A Culture of Inclusion in Nursing Can Provide a Foundation for Belonging: A Key to Greater Retention of the Nursing Workforce.

Increasing global migration necessitates a larger, more diverse, and more culturally responsive nursing workforce. If health care organizations are to foster a culture of inclusion, they must employ strategies to retain the current nursing workforce and prepare for greater diversity in the future. Nurses are leaving the profession for many reasons. Nurses report too much stress and overwork, along with not feeling valued in their roles. Nursing leadership must work to address retention of the current workforce and implement additional strategies to support long-term pipelines for more diverse nurses. Interactive workshops and mentoring focused on foundational definitions and concepts are strategies to increase retention and preparation for future recruitment. This article discusses strategies to foster a greater sense of belonging in the workplace for all nurses. This article also discusses strategies that can be useful in retaining a nursing workforce and preparing for the future nursing workforce by fostering a culture of responsiveness that encourages a sense of belonging for all nurses.

A Mentoring Initiative for Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: One Strategy to Increase Nursing Workforce Diversity and Advance Health Equity.

This article addresses low retention and graduation rates among historically marginalized students in nursing programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Mentoring is a proven success strategy to support systems for historically marginalized students, helping them navigate challenges, improving academic outcomes, and increasing the diversity of the nursing workforce. The article highlights the mentoring initiative of AARP's Center for Health Equity through Nursing and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the outcomes of this collaboration. The paper details the implementation of a mentoring initiative to enhance graduation rates and National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) success among historically marginalized students and emphasizes collaboration among institutions and organizations, as well as strategies for funding, mentor recruitment, and NCLEX preparation. Recommendations include promoting robust mentoring programs, preparing mentors, and conducting further research on the effects of mentoring on student outcomes in HBCUs.

Multisite Integrated Health System Utilizes Proactive Community Strategies to Address Vaccine Hesitancy and Create Positive Change.

Vaccine hesitancy remains a barrier to successful COVID-19 vaccination programs across all populations. Attempts to mitigate this barrier, including mandates, have not been successful, especially in communities of color where the vaccination rates remain low. Nursing leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion officers, and C-suite executives of 1 health system collaborated to address vaccine hesitancy through various community conversations with health care workers, non-direct caregivers, nursing students, and all populations across 4 state counties. The efforts of the health system were to improve trust in the health care system by presenting transparent dialogue with opportunities for interactive questions through presentations by health care professionals.

Nurse Leaders Advocate for Nurses Across a Health Care System: COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the importance of nursing care globally. Nurses are the frontline staff in the care of individuals stricken with this highly infectious and deadly illness. Nurse leaders must advocate for nursing staff when staff are immersed in often overwhelming conditions. Through a case study, this article outlines how one healthcare system's Chief Nursing Officer council worked collaboratively, jointly and with the Emergency Incident Command Structure, to operationalize CDC guidelines and support, protect, educate, and empower staff. These initiatives resulted in creative solutions, technological advances for the system, and nursing staff and leaders rising to the challenge.

Sustainably reducing device utilization and device-related infections with DeCATHlons, device alternatives, and decision support.

Engagement of frontline staff, along with senior leadership, in competition-style healthcare-associated infection reduction efforts, combined with electronic clinical decision support tools, appeared to reduce antibiotic regimen initiations for urinary tract infections (P = .01). Mean monthly standardized infection and device utilization ratios also decreased (P < .003 and P < .0001, respectively).

Holiday season for a healthy heart.

The term "holiday heart" is defined as an acute cardiac arrhythmia or conduction disturbance associated with heavy alcohol intake in individuals with no known heart disease, but in whom heart rhythm is restored to normal with abstinence of alcohol. This article provides a brief overview of the literature on this topic, discusses causes of increased cardiac events during the holiday season, describes a patient profile and the effect on patients' health as well as on their families, and provides suggestions to decrease the risk of holiday heart during the festive season.