Undergraduate nursing students' attitudes toward mental health nursing.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe undergraduate nursing students' attitudes toward mental health nursing and how these attitudes influenced their professional career choices in mental health nursing. DESIGN: A descriptive, online survey was utilized to examine students' perceptions of mental health nursing. A total of 229 junior and senior nursing students were recruited from eight nursing colleges in Midwestern United States to participate in this survey. RESULTS: Students of different ages, genders, ethnicities, and nursing programs did not report significantly different perceptions of: (a) knowledge of mental illness; (b) negative stereotypes; (c) interest in mental health nursing as a future career; and (d), and beliefs that psychiatric nurses provide a valuable contribution to consumers and the community. Negative stereotypes were significantly different between students who had mental health nursing preparation either in class (p=0.0147) or in clinical practice (p=0.0018) and students who had not. There were significant differences in anxiety about mental illness between students who had classes on mental health nursing (p=.0005), clinical experience (p=0.0035), and work experience in the mental health field (p=0.0012). Significant differences in an interest in a future career in mental health nursing emerged between students with and without prior mental health experience and between students with and without an interest in an externship program with p-values of 0.0012 and <0.0001, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The more exposure that students have to mental health nursing through clinical experiences, theory classes, and previous work in the field, the more prepared they feel about caring for persons with mental health issues.

Vision, grit, and collaboration: how the Wisconsin Center for Nursing achieved both sustainable funding and established itself as a state health care workforce leader.

In 2001, a dedicated group of nurses from across Wisconsin came together to discuss how to create a state center of expertise on key nursing workforce issues. The result was the establishment of the Wisconsin Center for Nursing (WCN) in 2005. Since that time, through its statewide Board of Directors, WCN has clarified and targeted specific state workforce needs and identified gaps that exist in addressing those needs. During its five-year existence, WCN has received funding from a variety of sources, and volunteers have spent hundreds of hours working on behalf of the organization. Finding a sustainable base of funding for WCN has been a priority in order to ensure that the organization can hire permanent staff and invest in ongoing initiatives. In 2009, WCN was involved in developing a strategy that resolved both the issue of sustainability and the need to collect and analyze data on the nursing profession. A bill was passed by the Wisconsin legislature that required RNs and LPNs to complete a comprehensive survey every two years when they renew their state licenses. In addition, the legislature raised the licensure fee for RNs and LPNs and dedicated a portion to WCN to assist in the analysis of the newly-collected nursing workforce data and to develop a state-wide plan addressing the future of the Wisconsin nursing workforce. This article will include the history of the WCN and the details of its journey toward sustainability including accomplishments and lessons learned.