Twelve Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action state-based Action Coalitions, or in a few cases, organizations designated by an Action Coalition, were selected to each receive awards up to $25,000 for new or ongoing work that addresses nursing’s role in building a Culture of Health and promoting health equity. The 2019 Innovations Fund award winners’ plans also demonstrated the importance of collaboration with diverse stakeholders.
Read the announcement | Project Descriptions
Florida
Big Bend Rural Healthcare Community Health Worker Initiative
Grantee: Florida Action Coalition
Summary of the completed project
Development and review of the CHW curriculum was completed. Training was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They expect to conduct the trainings in collaboration with Florida State University College of Nursing in 2022.
Outcomes
The CHW curriculum was developed and a working group was formed with the Florida Area Health Education Center network. This network helped develop and execute a Memorandum of Understanding with the Florida CHW Coalition to provide ongoing continuing education for CHWs across the state.
Lead: Allison Wiman
Indiana
Indiana NEEDS (Nursing Education, Engagement, and Diversity Statewide) Initiative
Grantee: Indiana Action Coalition
Summary of completed project
The NEEDS Initiative utilized online platforms to design, implement and disseminate detailed toolkits for both the mentoring program and the framework for holistic admissions, along with evaluation plans for both. Students from underrepresented groups were recently admitted to the program, so the impact of this program contributing to a more diverse workforce will not be measurable for a few years. However, current students participated in focus groups and responded positively to the holistic application process and mentoring toolkits.
Additionally, the NEEDS Initiative helped establish a Community Advisory Committee, made up of more than a dozen organizations committed to diversifying and strengthening Indiana’s nursing workforce. It will be utilized as a mechanism to enhance partnerships and explore future projects.
Outcomes
- Establishment of a statewide Community Advisory Committee with a dozen plus leading organizations committed to diversifying and strengthening nursing workforce.
- Toolkits to assist nursing schools in advancing diversity within their programs were created:
1) a toolkit for holistic admissions, and
2) a mentoring program toolkit.
Both toolkits are accessible online and will be updated periodically. As a result of this initiative, 14 schools of nursing have committed to implementing a holistic admissions process and mentoring programs. And more than half of the partner schools are working together to submit a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant to build upon and expand this work.
Lead: Kimberly J. Harper
Massachusetts
Promoting Health Literacy to Influence Health and Wellness of Students in the Community: Widening the Connections
Grantee: Massachusetts Action Coalition
Summary of completed project
The Massachusetts Action Coalition partnered with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and school wellness committees to create statewide Advisory and Curriculum Development Committees which provided input into the development and dissemination of the anti-vaping curriculum. An evidence-based approach was used to review and evaluate relevant anti-vaping materials and programs. The committee recommended appropriate materials based on grade level. Involvement of the State Department of Secondary Education, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Superintendents Association resulted in distribution of the curriculum guide to all elementary and secondary schools within the state.
The Advisory Committee included representatives from the Superintendents’ Association, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Health Council, the Massachusetts School Nurses Association, the Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses, school leadership including principals, counselors and schools resource officers, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, the Massachusetts Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Health Safety & Wellness Initiative, the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Addictive Medicine, Collaborative Youth Program, the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and the Department of Public Health Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program.
The Curriculum Committee included representatives from school districts across the state, including, school nurses, counselors, faculty, a superintendent and a curriculum consultant.
Outcomes
Statewide, multi-sector Advisory and Curriculum Committees were established. Their review and evaluation resulted in a comprehensive anti-vaping resource and curriculum guide that was circulated statewide. Additionally, the Action Coalition created a comprehensive communications plan, including key messages, strategies, and resources to promote the project.
Lead: Patricia Crombie
Missouri
Innovative Care Institute – APRNs in Rural Practice
Grantee: Missouri Action Coalition
Summary of completed project
The Missouri Action Coalition partnered with the Missouri League of Nursing to identify areas in the state with rural health facilities that employ APRNs. They worked with the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Nursing and Health Sciences and Maryville University St. Louis to develop and promote online offerings through the Innovative Care Institute program. The education content focused on improving population health, preventing diseases, reducing health disparities, and presenting nurses with self-care strategies to prevent compassion fatigue and burnout.
