A Summer Prematriculation Program: Bridging the Gap for Disadvantaged Underrepresented Minority Students Interested in a Nursing Career.

BACKGROUND: The nursing and health care workforce needs diverse clinicians who can provide culturally competent and high-quality care to an increasingly diverse U.S. POPULATION: Achieving this goal requires creating learning environments that foster the success of disadvantaged underrepresented minority (URM) students seeking nursing careers. METHOD: This 4-week summer prematriculation program introduced 33 URM individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to nursing as a career through financial support, academic enrichment, and social support to enhance nursing program admission success. Federal guidelines were used to establish URM and economically disadvantaged status. RESULTS: To date, one third of program participants have been admitted to nursing programs. CONCLUSION: Fundamental reforms in pre-college education systems, such as the evidence-based strategies implemented in our summer prematriculation program, may be needed to achieve a diverse, culturally competent workforce that can help eliminate persistent health and health care disparities. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(8):471-475.].

Using portfolios to introduce the clinical nurse leader to the job market.

Development of a portfolio is an effective strategy used by clinical nurse leaders (CNLs) to inform prospective employers of their specialized skills in quality improvement, patient safety, error prevention, and teamwork. The portfolio provides evidence of competence relative to the role of clinician, outcomes manager, client advocate, educator, information manager, systems analyst/risk anticipator, team manager, healthcare professional, and lifelong learner. This article describes the CNL portfolio developed by experts from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare. Examples of portfolio documents generated throughout the master's entry CNL curriculum are provided, along with student experiences using the portfolio in the employment interview process.

Personal access to health care: a concept analysis.

The objective of this concept analysis was to formulate an operational definition, so that those seeking, providing, and legislating health care policy would share a common interpretation of the concept. A concept analysis following the strategy suggested by Walker and Avant was used to identify antecedents, attributes, and empirical referents of access to health care. Furthermore, model, borderline, contrary, and invented cases were described. A theoretical definition was derived, which will lead to a better understanding of the concept and bring the concept closer to measurability and readiness for an operational definition. Access to health care has been addressed in political campaigns, studied by numerous legislative committees, and purported to be in an emergency state of despair. However, a measurable definition of access to health care continues to elude providers and legislators of health care; in as much, the meaning of the concept varies with the user.