Care Coordination and Transition Management: A New Course to Prepare Prelicensure Students.

BACKGROUND: There is a need for RNs to be skilled at coordinating care and improving transitions within and across a wide variety of clinical settings and in diverse populations. A care coordination and transition management (CCTM) course was developed to address this growing need. METHOD: The course was designed to promote enhanced clinical reasoning as well as synthesis and application of CCTM concepts while focusing on the patient and family perspectives. Learning activities incorporated individual writing assignments, discussion board assignments, and a group project. RESULTS: Students demonstrated the application of CCTM concepts in individual and group assignments and used prior and current clinical experiences to connect theory to practice. CONCLUSION: This course helped preli-censure students learn and apply CCTM concepts. Learning activities within the CCTM course could be adapted to be effective in all forms of undergraduate programs as well as graduate nursing programs. [J Nurs Educ. 2023;62(8):471-474.].

Journey to a new era: An innovative academic-practice partnership.

Successful academic-clinical partnerships are mutually beneficial for academic nursing and clinical organizations, supporting the long-term success of nursing programs while simultaneously improving patient outcomes. Advocated by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in their 2016 report, Advancing Healthcare Transformation: New Era for Academic Nursing, this position paper provides six actions for transforming academic nursing. However, developing sustainable academic-practice models has proven challenging despite this roadmap, as research has not substantiated their benefits. This article describes an innovative academic-practice model that transitioned advanced practice registered nurses practicing at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital to full-time faculty, with a continued primary clinical practice role, in the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. We present the origin, development, and implementation of this academic-practice partnership model, offering recommendations for its replication by other universities and clinical agencies on this journey. Creating a sustainable model requires a shared vision, buy-in at all levels, frequent and transparent communication, planning that considers the individual policies of the partnering agencies, and persistence despite leadership changes. Two years into the partnership and remaining intact despite critical leadership changes within the clinical agency, the next phase of the relationship will permit us to document the model's impact on academic and clinical outcomes.

Development of a COVID-19 alternate care site from ground zero: A nursing perspective.

The novel coronavirus disease SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak rapidly generated an unprecedented global, national, and state public health crisis with the need to rapidly develop alternate care sites (ACS) to care for COVID-19 patients within an overburdened health care system. A hospital care model ACS to increase the health care capacity, provide care for mild to moderately symptomatic patients, and offer local self-sustainment for a surge of patients was developed in Memphis, Tennessee located in Shelby County. We completed a temporary conversion of a large unused newspaper publication building to a health care facility for COVID-19 patients. Developing an ACS from ground zero was met with many challenges, and throughout the process important lessons were learned. With the goal to complete the building conversion within a 28-day timeframe, collaboration among the numerous governmental, health care, and private agencies was critical and nursing leadership was key to this process. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a COVID-19 ACS in Memphis, TN, which has a large at-risk population with limited access to health care. Specifically, we will discuss the strong leadership role of nursing faculty, key challenges, and lessons learned, as well as provide checklists and models for others in similar circumstances.

A model for preparing faculty to teach model C clinical nurse leader students.

Model C clinical nurse leader (CNL) programs are complex because they must meet the The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice and The Essentials of Master's Education in Nursing, as well as the graduate level competencies outlined in the white paper Competencies and Curricular Expectations for Clinical Nurse Leader Education and Practice. Faculty assigned to teach in these programs may be experts in education or areas of clinical specialty, but they may not have a clear understanding of the CNL role to teach and mentor CNL students. This article describes a faculty development model that includes an introduction to the CNL role, course mapping of the essentials, integration of CNL professional values into clinical evaluation, consultation with practicing model C graduates, and participation in a comprehensive CNL certification review course. The model was effective in preparing faculty to teach and mentor students in a model C CNL program.

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.

Using quality and safety education for nurses to guide clinical teaching on a new dedicated education unit.

Gaps exist in health professional education versus the demands of current practice. Leveraging front-line nurses to teach students exemplary practice in a Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) may narrow this gap. The DEU is an innovative model for experiential learning, capitalizing on the expertise of staff nurses as clinical teachers. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a new academic-practice DEU in facilitating quality and safety competency achievement among students. Six clinical teachers received education in clinical teaching and use of Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies to guide acquisition of essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes for continuous health care improvement. Twelve students assigned to the six teachers completed daily logs for the 10-week practicum. Findings suggest that DEU students achieved QSEN competencies through clinical teacher mentoring in interdisciplinary collaboration, using electronic information for best practice and patient teaching, patient/family decision making, quality improvement, and resolution of safety issues.