By Amy Curtis | June 2024
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In this issue: National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers' annual meeting roundup; June Research Committee recording; UPenn publishes study on optimal nurse staffing mix.
This newsletter is 1,795 words long, about an 8-minute read.
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National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers’ Annual Conference Roundup
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Kansas delegation to the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers' annual conference in San Diego. Pictured, front: Amy Curtis, Lisa Guthrie, Alissa Stinnett, Alex Alsup; middle: Barbara MacArthur, Aimee McDonald, Amy Garcia; back: Shauna Todd, Maryellen Potts.
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The National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers 2024 Annual Conference “Accelerating Nursing Workforce Solutions: Innovative Programs and Data to Transform Policy” was June 17-19, 2024 in San Diego. The conference brought together nursing, workforce, and leaders nationwide to learn, share and network. Two hundred and fifty leaders from the 43 nursing workforce centers in the country attended
The Kansas delegation (pictured above) included members of the University of Kansas Health System, the University of Kansas School of Nursing, Sunflower Health Plan, the Kansas City VA, and the Kansas Nursing Workforce Center.
Sessions focused on key issues that affect the nursing workforce shortage including:
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- K-12 pipeline
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Pre-requisite education and pre-nursing pathways
- Pre-licensure education at the RN and APRN levels
- Health and well-being of the nursing workforce
- Upskilling the workforce through academic and/or mentoring programs
- Optimizing the nursing workforce
- Workforce data
- State and Federal Policy
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The National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers—which Kansas joined in 2023—is a national network of nursing workforce entities reaching more than 4 million nurses across the nation.
Each unique center focuses on addressing the nursing shortage, supporting the advancement of nurse workforce initiatives, and sharing best practices in nursing workforce research, planning, development, and formulation of policy.
Read on for more news from the National Forum!
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Conference Presentation Recap: The Value of Nursing-Associating the Workforce with County Level Outcomes
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Dr. Amy Garcia presents at the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers' annual conference in San Diego.
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Amy Garcia, DNP, RN, FAAN, Kansas Nursing Workforce Center co-director, presented original research, The Value of Nursing-Associating the Workforce with County Level Health Outcomes, at the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers annual conference on June 18, 2024, in San Diego.
Objectives for the presentation were to describe our approaches to measuring the value of nursing in Kansas by associating the nursing workforce with county level health outcomes. These data were obtained from Kansas State Board of Nursing, Kansas Division of the Budget, Kansas Certified Population by County, and the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps.
In the current healthcare system, determining the value of nursing can be tricky.
Currently, nursing is often framed as the largest operational cost in health care and there is a gap in research due to the inherent invisibility of nurses and nursing in common data models. The most common data models are built around billing.
Additionally, electronic health records are built without standardized terminology. Nursing assessments can be made visible, but non-billable interventions like anticipation and recognition of patient changes leading to interventions, meeting emotional and environmental needs, and maintain a caring presence with patients and families, are all invisible in our current system. These non-billable interventions may be where the biggest value of the nursing profession sit.
Due to problems in how data about nurses and nursing are captured and integrated, health care stakeholders struggle to see the return on investment (ROI) in nursing. However, ROI is exactly how we need to look at nursing. We believe that nursing should be framed as an investment in optimal patient outcomes, not only a cost to be managed.
Simply put, we need better models for decision support on nurse staffing and the impact of nursing interventions.
That’s where the Nursing Value Data Model comes in. This model looks at the healing that takes place within the patient/nurse relationship and follows four elements:
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- Patient
- Nurse/provider
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Cost
- Facility/entity
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Taking this model to the population level, the elements shift to: population, nursing population, outcomes, and county/geography. For example, dividing the total nurses licensed in a county by the county’s population, you can derive an estimate of nursing availability for the county.
Then, we can layer in the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps outcomes (length of life, quality of life) and factors (health behaviors, clinical care, social & economic factors, physical environment, demographics) as variables to measure population health outcomes.
Why it matters: These measures enable us to evaluate the value of the nursing population by county. It gives us a new way to show the relationship between nurses and the financial health of hospitals and nursing homes. It also enables us to determine the necessary skill mix of nurses needed to lift the health of a community.
Like this approach? Look for this type of analysis of the Kansas nursing workforce in the State of Nursing in Kansas Report, 2024, to be released this September.
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Conference Presentation Recap: Hospital-based Patient Care Assistants’ Perceptions of Preparedness to Work and Intent to Stay
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Dr. Lisa Guthrie and Dr. Maryellen Potts present at the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers' annual conference in San Diego.
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Lisa Guthrie, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, University of Kansas Health System, and Maryellen Potts, PhD, University of Kansas School of Nursing, presented their original research, Hospital-based Patient Care Assistants’ Perceptions of Preparedness to Work and Intent to Stay, at the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers annual conference on June 18, 2024, in San Diego.
