Mitigating Knowledge Loss: A Strategic Imperative for Nurse Leaders.

With the aging of the nursing workforce and expected retirement of large numbers of experienced nurses in the next decade, mitigating the impact that lost knowledge will have on organizational performance and patient outcomes is critical. The authors raise awareness of the problem, summarize observations procured from hospital nurse executive regarding approaches for knowledge transfer through workforce development, and pose proactive strategies for nurse leaders who can provide direction to offset the issue before it becomes a crisis.

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.

Experienced nurse retention strategies: what can be learned from top-performing organizations.

Pursuit of high-quality care depends, in part, on hospital leaders' ability to retain an experienced RN workforce. Yet, 55% of nurses plan to retire between 2011 and 2020, heightening the need to identify proven retention strategies. Findings from 7 case studies conducted at hospitals and nonhealthcare organizations publicly recognized for success retaining experienced employees are summarized. The authors conclude that although the mix of retention strategies varies, all top-performing organizations share common success factors.

Commentary: experienced RN retention strategies: what can be learned from top-performing organizations.

The authors provide commentary on the article, "Experienced Nurse Retention Strategies: What Can Be Learned From Top-Performing Organizations," also in this issue by authors Hirschkorn, West, Hill, Cleary, and Hewlett.

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.

Mitigating knowledge loss: a strategic imperative for nurse leaders.

With the aging of the nursing workforce and expected retirement of large numbers of experienced nurses in the next decade, mitigating the impact that lost knowledge will have on organizational performance and patient outcomes is critical. The authors raise awareness of the problem, summarize observations procured from hospital nurse executive regarding approaches for knowledge transfer through workforce development, and pose proactive strategies for nurse leaders who can provide direction to offset the issue before it becomes a crisis.

Educational mobility of RNs in North Carolina: who will teach tomorrow's nurses? A report on the first study to longitudinally examine educational mobility among nurses.

OBJECTIVE: Affected by the current nursing shortage, schools of nursing cite a lack of qualified nursing faculty as a primary barrier to program expansion. We sought to identify patterns in how nurses' entry-level degrees and other individual characteristics correlated with the timing and achievement of subsequent advanced nursing education. METHODS: Using longitudinal analysis of data gathered as part of North Carolina's licensing renewal process, we studied the educational mobility of newly graduated RNs with a variety of entry degrees in this state. We followed one cohort of 3,384 new graduates who were licensed in 1984 (2,850 remained active and in the study at the 10-year point, and 2,418 remained active and in the study at the 20-year point) and another cohort of 5,341 new graduates who were licensed in 1994 (4,211 remained active and in the study at 10 years). Demographic data for a third cohort of 5,400 new graduates who were licensed in 2004 were included and considered along with data gathered by the National League for Nursing for nursing education research, to assist us in making comparisons between North Carolina and other states. RESULTS: Only 26% of the 2,418 members of the 1983-84 cohort at 20 years and 17% of the 4,211 members of the 1993-94 cohort at 10 years pursued higher degrees, and just 19% and 12% of the respective cohorts did so in nursing. More than 80% of all nurses in either cohort who attained a master's degree in nursing or a doctorate in any field began their nursing career with a bachelor's degree. Younger age at entry into nursing, male sex, and belonging to a racial or ethnic minority were associated with being more likely to pursue higher academic degrees. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our findings, we suggest that increasing the number of graduates with a bachelor of science in nursing degree, especially those who are men or members of a racial or ethnic minority, will have the most immediate effect on increasing the potential nursing faculty pool.

Expanding the capacity of nursing education.

Assuring a nurse workforce that is large enough and possesses the right competencies for the changing demographic and health reform scenarios of the early twenty-first century is nothing short of an imperative. Getting there will involve continual recruitment of a talented and diverse group of people and increasing nurses' progression to a more highly educated workforce, no matter where they enter the profession. These actions will enable the United States to fill vacant nursing faculty positions as we simultaneously re-create how nursing education is delivered in this country. The nation's health is dependent on the actions we now take.