In the more than two years since the launch of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, state-based coalitions around the country have been working to strengthen the nursing profession to improve health and health care. These Action Coalitions have identified priorities and strategies specific to their states, and forged diverse partnerships to help reach their goals.

A new series of videos on RWJF.org features leaders from some of those Action Coalitions discussing their work and successes, and some of the unique challenges and opportunities they’ve faced.

Watch the videos.

This is part of the May 2013 issue of Sharing Nursing's Knowledge.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has called on nurses to take on more leadership positions so they can use their unique insights to help redesign the nation’s ailing health care system.

But some nurses are already there.

In its biennial list of the 25 most powerful women in the health care industry, Modern Healthcare, a leading health policy journal, included nine women with nursing backgrounds and two others who are vocal champions of nurses and nursing.

Nurses and nursing champions, in other words, comprised nearly half the list, which was released in April.

The following are among the many honors received recently by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows, grantees and alumni.

The Chicago Parenting Program, an innovative program that supports healthy parenting and reduces behavioral problems among children, was recently added to the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices, run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. RWJF Executive Nurse Fellow alumna Deborah Gross, DNSc, RN, FAAN, was a driving force behind the program, which is used by Head Start centers in Chicago and New York City, among others.  RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar Susan Breitenstein, PhD, RN, PMHCNS-BC, and Executive Nurse Fellow alumna Sharon Tucker, PhD, RN, joined with Gross and others to conduct a study on the program, published in Research in Nursing & Health. It was recently named the journal’s Best Research Article award for 2012.

David Kindig, MD, PhD, RWJF Health & Society Scholars program director at the University of Wisconsin, and Health & Society Scholars program National Advisory Committee (NAC) member George Isham, MD, MS, co-chaired the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Population Health Improvement, which is exploring factors beyond medical care that affect people's health. Among other participants in the Roundtable: RWJF Senior Program Officer Pamela Russo, MD, MPH, and Health & Society Scholars NAC Member James Knickman, PhD.

RWJF Health Policy Fellows alumna Carmen R. Green, MD, was appointed the University of Michigan Health System’s inaugural Associate Vice President and Associate Dean for Health Equity and Inclusion. In the position, Green will find and address inequalities in care, education and research, and promote health care careers to those from groups that are underrepresented in the field.

Sylvia Garcia, JD, a member of the RWJF Community Health Leaders program NAC, was elected to the Texas State Senate (District 6) in a run-off election to fill the seat previously held by the late state Sen. Mario Gallegos.

Have you signed up to receive Sharing Nursing’s Knowledge? The monthly Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) e-newsletter will keep you up to date on the work of RWJF’s nursing programs, and the latest news, research and trends relating to academic progression, leadership, and other critically important nursing issues.  These are some of the stories in the March issue:

RWJF Announces Initiative to Support State Efforts to Transform Health Care through Nursing
RWJF has announced a new $3 million initiative to help states prepare the nursing profession to address our nation’s most pressing health care challenges—access, quality, and cost. The Future of Nursing State Implementation Program will bolster efforts already underway in 50 states and the District of Columbia—the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action—to transform health care through nursing and meet the challenges stemming from an aging and more diverse population. The initiative is providing two-year grants of up to $150,000 to 20 state-based Action Coalitions.

Nation’s Nurse Leaders Convene in D.C.
Nurses and health leaders from across the country assembled in the nation’s capital in early March to advance a national campaign to transform the nursing profession in order to improve health and health care. Hundreds of participants from state Action Coalitions shared ideas and developed plans to move their collective agenda forward at the Campaign for Action National Summit. The summit was designed to help Action Coalition leaders and supporters identify their own priorities and understand those of other Action Coalitions, develop strategic plans to actualize those priorities, come up with new ways to increase their impact, and align state-level work with the national agenda.

More than 200 leaders from state Action Coalitions gathered in Washington, D.C. recently for the 2013 Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action Summit on the Future of Nursing. Watch the video below to hear from some of them about the experience.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, kicked off the Summit by discussing the Foundation’s commitment to transforming health care through nursing. View her conversation with RWJF Senior Communications Officer Linda Wright Moore, MS, in the right-hand sidebar of the blog.

Learn more and see photos from the Summit.

Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Senior Adviser for Nursing and Director, Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.

After about a year of planning, we held the Campaign for Action National Summit in Washington D.C. in late February and early March. We brought together more than 200 leaders from state Action Coalitions—nurses, other health leaders, consumers, educators, business leaders and others who are working at the state level to advance nursing and improve health care. These Action Coalition leaders are experts and activists who came to Washington to share innovative ideas for transforming health care and improving health, and to plan for the future. 