Their objectives for the presentation were to describe a successful academic/practice partnership in conducting research on pathways into the nursing profession outside of academics, and to report how Patient Care Assistants (PCAs) felt about preparedness in comparison to their intent to stay in the healthcare workforce.
This study focused on PCAs in a large, urban hospital. The next phase of research will expand to smaller, rural hospital settings.
Why it matters: Knowing how PCAs feel about the work they do and how they feel about their work environment is key to retaining and sustaining an important element of the nursing workforce.
Lisa and Maryellen will also present their findings in full during the virtual August research committee meeting. If you would like to attend, please sign up here.
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University of Pennsylvania study examines the team nursing model
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Photo illustrating nurses working in a hospital setting.
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The University of Pennsylvania released a study, Alternative Models of Nurse Staffing May Be Dangerous in High-Stakes Hospital Care. The study examined how hospitals are resurrecting the outdated “team nursing” model of staffing that substitutes lower-wage staff for registered nurses (RNs). They wanted to evaluate whether reducing the proportion of RNs to total nursing staff in hospitals is in the best interest of patients, hospitals, and payers.
Key findings
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- A 10 percentage-point reduction in RNs was associated with 7% higher odds of in-hospital death, 1% higher odds of readmission, 2% increase in expected days, and lower patient satisfaction.
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A 10 percentage-point reduction in RNs would result in 10,947 avoidable deaths annually and 5207 avoidable readmissions, which translates into roughly $68.5 million in additional Medicare costs.
- Hospitals would forgo nearly $3 billion in cost savings annually because of patients requiring longer stays.
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Much research points to the root cause of the shortage of nursing care in hospitals is dangerously high nurse workloads resulting from too few funded positions and poor work environments that result in double-digit RN annual turnover rates.
- Hospitals struggling to hire RNs should consider addressing the root causes of nurse burnout and turnover–nurse understaffing and poor work environments.
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Why it matters: determining the right nursing skill mix is critical to optimal patient outcomes, nurse wellbeing and the hospital’s bottom line. Getting this mix right is a win-win-win.
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Catch up quick: June Research Committee Meeting
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Screen grab from the June research committee meeting featuring Dr. Christine Pabico.
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Watch a recording of the June Research Committee meeting where Christine Pabico, PhD, RN, NE-BC, FAAN, Director of the Pathway to Excellence Program at the American Nurses Credentialing Center, presented about “Pathway to Nursing Excellence Program.”
We will take the month of July off and return in August.
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 August 22, 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.
Watch it now.
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How do people determine if nursing is the right career path for them?
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Photo illustrating a young woman looking shocked while holding her phone.
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According to a new report on social media by ShiftKey, social media may be deterring new nursing professionals, specifically in GenZ and younger.
In the past, when considering nursing as a career, potential students often relied on friends’ recommendations, word of mouth, nursing program websites or local hospital shadow experiences.
Now, potential students rely on social media to inform their nursing career choices, according to ShiftKey.
Check out their stats:
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- 66% of potential students said they use social media for career research
- 16% said social media was the biggest influence for that career research
- This makes us curious: Where else are they doing career research and at what percentage?
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45% of young people who were once interested in becoming a nurse and ultimately decided not to recall seeing social media content about how the job can cause mental health issues.
- This is an area we need work on for current nurses and future nurses.
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Those who chose nursing were 12% more likely to have an immediate family member in nursing and of those, the family member’s opinion mattered more than social media.
- This makes sense: Nurses often beget nurses.
- 91% of GenZ who considered nursing want to make a difference in the world.
- This gives us hope! We can build on this altruism: Nurses make a difference in the world. Nurses matter.
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Ultimately, we must address the systemic issues for the nurses in the workforce today, and those who will come next. We attract and retain the nursing workforce by making working conditions safe, desirable, and a space to grow, learn, and care for patients, communities, and each other.
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Happy summer, Kansas Nursing Workforce friends! We are riding a collaboration high! Our approach to achieving our mission has always included collaboration. It's how we started: by collaborating with key stakeholders throughout Kansas.
So, we're still smiling two weeks after returning from the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers' annual meeting in San Diego. It was a joy to learn from and teach others who all share the same mission: support nurses and work to create lasting system change.
We loved sharing time with the Kansas delegation, including the University of Kansas Health System (shout out to Lisa!), the Sunflower Health Plan (shout out to Alissa and Shauna!), the KU School of Nursing (shout out to Maryellen), and of course, our amazing Center team (shout out to Alex and Amy!).
We look forward to applying the things we've learned and engaging you in our work!
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Sincerely,
Amy Garcia and Barbara MacArthur
Kansas Nursing Workforce Center
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Have Kansas Nursing Workforce news, solutions, or kudos you’d like us to share?
Email nursingwill@kumc.edu
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