Exposing Baccalaureate Nursing Students to Transitional Care.

Management and facilitation of care transitions from hospital to alternative settings requires skill and attention to avoid adverse events. Several interprofessional organizations and nurse leaders have called for the expansion and redesign of undergraduate nursing curricula to include care transitions. Yet there is little evidence describing how undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students are educated on this critical topic or how successful they are in improving student knowledge about care transitions. To address this gap, an in-classroom and clinical experience was implemented to prepare students to manage and facilitate care transitions from the hospital to alternative settings-including the home. Perceptions of undergraduate nursing students and home healthcare nurse preceptors were assessed via an electronic survey that was emailed to participants. Forty-eight responses to the survey were received. Students agreed this experience contributed to their understanding of caring for adults and older adults who are experiencing a care transition and they had a good understanding of care transitions to apply to their future nursing courses. Home healthcare nurse preceptors agreed they were able to demonstrate transitional care and that students were engaged. Future work should include expanding transitional care immersion to other care settings as well as the inclusion of additional healthcare disciplines in care transition education.

One hundred years and still counting: the story of NEF--yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Nurses Educational Funds, Inc (NEF) is the oldest and largest professionally endorsed source of funds for advanced study in nursing, which celebrated its Centennial in 2012. This philanthropic nonprofit organization is notable for its roots; NEF was organized by nurses specifically for nurses. Its history dates back to 1912, when it began in memory of Isabel Hampton Robb at Teacher's College, where the first graduate nursing education programs began. The initial Robb Memorial Fund was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1941 and officially became Nursing Educational Funds, Inc, in 1954. The NEF's sole mission is to raise money and give it for graduate-level scholarships in nursing education, service, practice, and research. Since its origin, more than 1000 doctoral and master's students from a broad array of schools across the nation have been recipients of awards. The NEF Board is a totally volunteer, highly dedicated group of nursing, business, and other professional leaders, who are steadfastly committed to this critical effort. Scholarships for graduate nursing education are imperative to meet the need to grow the pipeline of faculty. As charged by the 2010 Institute of Medicine report, the goal to increase the number of baccalaureate nurses to 80% of the workforce and to double the number of nurses with doctoral degrees both by 2020 speak to the heart of NEF. Funds raised currently are largely from Board members, individual donors, modest foundational support, and a number of bequests. As the nursing population grows older, the potential for bequests or planned giving becomes a realistic goal. Former NEF scholars have not unfortunately been a financial source, although pay back is an expectation. Nurses are the best ones to tell this compelling story to corporations and foundations as NEF continues to persist in the commitment to support graduate nursing education.

Endowed chairs and professorships in schools of nursing: a 2004 update.

This article presents data on the 262 endowed professorships and chairs in Schools of Nursing, for the period 1928 through 2004. Since the first survey was published in 1985, the number of professorships/chairs has increased from 20 to the present count. The number of endowments has increased significantly since the 1990s, with the addition of 188 new professorships/chairs since 1990.