy Garcia and Barbara MacArthur

Kansas Nursing Workforce Center

p.s. Remember to visit us at the Kansas Hospital Association convention next week! Visit us at booth 238 (go to your left as you enter the exhibit hall and down the second row) on September 5 and 6 to get your copy of the inaugural State of Nursing in Kansas report.

And don’t worry… If you are unable to attend, you’ll be able to download an electronic version from our website.

What We’re Reading

Have Kansas Nursing Workforce news, solutions, or kudos you’d like us to share?
Email nursingwill@kumc.edu

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