Outcomes
The project resulted in the development and delivery of multiple training modules that are part of the Innovative Care Institute, which serves nurses statewide. Through the collaboration of the Missouri Nurses Association, Missouri League for Nursing, and Missouri Center for Nursing (Missouri Action Coalition) plans were developed to expand dissemination of the Innovative Care Institute to a wider audience in the state.
Lead: Tina Lear
Montana
Reaching Rural
Grantee: Montana Action Coalition
Summary of completed project
In collaboration with the Montana Office of Rural Health and Area Health Education, the Montana Action Coalition utilized an online learning management system to provide space for discussion and dialogue in a learning community. “Reaching Rural” was an easily accessible online community that connected nurses from rural, frontier and tribal areas to support their work in leadership and building a Culture of Health. During the project, additional partnerships were created with:
- the Montana University System Institute for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (MUS IPE Institute) to extend IPE-related content and training opportunities for nurses and students;
- the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council Epidemiology Center (RMTEC) to assist in the development of partnerships and relationship with tribal health, tribal public health, and Indian Health Service; and
- the Montana Health Care Foundation to provide access to Integrated Behavioral Health content and connection to the National Center for Behavioral Health for additional trainings. Approximately 25 nurses participated in the courses.
Outcomes
The “Reaching Rural” project was the first online resource community for nurses working in rural, frontier and tribal areas of Montana. Because of new partnerships formed during the project, there has been an expansion of the training sessions and online modules offered and plans continue for upcoming school years.
Lead: Kristin Juliar
Nebraska
Grantee: Nebraska Action Coalition
Summary of completed project
In partnership with Live Well Omaha, the Action Coalition developed a pilot project to inspect and grade properties in collaboration with the Omaha Housing Authority, Nebraska Tobacco Alliance, and the Omaha Health Kids Alliance. They also developed a model worksheet for tenants to use to maintain healthy homes.
The Coalition administered a CHW survey in partnership with the Center for Reducing Health Disparities, a division of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health. The survey results were disseminated through a report to stakeholders.
Lastly, the Nursing Pipeline Committee was formed, and a pilot program was developed to increase the number of nurse aides becoming registered nurses in the state. Phase one of the mentoring program was implemented with five nurse aides joining.
Outcomes
- Development of an evidence-based checklist tool for tenants to maintain healthy homes; this tool is now in use by the Omaha Housing Authority. Results from the pilot showed “improvement of tenant knowledge of healthy homes” and “improvement of the grade of the property.”
- A CHW survey and subsequent report, which was foundational in securing a state-wide CHW workforce assessment and three-year HRSA grant, focused on promoting and supporting the CHW in the state.
- Five nurse aides participated in the mentoring program, with two participants applying to nursing school and one being accepted.
Lead: Amberly Wagner-Connolly
Pennsylvania
At the Core of Care Podcast
Grantee: Pennsylvania Action Coalition
Summary of completed project
Ten new podcast episodes were developed, along with a trailer that highlighted how nurses are driving a Culture of Health. Their marketing efforts resulted in an increased number of downloads, subscribers, and listeners. Through their partnership with the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC), the Action Coalition received funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Agency (HRSA) and the Gender Justice Fund to produce additional episodes.
The titles of the ten new podcasts are:
- Resiliency in Nursing Through Covid-19
- School Nurses and Their Role During Covid-19
- Social Justice in Nursing
- Building Resiliency in the Nursing Workforce
- Nursing Student Perspective of Covid-19
- Preventing SIDS with Cribs
- Examining the Impact of Covid on Community Health Center – Part 1
- Examining the Impact of Covid on Community Health Centers – Part 2
- Empowering Nurses to Change Public Policy
- Nurses Cultivating Patient-Centered Care
Outcomes
The “At the Core of Care” podcast series was accepted into the Health Podcast Network, a collection of 8,000 podcast episodes that feature topics in health care. The reach of the podcast extended beyond Pennsylvania, with listeners from Virginia, California, Ohio, Tennessee, and New York.
Lead: Sarah Hexem Hubbard
Rhode Island
Building a Culture of Whole-Person Health: A Stigma-Reduction Project
Grantee: Rhode Island Action Coalition
Summary of completed project
The RIAC convened a cross-sectional group of over 30 stakeholders from across the state’s health systems, addiction recovery and harm reduction providers, state agencies, and interested community members. The group identified common objectives, including expanding continuing education opportunities to reduce stigma, and educating the public on how to help individuals with SUD. The RIAC brought together a cohort of nurse leaders from across to the state who became familiar with best practices around SUD and shared these practices within their organizations.
