Increasing the number of nursing faculty: Evaluation of a university system workforce grant.

BACKGROUND: The University of Wisconsin System Incentive Grant, Nurses for Wisconsin: Learn, Teach, Lead (N4WI) was a workforce initiative to address the nursing faculty shortage at four universities and included funding nurses to their terminal degree, postdoctoral fellowships, and loan forgiveness for faculty hires. It also included professional development opportunities for awardees. PURPOSE: The purpose of the article is to disseminate the evaluation of N4WI and discuss the impact of the project. METHODS: Methods of evaluation included assessment of data points as well as qualitative information. FINDINGS: N4WI was successful in achieving its goal of increasing nursing faculty applicants and hires at the respective schools with total awardees numbering 54. DISCUSSION: As a result of N4WI and using it as a template, nursing organizations within the state collaborated to successfully pursue state funding to grow nursing faculty called Wisconsin Nurse Educator Program to benefit the 44 nursing programs in Wisconsin.

Nurses for Wisconsin: A Collaborative Initiative to Enhance the Nurse Educator Workforce.

Wisconsin, like much of the nation, is currently suffering from a growing nursing shortage. The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire College of Nursing and Health Sciences, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh nursing programs, took advantage of a University of Wisconsin System Incentive Grant for economic and workforce development to address this problem. With a $3.2 million award, the Nurses for Wisconsin goal is to increase the number of baccalaureate registered nurses by expanding the nursing education capacity within the University of Wisconsin System. Nurses for Wisconsin is accelerating the preparation of nursing faculty by supporting nurses to enroll in doctor of nursing practice or nursing doctor of philosophy programs with pre- and postdoctoral fellowship awards ranging from $21,500 to $90,000 and the recruitment of faculty with a loan repayment program of up to $50,000. In exchange for the financial support, fellows and faculty must make a 3-year commitment to teach in a UW System nursing program. Two conferences for program participants are also funded through the award. The first conference was held in October 2014. The second conference is scheduled for summer 2015. With the first year of the 2-year project completed, this article describes Nurses for Wisconsin from inception to implementation and midterm assessment with a focus on lessons learned. A follow-up article addressing final outcomes and next steps is planned.