The mission of the Campaign for Action and its Action Coalitions, which are in every state and the District of Columbia, is to advance recommendations from the Institute of Medicine’s landmark report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Those recommendations cover a range of issues, including academic progression, nurse leadership, scope of practice, workforce data collection, diversity, and much more. Our goal, in all this work, is to ensure that nurses can contribute as equal partners in a reformed health care system in order to improve patient care.

We planned the Summit as a nontraditional conference that used a U.N.-style approach. It was designed to allow participants—who are from nursing, medicine, business, health systems, philanthropy, and academia—to learn from each other.

For more than four decades, the grantmaking of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has advanced the nursing profession, supporting nurses in their efforts to improve care and strengthening nurses’ role in shaping the future of the nation’s health care system. The latest issue of Charting Nursing’s Future, RWJF’s periodic series of issue briefs, tracks the Foundation’s growing commitment to nursing.

The brief examines RWJF’s impact in five distinct areas:

• Expanding roles for nurses;
• Building educational capacity;
• Demonstrating nurses' contributions to quality and safety;
• Creating leaders for the 21st century; and
• Bridging gaps in research and data.

Among the two dozen past and present programs highlighted in the brief:

• Expanding roles. In the mid-1970s, RWJF played a critical role in the emergence and acceptance of nurse practitioners (NPs), supporting demonstration projects in rural areas of California, Alabama, Tennessee and New England. Subsequently, RWJF’s Nurse Faculty Fellowship Program helped create an intellectual home for primary care nursing, leading to the creation of master’s degree NP programs across the nation.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) will host the next webinar in its “Translating Research Into Practice” series on February 14, 2013.

INQRI investigators Linda Flynn, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Joel Cantor, ScD, will discuss their research and the intervention they designed to increase patient safety by enhancing the leadership and team building skills of nurse managers.

The webinar will be held from 3-4 p.m. EST.

Register for the webinar.
Learn more about Flynn and Cantor’s research.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provides grants for people and projects in the United States and U.S. territories that advance the Foundation’s mission to improve the health and health care of all Americans. The following are the current funding opportunities from RWJF’s Human Capital portfolio:

RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars
The RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars program is working to develop the next generation of national leaders in academic nursing through career development awards for outstanding junior nursing faculty. The program aims to strengthen the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by providing mentorship, leadership training, and salary and research support to young faculty. Applicants must be registered nurses who have achieved high levels of education and nursing research, and must be in an academic position that could lead to tenure for at least two years and no more than five years at the start of the program. Up to 12 awards will be given. The deadline is February 12, 2013. Learn more.

RWJF Clinical Scholars
The RWJF Clinical Scholars program, a collaboration of RWJF and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, seeks to foster the development of physicians who will lead the transformation of Americans’ health and health care. These future leaders will conduct innovative research and work with communities, organizations, practitioners and policy-makers to address issues essential to the health and well-being of all Americans. Eligible applicants must be committed to a career in academic medicine, public health, health policy or another career congruent with the program’s purposes and priorities of developing physician leaders and skilled researchers; applicants must also have completed the clinical requirements of their residency training by the date of entry into the program. Up to 20 applicants will be selected in 2013 for an appointment beginning in summer 2014. The deadline is February 28, 2013. Learn more.

See all the current calls for proposals from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provides grants for people and projects in the United States and U.S. territories that advance the Foundation’s mission to improve the health and health care of all Americans. The following are the current funding opportunities from RWJF’s Human Capital portfolio:

New Careers in Nursing
A program of RWJF and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, New Careers in Nursing is a scholarship program to help alleviate the nursing shortage and increase the diversity of nursing professionals. Schools of nursing may apply for between five and 30 scholarships per year to be awarded to students from groups underrepresented in nursing or who are economically disadvantaged. Among other qualifying factors, applicant institutions must offer an entry-level accelerated baccalaureate nursing program or master’s nursing program for non-nursing college graduates, and be accredited by a U.S. Department of Education-recognized nursing accrediting agency to be considered for an award. A total of up to 400 scholarship awards will be made during this funding cycle. The deadline is January 9, 2013. Learn more.

RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows
The RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows program is a three-year advanced leadership program for nurses who aspire to lead and shape health care locally and nationally. Up to 20 fellows will strengthen and improve their leadership abilities related to improving health and health care. Awards are open to registered nurses who hold senior leadership positions in health services, scientific and academic organizations, public health and community-based organizations or systems, or national professional, governmental and policy organizations. The deadline is January 15, 2013. Learn more.