Outcomes
The RIAC developed a website, https://www.recoveryri.org/, to be a resource for individuals and organizations who want more information on addiction recovery. To promote awareness on SUD, they hosted a two-part play series and a panel entitled “What Providers Need to Know.” They received $10,000 from the Rhode Island Foundation for the performances and outreach.
The RIAC also served on a team of professionals participating in the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on Opioids and Overdoses annual hackathon. Their winning idea ultimately led to the concept for Mainstay, RI, a recovery center for those who have overdosed on opioids.
Work from this project helped familiarize nurse leaders and the state officials the best practices for assisting people with SUDs while addressing stigma and raising awareness of SUD among health providers.
Lead: Michael Beauregard
Virginia
Improving Mental Healthcare Delivery Across Settings
Grantee: Virginia Action coalition
Summary of completed project
The Virginia Action Coalition was able to strengthen partnerships with cross-sector organizations to advance mental health awareness and training. Through these partnerships, they hosted a roundtable focused on mental health and the criminal justice system, and they created a webinar series on maternal mental health. Nurses, including school nurses, were sponsored to attend conferences and trainings on mental health, leading to a train-the-trainer model being executed for additional trainings in school-related settings. Additionally, discussions were had with Richmond Public Schools about developing an age-appropriate mental health program for kindergarten-12 students.
Outcomes
The Virginia Action Coalition partnered with the Commonwealth Attorney and the City of Richmond Police Department to host the 2020 Mental Health Roundtable Meeting, a convening of stakeholders to discuss reframing the lens on public safety and root causes of crime.
In partnership with the Virginia Neonatal Perinatal Collaboration, a five-part webinar series on maternal mental health was released, including one during Black Maternal Health Week centered on Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMAD) within the Black community.
Twelve nurses were sponsored to attend the Mind Matters: Improving Mental Healthcare Delivery Across Settings conference, and one school nurse attended the Mental Health First Aid Instructor Training, Youth Module.
Lead: Janet Wall
Washington
Grantee: Washington Action Coalition
Summary of completed project
The Washington Center for Nursing collaborated with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health to identify and track key performance indicators for implementing a systematic approach to screening for SDOH. The implementation of the SDOH screening tool started as a pilot and was expanded to additional units. Involving front-line nurses was key to the success of the project, which led to the development of tools, resources and training aimed at strengthening staff skills on leading SDOH conversations with patients. Ongoing feedback resulted in the increased usability and sustainability of the tool.
With many facilities focused on the pandemic of 2020, the Action Coalition decided to scale back the project to focus on one key partner rather than multiple partners. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health shared data on key indicators and monitored progress on the implementation of the tool and the effect on patients’ health.
Outcomes
A public use SDOH assessment tool was adapted based on feedback from front-line staff. The tool was then expanded to additional units within the hospital and translated to other languages. Based on feedback from staff about their comfort level using the assessment tool, additional resources and trainings were developed to aid them in conversations with patients on SDOH. Ultimately, the identification of key indicators and data from this project provided staff with information that may otherwise have gone unknown and allowed them the opportunity to create individualized interventions to improve health outcomes.
Lead: Alison Bradywood and Angelina Flores-Montoya
West Virginia
The Nurse Entrepreneur Course Manual
Summary of completed project
The Action Coalition created a syllabus to integrate nurse entrepreneur concepts into BSN community courses and as an elective for MSN and DNP courses. They also created a video highlighting the project and putting a spotlight on a nurse business owner. The Nurse Entrepreneur Course Manual is in a PDF format and downloadable on the course website.
Outcomes
The West Virginia Action Coalition created the nurse entrepreneur syllabus, promotional video, and downloadable course manual.
They also received $100,000 in additional funding from The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to expand the project and create the West Virginia Center for Nurse Entrepreneurship, and the Economic Development Administration approved the Center for $600,000 for staffing.
The project leaders were invited to author the chapter, “Leadership Through Entrepreneurship” (Marino, L., Accad, A., Barr, T.) in an APRN textbook entitled Nursing Leadership through Entrepreneurship.
Lead: Aila Accad