Toward standardization (Part 2): National nursing minimum data sets consensus building and implementation status.

With the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the development of a National Workforce Commission, multiple entities have increased their interest in collecting standardized health care workforce data at the state and national levels. In a tight budget environment, developing data sets which collect the minimum needed information that is necessary for workforce planning and supply/demand projections has become critically needed. This article represents the second of a two part series describing the work that the Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers has undertaken during the last 3 years toward standardizing nursing workforce data. Part I described the initial steps that informed the development of national nursing workforce minimum data sets. Part II describes the consensus model used to develop the minimum data sets as well as an update on the implementation of the minimum data sets in individual states including challenges and barriers encountered.

Evidence for policy and regulation: a model to address development of unqualified faculty.

Nurses often do not become faculty through deliberate intention; rather they enter the role because of circumstance. While they may be expert practitioners, they are often not prepared for faculty roles. Unlike traditional preparation for nursing practice, which requires clinical education, the role of nurse teacher often has no systematic preparation. The purpose of the Nurse Faculty Intern (NFI) Pilot Study was to investigate the role development of nurse educators and the mechanism by which graduate students gain competencies related to pedagogy through practical experience and a relationship with mentors. Results from the study revealed need for intentional role development for the NFI. Even though NFI's had many years of nursing experience, they expressed the need for orientation to teaching pedagogy to better use their nursing knowledge when working with students. This article will present the findings and recommendations from the study.

Toward standardization (part 1): assessment of state and national nursing workforce data sources.

Despite concerns expressed over the past 25 years, little progress has been made in improving the accuracy, availability, and timeliness of national data on the U.S. nursing workforce. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we review the current national data sources on nurse supply, demand, and education programs. We discuss the advantages that state-level data collection efforts enjoy in many states and propose that national data sets could be easily and cost-effectively built from state-level contributions-if states collected a standardized set of information. As part of a larger effort to standardize state-level data, from July to December 2008, we analyzed surveys and codebooks from 26 states collecting nurse workforce data. We present the results of this data assessment and conclude that data collection practices as of 2008 varied substantially from state to state. Creation and adoption of standardized minimum nursing workforce data sets is suggested to bring states into alignment.

The shortage tsunami and high school guidance counselors' perspectives on future nurse recruitment.

The current recession has eased the shortage of registered nurses (RNs), but this must be viewed only as a transient, temporary lull. The nurse shortage predictions still are greatly concerning. This article extends the most current RN shortage forecasts, an overview of this shortage "tsunami", and recent/current workforce recruitment strategies across the United States. A related explanatory study of high school counselors is presented, designed to improve understanding of decision-making influences on today's youth and to explore the extent of awareness counselors have about nursing.

An innovative approach to student internships on American Indian reservations.

Personnel shortages are evident for a number of disciplines in the health professions, from physicians to nurses. Project CRISTAL (Collaborative Rural Interdisciplinary Service Training and Learning) was designed to immerse students in rural and reservation communities and encourage them to consider practicing in locations that have shortages of health care providers. Students gain an understanding of the importance of working as part of a health care team and address present and future health care workforce shortages. The project was also structured to help students develop the necessary skills to become culturally-sensitive providers. Working relationships among higher education institutions, health care facilities, and reservation communities were enhanced. Additionally, a culturally-appropriate, team-oriented curriculum for reservation settings was developed. Experiences gained from the North Dakota project provide valuable insight into interprofessional health training and health issues of American Indian populations.

Identifying rural health care needs using community conversations.

CONTEXT: Community input can lead to better-defined goals in an organization. With this in mind, the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences embarked on a series of 13 meetings with representatives of organizations serving rural communities, including 5 Native American reservations. PURPOSE: To give a detailed description of the steps involved in planning, and the outcomes and lessons learned from the meetings. Organizations will be able to use this information when incorporating community involvement as part of their planning process. PROJECT: Each meeting included a presentation of the Center for Rural Health efforts throughout the state and a discussion in which residents were asked about health care barriers they have encountered and how the Center for Rural Health could align its efforts to assist communities. CONCLUSIONS: The conversations from these meetings have provided a wealth of information about barriers to providing quality health care facing rural and Native American residents. The Center for Rural Health has incorporated this information into its strategic planning process and has formed several work groups to address issues raised. Community conversations allow organizations to better determine priorities that will be valid and realistic to the communities they serve.

Alcohol-induced impairment and enhancement of memory: a test of the interference theory.

Many studies have found cognitive deficits related to alcohol consumption. However, few studies have studied cognitive performance when alcohol was administered after the to-be-remembered information was presented with memory testing occurring when participants are once again sober. The present study examined effects of alcohol on cognitive performance using a prose recall task during acute intoxication and a post-trial recall task for prose passages that had been presented before intoxication. Fifty-one men were given either 2.0 g/kg of 100 proof (50% absolute ethanol) vodka or a placebo. In the present study, evidence was found of acute alcohol impairment in prose memory, along with alcohol facilitation of memory on a post-trial task.